KUDAN INC. 'We are building the VC firm we wish we had as technical founders'
SCVC, an
Williams is best known as the co-founder of
SCVC focuses on deep tech spin-outs: science and engineering discoveries that transition out of research institutions to form new start-up companies that can deliver global impact across healthcare and sustainability.
With the addition of Williams, SCVC is uniquely poised to achieve its ambition of being the
SCVC's foundations are similar to the highly successful founder-led VCs found in
Research shows that exited founder led-VCs have higher success rates for their investments than any other category of VC (29.8% vs. 19.2% and 23.2% for founder and professional VCs respectively). Successful founder-led VCs in
Most startups aren't built off a decade of advanced research spinning out to form a new company. The challenges faced by these types of businesses are very different. For instance, most of the risk is technical (because there's a lot more of it) and not market.
Williams said: "The partnership of two exited founders in a
He added: "There is an enormous untapped opportunity for
"Because of this we do not have a zero sum game mentality. We are barely scratching the surface of how many more startups we could be making and how much more investment is needed. The capital and investor base is rate limiting. We believe in collaboration and want to actively work with VCs of all backgrounds so together we can unlock more of the opportunity."
"What's tricky about a big scientific breakthrough in universities is that it's often been researched in isolation without considering its commercial fit. It's presented as a hard-to-understand technology with no real context, or worse, chasing a popular, but inappropriate market.
"It's sad to see great technology die, either stuck in a university, or in a start-up where it never really had a chance. Too many VCs will wait until a later stage to provide capital, where there is more of a business plan and some traction that's easier to analyse. But many don't make it that far or they alter the company's strategy to bait investors into believing it addresses current hype. It's why it's so advantageous when a VC has a technical founder background. They have lived and breathed the challenges of turning an idea into reality. It's an untapped opportunity in the
Between Williams, Destecroix and the SCVC team, they have expertise in biotech, quantum, semiconductors and AI - the key areas that the
Destecroix explained: "The fund has a unique investment thesis. Deep tech start-ups are society's most effective economic vehicle to deliver innovation and global impact for the health of people and the health of our planet. In case you missed it, the 4th industrial revolution is already here. This is powered not by a single breakthrough technology but by the combinations of several at the right moment. We believe this is being powered by the convergence of biotech, quantum and AI. Biology and quantum sensing are the biggest untapped data sources in the world and recent advances in AI are beginning to unlock this massive potential. John was a visionary in AI and sensing and our thesis has naturally grown out of hundreds of hours of discussions where we've crossed over into each other's areas of expertise."
About
Williams, who left school at 17, organically grew
As augmented reality became more mainstream, the company repurposed its core technology to create Artificial Perception, a sophisticated form of AI that allows self-driving cars, robots and drones to understand the world around them. It was this natural pivot that would set
About
As well as being the Managing Partner of SCVC, Destecroix is the founder of Science Creates, a deep tech ecosystem that pairs the venture fund with three deep tech incubators covering 75,000 sq ft and start-up accelerator programmes, backed by government funding from UKRI, and a charity which trains children to become future deep tech entrepreneurs. He created this out of necessity when his company Ziylo couldn't rent lab space in
Destecroix is a recognised expert in deep tech spinouts and adviser to the
*ends*
About SCVC
SCVC is a leading
Founders - timeline
2012
Two years into a PhD at the
2014
Co-founder & CEO Ziylo, leads licensing of key patent
2015
Co-founder & CEO Science Creates, motivated by world class research yet low spin out rates due to lack of lab space, & deep tech support
Developed & opened first 15,000 sq ft deep tech incubator
Outreach starts, programs to inspire & teach local school children STEM
2018
Incubator helps Harry accelerate R&D at Zlylo & exit for up to
2019
Harry leads many angel investments increasing local deep tech spin out aspirations & builds his vision for founding SCVC.
2021
He delivers the second state-of-the-art incubator bringing total lab space to 45,000 sq ft. SCVC, closes its first £15m deep tech fund.
2022
Co-founder of charity Science Creates Outreach, 2500+ children supported since 2017. Targeting over 4000 per year
2023
First cohort of national engineering biology accelerator
SCVC fund 2 first close, total AUM £50m
Science Creates hits GVA of £125m/annum, 100+ deep tech startups
Third incubator announced, 75,000 sq ft
Adviser to
2011
Pioneered computer vision-based augmented reality platform for smartphones.
Identified and built AR-based advertising/marketing as an early revenue market, with
2012
2013
Moved to an IP-licensing business model to help scale globally.
AR platform released to an ecosystem of developers who built many of the most popular apps of the era.
2014
Developed early deep learning for computer vision allowing computers to perceive the world. Tech is now too advanced for AR.
Pioneered Artificial Perception, moving beyond AR giving eyes to autonomous robots, drones, vehicles and IoT devices.
2018
IPO on the
2020
CVC leads to M&A of venture-backed AI spin-out Artisense from
Offices now in the
.
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