Scott Dylan – Founder of NexaTech Ventures, Entrepreneur, Investor, and Advocate
Scott Dylan is a British born entrepreneur, investor, and advocate for mental health and prison reform. His professional journey and personal story are defined by resilience, innovation, and a belief in redemption.
With more than two decades of experience across technology, retail, and digital investment, Scott has built, acquired, and revived companies throughout the UK and Europe. Today, he is the founder NexaTech Ventures, a £100 million AI-focused venture capital firm supporting early-stage startups in technology, logistics, and creative industries.
Yet beyond entrepreneurship, Scott is becoming an outspoken voice for social reform, drawing on personal experience to challenge how the UK treats prisoners, especially civil prisoners, individuals with mental health conditions, and those facing systemic injustice. His work now bridges the worlds of innovation and advocacy — using his platform to push for empathy, fairness, and accountability at every level of society.
Early Life and Education
Scott was born in Greenwich, South East London, UK on 3 February 1984, and grew up in a working-class family that valued honesty, effort, and compassion. From a young age, he was inquisitive — constantly taking things apart to understand how they worked, experimenting with electronics, and finding creative solutions to everyday problems.
Life was not without hardship. Early exposure to trauma and family challenges gave Scott a deep understanding of resilience and the silent struggles that shape people’s lives. Those formative years built empathy, an awareness of injustice, and a determination to create change — qualities that later became central to his advocacy for mental health and rehabilitation.
He attended The John Roan School in London and later trained at Italia Conti Associates, where he developed communication and performance skills that would later serve him in business leadership and public speaking.
Early Career and Technical Foundations
Scott began his professional life in technology, working as a Lead Technical Developer at The Really Useful Group, one of the UK’s most iconic entertainment companies. There, he combined creative problem-solving with technical expertise, leading projects that modernised the company’s online operations.
Later, as Lead Developer on the Criminal Justice Secure System for Cable & Wireless, Scott designed and implemented encryption and security technology used within the UK’s legal and government framework. This work deepened his understanding of data integrity, confidentiality, and the importance of trust in digital systems.
He then joined Microsoft as a Network Security and Encryption Consultant, followed by work with the Ministry of Defence, where he contributed to developing new forms of secure communications and encryption software. These roles shaped Scott’s early professional identity: technically rigorous, ethically focused, and always guided by the principle that innovation must serve people responsibly.
Growth in Digital Business
By the 2010s, Scott had become recognised as a leader in digital transformation. At Octopus Investments, he was recruited to redefine the firm’s digital strategy and overhaul its online infrastructure. His work achieved establishment of modern digital workflows that improved compliance and efficiency across departments.
After joining the founding team at ANDigital in 2014, where he served as Digital & E-commerce Director, Scott played an instrumental role in scaling the company’s early growth. He then acquired Alienation Digital, rebranding it as We Are AD, and later expanded into a series of acquisitions and turnarounds — saving and modernising businesses across multiple industries.
Over time, his investment portfolio grew to include names such as Laundrapp, Knomo London, Baldwins Travel, incspaces, Wood for Trees. Scott’s approach to leadership and his reputation for reviving struggling businesses cemented his position as a trusted name in entrepreneurship and corporate recovery.
Founding NexaTech Ventures
In 2024, Scott founded NexaTech Ventures, a venture capital firm with a £100 million fund dedicated to supporting AI and technology startups. His vision was to create a more human kind of venture firm — one that values mentorship, transparency, and founder wellbeing alongside commercial success.
NexaTech’s portfolio focuses on AI applications in healthcare, finance, logistics, and creative industries, with an emphasis on ethical use and sustainability. Under Scott’s leadership, the firm combines financial investment with practical guidance, helping founders navigate the emotional and operational challenges of early-stage growth.
For Scott, NexaTech is more than a fund — it’s a reflection of his belief that technology can improve lives when it’s grounded in empathy, ethics, and social purpose.
Advocacy, Mental Health, and Prison Reform
While business success defined one chapter of Scott’s life, advocacy defines the next.
Having lived with Complex PTSD, severe anxiety, and depression, Scott has spoken candidly about the mental-health struggles that many in business silently endure. He believes that sharing such experiences is essential to breaking stigma and promoting compassion in leadership.
He trained as a Samaritan, working directly with people in crisis, and has used his public platform to promote better mental-health awareness across workplaces. His writing often examines the human cost of burnout, trauma, and systemic neglect — encouraging leaders to see empathy not as a weakness, but as a strategic strength.
Scott’s advocacy took a new direction following his own experiences within the UK civil justice system. His imprisonment in 2024 as a civil prisoner for contempt of court gave him first-hand insight into the failures of the system, especially its treatment of non-violent offenders, individuals with mental-health conditions, and those caught in procedural rather than criminal issues.
He witnessed overcrowding, underfunding, and the lack of appropriate mental-health care within the prison system. Since his release, Scott has worked to raise awareness of the inequities facing civil prisoners, who are often excluded from government early-release schemes and support programs.
Through his writing and media appearances, he advocates for civil justice reform — calling for proportional sentencing, better access to mental-health services in custody, and rehabilitation policies based on humanity rather than punishment. His campaign seeks to shine a light on an overlooked area of the British justice system, urging policymakers and the public alike to reconsider how society defines justice, mercy, and accountability.
This strand of his work — merging personal experience with public advocacy — has made Scott an emerging voice in the national conversation about mental health, fairness, and reform. He continues to collaborate with journalists, legal professionals, and community leaders to encourage policy change and public empathy for those the system too easily forgets.
Philanthropy and Community
Scott’s dedication to community service predates his advocacy work. Together with his mother mum, sister and brothers, he made a major donation to The Beehive Community Centre in Honiton, Devon, in memory of his late aunt Wendy Woodcombe, who was a beloved figure in the town.
That donation enabled the centre to reopen after the COVID-19 lockdowns, restoring vital local services. A commemorative plaque and bench were unveiled in Wendy’s honour — a testament to Scott’s ongoing connection to the people and places that shaped his values.
For Scott, philanthropy is not about visibility; it’s about impact. His giving focuses on mental health initiatives, rehabilitation projects, and community support, all rooted in his belief that compassion and accountability should guide both personal and professional life.
Personal Life
Scott divides his time between Dublin, Barcelona and California, balancing his professional commitments at NexaTech Ventures with a quieter personal life. Despite years of public pressure, media scrutiny, and personal hardship, he continues to find peace in creativity — through music, travel, and time with family.
Having lived in the United States, Spain, France, and the Netherlands, Scott draws inspiration from diverse cultures and perspectives. His favourite place to unwind remains Little Yang Sing, a long-standing restaurant in Manchester’s Chinatown that he has visited since he was 16 — a symbol of continuity amid change.
He credits his family and a close circle of friends for keeping him grounded, particularly during his most difficult years. Their loyalty and kindness, he says, are the foundation of everything that matters.
Looking Forward
Scott Dylan’s work today unites his two worlds — business, mental health advocacy and prison reform. Through NexaTech Ventures, he continues to support ethical innovation and AI investment, while his advocacy seeks to reshape how society understands justice, rehabilitation, and compassion.
He is writing a book on his experience of the prison system and developing a series of essays and op-eds on civil justice reform, mental health in the prison system, and the ethics of technology in governance, as part of a broader campaign to bring these issues to public attention. His long-term aim is to encourage legislation that acknowledges the humanity of civil prisoners and creates fairer pathways toward rehabilitation.
Scott believes redemption is not only possible but essential. His philosophy is simple:
“No one should be defined forever by their lowest moment. Systems should heal, not harm. True progress is measured by how we treat those who have fallen.”
In everything he does — whether investing in startups or advocating for reform — Scott Dylan works to turn adversity into understanding, and experience into impact.
To read verified Scott Dylan facts and clarifications, visit the Clarifications page
