About
I'm Steve Scott, Director of Portfolio Development at Digital Science in London. I work with startup founders building tools for scientific research, helping them develop products, build teams, and find their path to market.
What I Do
At Digital Science, I’ve spent over 15 years investing in and mentoring early-stage companies developing solutions for scientific information and research productivity. Through our corporate venture capital arm, I take founders from initial concept through product validation to launch and growth. When needed, I’ve stepped in at C-level to help companies through particularly challenging periods.
I closely manage the relationship between portfolio companies and our corporate parent, striking the balance between oversight and the freedom startups need to innovate. Beyond our main investments (seed through A and B rounds), I also manage the Catalyst Grant award, providing up to £25k to early-stage ideas twice yearly.
A serial entrepreneur myself, I’ve founded or been involved with multiple startups. I’ve defined solutions from commercial, design, and technical perspectives, and built teams in both B2B and B2C environments.
Board Roles
I've served on the boards of several Digital Science portfolio companies:
Current
Non-Executive Director
Writefull
2019 - Present
Non-Executive Director
Overleaf
2014 - Present
Past
Non-Executive Director
Scismic
2020 - 2025
Board Observer
Strateos
2016 - 2025
Non-Executive Director
Gigantum
2017 - 2022
Board Member
Digital Science
2017 - 2019
Mentor & NED / Interim CEO
BioData Ltd (Labguru)
2011 - 2019
COO
Figshare
2016 - 2017
Mentor, Non-Executive Director
ReadCube (Labtiva Inc.)
2011 - 2016
Mentor, Non-Executive Director
BioRAFT
2013 - 2016
Career History
Digital Science
Director of Portfolio Development
2010 - Present
One of the founding management team. Overseen the majority of portfolio investments, taking early-stage founders through to product validation, launch, and growth.
Nature Publishing Group
Head of Online Communities
2009 - 2010
Responsible for all social platforms connected to nature.com (8 million monthly visitors).
Joost
Director of Platform Development
2007 - 2008
At the startup founded by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis (Skype, Kazaa). Implemented joint venture with Tom.com to white-label Joost in China.
Aggregator
Head of UI and Associated Systems
2005 - 2007
Fourth team member at this broadband video startup. Created branding and product specifications that secured VC funding.
Mindhouse
Founder and Managing Director
2001 - 2005
Founded technology enabler for the digital broadcast industry. Built Mindset, a multi-channel service delivery platform. Clients included Turner Broadcasting, BBC, and Channel 4.
Entranet
Head of Interactive Channels
1997 - 2001
Built Interactive Channels team from scratch. Created groundbreaking multi-channel TV, multi-screen, and web services. Developed one of the first commercially enabled services on Telewest's cable platform. Selected by OpenTV to showcase work.
Blackwell Publishers
New Media Manager
1995 - 1997
Instrumental in the company's diversification into New Media. Managed around 30 projects, from transferring encyclopedias to CD-ROM to building searchable abstracts databases for the web.
Simon & Schuster Publishers
Editor
1993 - 1995
Editor on tertiary education titles. Created CD-ROM versions of textbooks including the award-winning WinEcon, an entire first-year undergraduate economics course.
Freelance Editor
Various Publishers
1987 - 1993
Worked with Chambers-Harrap, Churchill Livingstone, and BPE. Copyediting across fiction, reference, medical, and non-fiction. Key researcher on Chambers Encyclopedic Dictionary.
Recent Education
University of Cambridge - Judge Business School
Cambridge Judge Business School, Mini MBA
2012
University of Cambridge - Judge Business School
Generative AI: From Hype to Business Impact
2023
Get in Touch
I'm always interested in hearing from founders building in the scientific research space, or anyone working on interesting problems in publishing, media, or technology.