Harry Nelis
Harry is all too aware of what it’s like to be in a founder’s shoes. Prior to joining Accel back in 2004 as one of the first members of the London office, Harry founded his own venture-backed software company. When looking for the next wave of founders to back, he’s drawn to curiosity, a disregard for how things are usually done and a huge amount of perseverance.
At Accel, Harry has recently led investments in Gravity Sketch and Taxdoo and his current portfolio includes some of Europe’s most successful private technology companies such as Celonis, CHECK24, Miro, Personio,and Zepz (formerly WorldRemit Group). Harry has seen his portfolio companies IPO on three continents, including French online fashion retailer Showroomprive.com and KAYAK. In addition, Harry was responsible for Accel’s investment in Instana, which was acquired by IBM at the end of 2020.
Harry has a PhD in Electrical Engineering and, after graduating, moved to Silicon Valley to work as an Engineer at Hewlett Packard before founding his own company and then becoming an investor. Outside of work, Harry is an avid runner, film buff and trumpet player.
