Jonathan Bean

Jonathan Bean is a deep-tech founder, scientist and investor working at the intersection of AI and advanced materials.

He is Co-Founder & CEO of MatNex (Materials Nexus), an Ai-driven materials discovery company accelerating the design and deployment of next-generation materials for energy, infrastructure and advanced manufacturing. MatNex helps industrial partners shorten R&D cycles, reduce development risk and bring lower-impact materials to market faster. Jonathan has raised £10M+ in seed funding, secured commercial with global industrial partenrs and led deployments focsued on real-world decarbonisation and supply-chain resilience.

Jonathan's background is in computational physics and materials science (PhD). While working as a researcher at the University of Cambridge, he identified the need and opportunity for a fundamentally new materials modelling platform capable of translating advanced theory into scalable industrial outcomes, insight that led to the founding of MatNex. His research has been published in leading journals including Acta Materialia, Physical Review Materials, Acta Biomaterialia, and Scientific Reports, and is widely cited internationally.

Alongside MatNex, Jonathan advises governments, investors and institutions on deep-tech commercialisation and responsible AI adoption. He is an advisor at Connected Places Catapult, an XPRIZE Brains Trust member and prize finalist. He also works with venture funds as a Venture Partner and Scout, supporting early-stage founders building frontier technologies.