François Valencony is a seasoned board director, CEO and senior healthcare professional known for his expertise across life sciences and healthcare technology. He is currently the Chief Investment and Business Officer of General Inception, a platform that actively partners with inventors to ignite innovation and create transformational companies in deeptech and life sciences, offering domain expertise, seasoned executive talent, infrastructure resources, and capital to nurture company growth from inception.

François was previously a senior executive at Institut Mérieux, holding multiple senior roles since 2003. His most senior position was as the CEO of Mérieux Equity Partners from 2009 to 2022, an investment platform within Institut Mérieux which he formed and led. He also held multiple senior executive roles in Institut Mérieux’s diagnostic and vaccine business units. Previously, he was a senior executive at G-F-X, a software company based in London, now part of the Descartes Group, where he was instrumental in the company’s growth from its formation through to its international expansion.

Francois began his career with Schneider Electric in North America, focusing on M&A and strategic initiatives, He is an active board member having served on multiple private healthcare companies globally. His current board roles include Abbelight, Bioscellis, Enable Medicine and Tavira Therapeutics. He is also personally engaged in several non-for-profit initiatives, in France and abroad. François graduated from HEC Paris and holds a master’s degree from Köln University (CEMS) in Germany.