Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top London based CEO’ operating in the Renewable Energy space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Hayden Wood
Co-founder / CEO of Bulb
Hayden co-founded Bulb with Amit Gudka in 2015 with a mission to reduce people’s bills and cut carbon emissions. Today Bulb has over 1 million members, supplies 100% green electricity and 100% carbon neutral gas and was recently named the fastest growing private company in the country.
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About Bulb: Bulb provides affordable renewable energy for homes and businesses.
Joanna Hubbard
Co-Founder and CEO of Electron
Jo-Jo Hubbard is the co-founder and COO of Electron, one of the original energy tech firms to harness blockchain technology for transactive grid systems. She is a thought leader on the topic of digital energy and a frequent keynote speaker at energy and technology events. Her previous experience includes renewable energy investment banking, cleantech VC, and strategy consulting at McKinsey & Co. Jo-Jo sits on advisory boards for several UK utilities on digital transformation and community trading models and writes for international publications on these topics.
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About Electron: Electron is accelerating the energy industry’s transition to Net Zero by making granular, market-based interactions possible.
Frans van den Heuvel
CEO of Solarcentury
Frans van den Heuvel is the CEO at Solarcentury.
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About Solarcentury: Solarcentury develops, constructs, owns and operates utility-scale solar and smart technology across Europe, Latin America and Africa.
Nick Boyle
Founder and CEO of Lightsource Renewable Energy
In 2010, Nick founded Lightsource Renewable Energy, then just a six-person start-up, which quickly grew over 5 years to become Europe’s largest solar developer and operator and a recognised global leader. In his role as Group CEO, Nick’s dynamic leadership and vision has driven the company to tremendous success and in December 2017, Lightsource announced a strategic partnership with BP which has committed aggressively to accelerate the low carbon transition. The company has rebranded to Lightsource BP in affirmation of this powerhouse commitment which is set to shape the future of global energy delivery. Nick previously sat at Board and Senior Director level in a number of leading retail financial service companies. Throughout his career, Nick has always been recognised for his entrepreneurial skill and success in pairing retail financial products with low-risk, predictable investments.
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About Lightsource Renewable Energy: Lightsource is a provider of ground and rooftop solar installations in the UK.
Riccardo Segat
Founder & CEO of Amplio Group
During his career, Riccardo has worked on a number of private equity deals across Europe, which required international complex financial structuring. He was partner of AMP Private Capital a large international insurance company managing USD 2 billion of private capital in Europe, Asia and Australia. Prior to this, Riccardo was a Principal at Compass Partners, a USD 1 billion LBO fund focused on acquisition of non-core assets from large international corporations. Riccardo started his career in the Investment Banking group of Merrill Lynch in London and the Equity Capital Group at GE Capital.
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About Amplio Group, Envirogen Group, ReGen Future Planet: Amplio Group invests in renewable energy, alternative fuels, filtrations, recycling, environmental services and specialty care enterprises.
Nigel Pocklington
Chief Executive Officer of Good Energy
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About Good Energy: Good Energy is a British renewable electricity company with a difference.
Laurence Kemball-Cook
CEO and Founder of Pavegen
Laurence is CEO and Founder of Pavegen Systems – a clean-technology company that generate electricity from footsteps. Winner of over 20 awards, including International Businessman of the Year at the PEA Awards 2013, Laurence is a renowned thought leader and worldwide speaker on entrepreneurship and innovation. He is acclaimed by The Guardian for “shifting perceptions of renewable energy.” Having spoken at more TED talks than any other technology company, Laurence’s TEDxBerlin presentation was featured among TED’s top talks on envisioning cities of the future and changing attitudes to fossil fuels. Clients include Google, Cisco, Nike, Adidas and the Federal US government and technology has been adopted in over 200 sites around the globe.
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About Pavegen: Pavegen is the global leader in harvesting energy and data from footfall.
Axel Thiemann
Chief Executive Officer of Sonnedix
Axel Thiemann became CEO of Sonnedix in September 2018 after serving as a member of the senior leadership team and Board of Directors. Since joining Sonnedix in 2011, Axel has played a fundamental role in its evolution, initially based in London, as COO with responsibility for Asset Management, Finance, HR and E&C, and more recently based in Miami, overseeing M&A, integration and strategy during a four year period when the company experienced five-fold growth. Prior to joining Sonnedix, Axel spent seven years in banking and held various senior roles with Barclays Bank in London. Before this he was a consultant with McKinsey and Company in Cologne, Germany. Axel graduated as an Electrical Engineer from Hannover University in Germany and holds an MBA from IESE Business School, Spain. To Axel, the most special thing about Sonnedix is its team of bright and passionate people across four continents that have come together to create a sustainable future for the world.
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About Sonnedix: Sonnedix Solar is a global power producer dedicated to produce low-carbon solar energy for the future.
Pradeep Pursnani
Chief Executive Officer of Konexa
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About Industry Capital, Konexa: Konexa is an energy company that engages in the development and long-term management of integrated utility projects and renewable assets.
Nick Thain
Strategic Advisor to CEO of 85 Degrees Renewable
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About 85 Degrees Renewable: 85 Degrees is a renewable energy business formed to identify and develop high-quality geothermal projects.
Miloš Milisavljević
CEO of Strawberry energy
Miloš Milisavljević is a Founder & CEO at Strawberry energy.
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About Serbian Association of Managers, Strawberry energy: Strawberry energy develops smart green urban devices in order to improve our everyday lives in cities.
Yohei Kiguchi
Co-Founder & CEO of Enechange
Graduated from the University of Tokyo and Oxford graduate school. Joined Milog in 2009. He participated as a co-founder. Joined Cambridge Energy Data Lab in 2013. Jointly joined as a co-founder and data scientist. Joined ENECHANGE in 2015. He participated as a co-founder. Joined SMAP Energy in 2016. He participated as a co-founder. Was elected in 2017 Forbes Europe as 30 entrepreneurs under the age of 30 (“FORBES 30 UNDER 30 EUROPE”).
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About Cambridge Energy Data Lab, Enechange, SMAP Energy: ENECHANGE is the technology-focused multi-national energy ventures.
Matthew Timms
Chief Digital and Technology Officer & CEO of E.ON
Matthew Timms is the chief digital and technology officer at E.ON.
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About E.ON: E.ON is an international, privately owned energy supplier.
Mansoor Hamayun
Chief Executive Officer of BBOXX
Mansoor is a graduate from Imperial College London where he obtained honours (M.Eng) degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering. He was the founder and the first Chairman of ‘e.quinox’ 2008 and co-founded BBOXX in 2010. Mansoor is responsible for the global strategy of BBOXX which includes HR, new markets and industrial partnerships. Mansoor has professional leadership experience in the Engineering/Customer Service Sector with Rolls-Royce plc in the UK and Hong Kong. Mansoor spends considerable amount of time in the market attempting to create the framework and partnerships necessary to fulfil the social aim of the business i.e. mass electrification.
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About BBOXX: BBOXX designs, manufactures, and distributes plug and play solar systems.
Ron Kastner
Founder / CEO of Future Spectrum
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About Future Spectrum: Future Spectrum is an independent wind energy developer involved in creating environmentally-sensitive wind farms.
Pawel Kisielewski
Chief Executive Officer of CCm Technologies
Pawel Kisielewski is the chief executive officer of CCm Technologies.
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About CCm Technologies: CCm Technologies is an environmental technology company that focuses on resource optimisation.
Darius Maikstenas
CEO of Ignitis group
Darius Maikstenas is the CEO and chairman of the board at Ignitis group. He was the Founder and CEO of Widerfi.
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About Ignitis group: Ignitis Group is an international energy corporation that manufactures, distributes, supplies, and provides various energy-related services.
Derya Baran
CEO of Iyris
Derya is an assistant professor at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. The technology which powers Iyris was born from her research group. Derya has a scientific background in efficient organic photovoltaics where she is renowned amongst the research community.
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About Iyris: Iyris is creating the glass technology.
Tom Mason
Co-Founder and CEO of Bramble Energy
Tom has led the engineering and manufacturing development of the PCBFC since 2013. He was involved in the development of the PCBFC whilst working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at UCL. With initial proof of concept shown, Tom was appointed as the technical lead of an InnovateUK funded manufacturing project (101979). As a co-founder of Bramble Energy Tom joined the company as a director and Chief Technology Officer when the company spun-out of the universities in late 2016 before moving to the role of CEO in September 2017. With close to 10 years of electrochemistry experience, Tom is the foremost authority on all things PCBFC. Tom’s appointment to the role of CEO brings a fresh approach to leading the Bramble Energy team.
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About Bramble Energy: Bramble Energy is an innovator energy technology company that designs and manufactures high-performance, low-cost, and fuel cell stack
Arthur Hanna
Senior Advisor & CEO of World Energy Council
Board member Copenhagen Institute of Future Studies. Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at Loughborough University. Fellow, Payne Institute, Colorado School of Mines. Responsible for supporting a number of agendas focusing on the development of strategies to promote energy transition across multiple energy sources. Arthur retired from Accenture in 2016 after 26 years working in the Energy consulting sector. He was a Senior Managing Director, leading the Global Energy Strategy business. Prior to joining Accenture in 1990 he spent 10 years with BP in a variety of international roles spanning the Middle East and Europe.
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About World Energy Council: World Energy Council is a UN-accredited global energy body dedicated to delivering a sustainable energy system worldwide.
Brian Menell
Chief Executive Officer of TechMet Limited
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About TechMet Limited: TechMet – Securing the critical metals for the global technology revolution
Isabel Boira Segarra
CEO of Future Earth Energy
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About Future Earth Energy: A technology agnostic partner for local renewable energy projects .
Art Russell
Chief Executive Officer of VivoPower
Art is an experienced CFO with over 25 years of global experience in financial management, business performance improvement and turnaround across a diverse range of industry sectors. He has worked extensively in the private equity investment space, on both sides of the investment transaction. Art was previously CFO of APC Technology Group PLC, a business listed on AIM of the London Stock Exchange, successfully turning around the business following significant loss, near business collapse, and management change. APC provides design, specification, and distribution of specialist electronic components and systems, lighting technologies and connectivity products to the defense, aerospace, industrial, real estate, logistics and healthcare sectors. Prior to joining APC, Art was CFO of a UK based KKR private equity investment in the aviation sector, responsible for financial management of a £250m turnover international business through to successful exit to a FTSE 100 PLC. Previous experience includes ten years as Senior Vice President & CFO of a SME private equity investment firm in North America, responsible for all M&A activity, financing, and portfolio management. Prior to this, Art led finance for a private equity backed international marine and fuel distribution company, joining that business after eight years in audit, tax, and financial advisory services at Deloitte. Art holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta. He is qualified as a Chartered Accountant in both the United Kingdom and Canada.
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About VivoPower: VivoPower provides renewable energy to customers from solar power assets that it builds, finances and operates.
