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 Video Games 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.
Frank Sagnier
CEO of Codemasters
Frank has been in the games industry for over 20 years. He started at Acclaim Entertainment as Head of European Marketing. He then moved to Electronic Arts Limited where he successfully managed the European marketing and Third-Party Publishing teams. Frank was also part of the global leadership team that drove the company into the online and mobile era. After many years in the corporate world Frank spent several years running a number of game development studios backed by venture capital firms and focused solely on digital free-to-play business models. Frank joined Codemasters in 2014, when he was recruited as Chief Executive Officer to implement the Group’s strategy. Frank is also an Ambassador for BAFTA Games and a Vice President of ‘SpecialEffect’, a UK based charity which uses video games and technology to enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities.
Follow Frank Sagnier:
About Codemasters: Codemasters is a developer and publisher of interactive entertainment products for a global audience across multiple gaming platforms.
_______
Wil Stephens
Founder, CEO of Fusebox Games
Wil is a Welsh entrepreneur with extensive experience of building transformational businesses in media and interactive entertainment. Wil is currently CEO of Fusebox Games, an interactive entertainment company he co-founded in 2016 that develops and publishes mobile games based on hit TV shows. Wil founded his first business aged 23 and as CEO of Cube TV, led the company to win BAFTAs and Broadcast Digital Awards for their ground-breaking interactive and TV formats. After growing Cube TV to offices in Cardiff and London, he joined the leadership team at New York based video streaming company Boxee to build out their international business, later acquired by Samsung. Wil is an investor in the media and interactive entertainment industry through his holding company, Closs Holdings.
Follow Wil Stephens:
About Cube Interactive, Fusebox Games: Live the stories you love with Fusebox Games.
Sam Mathews
Founder & CEO of Fnatic
Sam Mathews is an entrepreneur most known for his exploits in the gaming community. Best known for founding Fnatic, the worlds number 1 professional gaming team, managing over 25 professional video gamers with big name sponsors such as title sponsor MSI. He founded UGAME in 2008, a focused social network providing a complete gamer profile, as well as linking niche gaming content sites together through one user base and offering a platform to share user content around gaming.
Follow Sam Mathews:
About Fnatic: Leading esports performance.
James Draper
Founder and CEO of Bidstack
From Bidstack.com: James founded Bidstack in 2015 utilising more than 15 years of commercial experience to launch his own business. Since the initial launch he has seen the company grow from a one man operation to an international business which trades on the London Stock Exchange. Under his stewardship, Bidstack became the first ever Crowdcube funded company to go public and he pivoted the business into gaming in 2017. James leads the business as a whole and is responsible for the company’s direction, growth, development, and vision.
Follow James Draper:
About Bidstack: Bidstack empowers brands to place advertising into spaces that sit naturally within video games.
Dominic Wheatley
CEO of Catalis
Co-Founder & CEO at Bright Things .
Follow Dominic Wheatley:
About Bright Things, Catalis: Catalis provides high-end technical services relating to the creation of digital content for the digital media & entertainment industries.
Thomas Fairey
Founder & CEO of Stakester
Follow Thomas Fairey:
About Stakester: Stakester is a mobile first skill-based competition platform that enables competitors to compete with each other for prizes.
Henrique Olifiers
Co-Founder, Gamer-In-Chief (CEO) of Bossa Studios
Henrique Olifiers Co-founded and leads Bossa Studios, a multiple award-winning games company in London, makers of the BAFTA-winning Monstermind, Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread, amongst several other titles across all digital platforms. Bossa is also a leading Virtual Reality studio in Europe, hosting VR Meetups for the past three years. As a hobbyist, Henrique is a Maker passionate about 3D printing materials, robotics and human-machine interfaces.
Follow Henrique Olifiers:
About Bossa Studios: Bossa Studios is a games developer and publisher, creators of BAFTA-winning Monstermind, Surgeon Simulator and Worlds Adrift.
Chris Adams
Chief Executive Officer of OTHERWORLD
Chris Adams is the Chief Executive Officer at The Dream Corporation.
Follow Chris Adams:
About OTHERWORLD: The brick-and-mortar metaverse. An island paradise in the cloud reached through a growing network of multi-sensory immersion pods.
Noor Alkhadra
Founder & CEO of WeGeek
Follow Noor Alkhadra:
About WeGeek: We are passionate geeks who take great pleasure in bringing gamers together by creating AWESOME gaming events.
Paul Sulyok
Founder & CEO of Green Man Gaming
Paul is the Founder and CEO of Green Man Gaming, an award-winning global eCommerce technology company in the video games industry. His disruptive innovation and entrepreneurship has driven the company’s fast growth success from a team of three working with just 26 publishers in 2010 to a multi-million pound company today with over 100 staff and over 700 publisher partners. From its headquarters in Kings Cross, London, the company offers gamers in 195 countries a wide catalogue of digital games on its store, a social platform for the community and a games publishing business. Through Paul’s leadership, Green Man Gaming has also been able to leverage its technology and build strong partnerships with leading hardware manufacturers such as Intel®, Lenovo and HP. As an already distinguished business leader, Paul is passionate about raising the profile of British businesses and technology internationally. He believes in the truly immersive and engaging power of video games as an unrivalled form of entertainment and strives to promote the benefits of the industry at every opportunity. Before Green Man Gaming, Paul founded Prizefight, a video games and betting hybrid, and built customised algorithmic trading engines for the cash equity markets. He was also a management consultant, a banker and an Officer in HM Forces.
Follow Paul Sulyok:
About Green Man Gaming: Green Man Gaming is a global pure play e-commerce and technology business in the video games industry.
Steve Cottam
CEO of AntStream Arcade
Steve Cottam – CEO – Steve, a self confessed technophile and lifelong gamer foresaw the streaming revolution long before most others in the industry had released its potential. Steve envisaged Antstream as the destination for gamers and IP owners alike, creating the ultimate platform for the preservation and enjoyment of classic gaming content that would otherwise have been lost for the vast majority of people. Steve’s vision, determination and passion have allowed him to build an equally committed and talented team that are literally preserving tens of thousands of games from decades past.
Follow Steve Cottam:
About AntStream Arcade: The de facto retro games platform. With 1000 games ready to play, you can enjoy old console, arcade and computer classics on most devices
John Earner
Co-Founder & CEO of Space Ape
John Earner brings extensive expertise in online gaming to his role as vice president of product management at Playfish, where he oversees the daily service operation of the company’s growing portfolio of live popular social games. Prior to Playfish, John was with Sony Computer Entertainment America where he designed the micro-transaction business model for PlayStation Home, Sony’s free-to-play virtual community, which he also helped launch. John also was a project leader at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a leading strategy consulting firm, where his role focused on online gaming. Before BCG, John was an officer in the United States Navy. John earned a MBA from University of California at Berkeley and holds a Bachelor of Science from Stanford University.
Follow John Earner:
About Playfish, Space Ape: Space Ape is a mobile gaming company dedicated to creating the highest quality games for players.
Mitchell Smallman
Co-Founder & CEO of Pocket Burger Games
Mitchell Smallman is the Co-Founder and CEO at Pocket Burger Games.
Follow Mitchell Smallman:
About Pocket Burger Games: Pocket Burger is dedicated to discovering, creating and building new genres in the mobile games space.
Callum Brighting
CEO of Netspeak Games
Running Netspeak Games. Diversity, Inclusion and Creativity are our pillars. Always looking to talk about games, technology and people. Previous: Improbable, Bloomberg, Kuju, Traveller’s Tales
Follow Callum Brighting:
About Netspeak Games: Netspeak Games operates as a zero-crunch studio that develops online multiplayer games.
Sophia Hayes
Founder & CEO of Gamer Guides
Sophia Hayes is Founder & CEO at Gamer Guides.
Follow Sophia Hayes:
About Gamer Guides: Gamer Guides is a comprehensive game database and publisher of interactive digital strategy guides for video games.
Harvey Elliott
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of PlayStack
Harvey is an industry leader whose 20 year career spans EA, Acclaim Entertainment and Marmalade, where he led two successful capital raises. He recently finished his 4 year tenure as Chair of the BAFTA games committee. Now CEO and Founder at PlayStack, a new and exciting games publisher. Leveraging the team’s experience in games, entertainment and finance to redefine the way in which games are funded, developed, enjoyed and shared. The objective is to actively work with the team to select the games that can be published; tailoring the funding model to support each game and identifying the creative and technical innovations that will drive game adoption, build community and deliver success.
Follow Harvey Elliott:
About PlayStack: PlayStack is a company that helps developers in end-to-end funding, publishing expertise, and technology to develop the next big game.
Douglas Lloyd
CEO & Co-Founder of Macademia
Follow Douglas Lloyd:
About Macademia: Macademia is an award-winning global EdTech company providing educational programming and games for children.
Rob Gay
CEO and Co-founder of Venatus
Follow Rob Gay:
About Venatus: Venatus is a global advertising technology platform, focused on gaming and entertainment.
Jon Hare
CEO of Tower Studios
Follow Jon Hare:
About Tower Studios: Tower Studios develops games for android and iOS platforms.
Michiel Bakker
CEO of Ginx TV
CEO GINX Esports TV.
Follow Michiel Bakker:
About Ginx TV: Ginx TV, founded in 2008, is a UK-based international media company dedicated to the creation of videogaming TV channels around the world.
