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 Oxfordshire based Founder operating in the Information Technology space. If you think a Founder 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.
Colin Cooper
Sage People Vice President & Founder of Sage Group
Colin Cooper serves as sage people vice president and founder at The Sage Group.
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About Sage Group: Sage Group provides small and medium sized company business management software and services.
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Harish Bhaskaran
Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Bodle Technologies
Harish is the academic founder of Bodle Technologies (with Peiman) and serves as its Director and Chief Scientific Officer, acting also as its founding executive until Jan 2016. He is an Associate Professor of Materials at the University of Oxford, where he leads the Advanced Nanoscale Engineering Group. A former researcher at IBM Research, Harish has worked in both industry and academia over the past 15 years, including in product development under joint development agreements. His research has most recently focused on novel applications of phase change materials and on the manufacturing of nanoscale components.
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About Bodle Technologies, University of Oxford: Developing SRD® technology for a low-power display of vivid colours that doesn’t look washed out in bright conditions
David Fyfe
Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Bodle Technologies
David is a founder and Executive Chairman of Bodle Technologies. His career spans several top management positions in both Europe and the United States, and he has held board positions in several firms over the years. As Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge Display Technologies (CDT), he took a laboratory-based spin-off to a NASDAQ flotation and a subsequent $285m trade sale. David is also the Executive Chairman of Oxford Photovoltaics. As a resident of Jacksonville, Florida, David also serves on the board of Cambridge in America foundation.
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About Bodle Technologies: Developing SRD® technology for a low-power display of vivid colours that doesn’t look washed out in bright conditions
Peiman Hosseini
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer of Bodle Technologies
Peiman is a founder and Chief Technology Officer of Bodle. As a postdoctoral researcher at Oxford, he demonstrated the use of ultrathin functional materials in electro-optical applications, setting up Bodle Technologies with Harish to commercialize this invention. He was a member of the RAEng Enterprise Hub in 2014 and has won numerous awards for this technology including the Printed Electronics R&D Academic Award. Pei leads the technology development and with the other management team members helps define business and development strategy.
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About Bodle Technologies, Bodle Technologies: Developing SRD® technology for a low-power display of vivid colours that doesn’t look washed out in bright conditions
Darryl Mattocks
Co-Founder & Managing Director of Enistic
Darryl Mattocks is Co-Founder & Managing Director at Enistic.
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About Enistic: Enistic designs and manufactures its own range of smart-meters, software and end-to-end aM&T solutions.
Sharon Pursey
Co-Founder, Head of Strategic Alliances of SafeToNet
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About SafeToNet: SafeToNet makes the digital world safer for children to explore and enjoy.
David Grimes
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sorted Group
David Grimes is the founder and CEO of Sorted Group, formerly My Parcel Delivery Group.
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About MPD Group, myParcelDelivery, Sorted Group: Sorted Group is a global SaaS company that provides data-driven software for checkouts, warehouses, and shipping.
Henry Snaith
Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder of Oxford PV
In December 2010, Professor Henry Snaith co-founded Oxford Photovoltaics to commercialise the solar technology transferred from his laboratory at the University of Oxford. Henry undertook his PhD in organic photovoltaics at the University of Cambridge. Following his PhD, he spent two years at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) as a post-doc, where his research focused on developing the technology behind and understanding of the operation of solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. In 2012, Henry was awarded the Paterson medal and prize by the Institute of Physics for his important contributions to the field of excitonic solar cells. The following year his discovery of high efficiency metal halide perovskite photovoltaics was recognised as one of the top breakthroughs of 2013 by Science. In 2013, Nature named Henry for its list of ten people who mattered, in recognition of his work on next generation solar power technology and was one of the youngest ever elected Fellow of The Royal Society in 2015. In 2017, he was named a Clarivate Citation Laureate and in 2018 he received the UK Blavatnik Awards Laureate in physical sciences. In addition to his role as Chief Scientific Officer at Oxford PV today, Henry also leads the Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics Device Group at the University of Oxford.
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About Oxford PV: Oxford PV is a provider of perovskite solar cells.
Stuart Mclean
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of Zonal Retail Data Systems
Stuart Mclean is the Founder & CEO of Zonal Retail Data Systems & he attended Middlesex University.
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About Zonal Retail Data Systems: Zone Retail Data Systems provides technology solutions to the bar, restaurant, retail, hotel, and leisure industry.
Ivo Sluganovic
Co-Founder of PhishAR
Ivo Sluganovic is a Co-Founder at PhishAR.
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About PhishAR, Skillset, Vibby: PhishAR is a computer network and security company that specializes in the fields of artificial intelligence and augmented reality.
Will Brocklebank
Founder & Chairman of Shepherd Network
Prior to founding Shepherd, Will spent a decade as the CEO of a leading systems integration company which he founded in 2005. He has spoken at Smart Buildings conferences & been featured in a range of leading trade magazines. Will is a serial entrepreneur who holds an MA from Edinburgh University and is an alumnus of the Goldman Sachs 10k SB programme.
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About Shepherd Network: Shepherd Network uses predictive analytics and machine learning to monitor connected building systems and alert users to potential losses.
Mini De Silva
Founder & MD of Interim Assistance Ltd
Mini De Silva, founder of Interim Assistance Ltd. Mini brings more than 20 years experience of working for leading technology companies, including the senior positions of Regional Financial Controller for Computer Associates & International Financial Controller for StorageNetworks. An MBA and a qualified Chartered Management Accountant, she left corporate life and set up Interim Assistance 9 years ago to support entrepreneurial start up businesses as she felt that these types of companies need guidance and proactive help at a much higher level than provided by typical accountancy firms. Her experience and qualifications cover all aspects of managing Finance, HR and administration in organisations from small scale operations to International companies that need help with understanding cross border rules and implications of expansion into the UK and Europe. She has had significant exposure to the benefits and associated problems with implementing and managing employee share schemes and can offer help with compliance or assistance in setting up tax efficient schemes. Having personally worked in the Enterprise environment in addition to setting up her own business from scratch she understands the issues and challenges faced by both types of organisations in adhering to statutory compliance whilst trying to run a business. Mini brings all of this experience to Interim Assistance and continues to grow and develop the service offerings that the Company provides . She is also Chairman of Clark Howes Group.
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About Interim Assistance Ltd: Interim Assistance provides accounting and back office services to UK start ups, small businesses and Enterprise clients.
Matthew Ritchie
Co-Founder & CFO of Dendra Systems
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About Dendra Systems: We equip you with the data and tools to restore biodiverse ecosystems at scale.
Simon Wheeldon
Co-Founder and COO of CloudApps
Simon is a co-founder of CloudApps and is responsible for Professional Services Delivery and Corporate Strategy. Prior to founding CloudApps, Simon spent 4 years at Salesforce.com leading the adoption of the pioneering Force.com platform across EMEA. Under Simon’s guidance the Force.com platform in Europe grew to be a multi-million dollar business. With over 20 years experience in the software industry, Simon was responsible for the widespread sales and adoption of the Force.com platform; helping numerous Salesforce.com’s customers to build and sell their very own Software-as-a-Service applications. Prior to joining Salesforce.com Simon was responsible for the financial services business at Siebel Systems in the UK. Previously, he has held senior positions at Business Objects and Accenture. Simon has a BSc in Computer Science from Bristol University. He is married with two children and lives in Oxfordshire, UK.
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About CloudApps: CloudApps increases sales performance by motivating more of your high-value, winning sales behaviours
Anthony Day
Co-Founder & Board Member of CloudApps
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About CloudApps: CloudApps increases sales performance by motivating more of your high-value, winning sales behaviours
Jason Lee
Founder & CEO of illumr
Jason is a visionary leader with a passion for emergent technologies. He has a proven track record of identifying early-stage, high-growth technology markets and executing business as a first-mover. He co-founded one of the first internet companies in the UK, which won a global award delivering to an international blue-chip client base. His background is in designing electronic, computer and software systems for the oil & aerospace industries. Jason holds a 1st Class MEng (Hons) from Aston University.
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About Founders Pledge, illumr: illumr helps organizations to better understand and predict patterns of behavior that affect them.
Daniel Mitchell
Co-Founder, CEO of Hivemind
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About Hivemind: Data science and technology company specialising in the application of human and machine intelligence to complex unstructured data problems
Zachary Yerushalmi
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Living Optics
Zachary Yerushalmi is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Living Optics.
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About Circadian Therapeutics, Living Optics: Living Optics is an imaging technology company.
Phil Barry
Founder and CEO of Blokur
Phil Barry joined Blokur as Founder in 2016.
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About Blokur: Blokur is a tech company that empowers Internet of Creators using blockchain technology.
Simon Himmens-Warrick
Co-Founder & Product Manager of Historic Futures
Simon co-founded Historic Futures and has been working on the development of technology to enable improved data flow in value-chains for well over a decade. During that time he has travelled to those parts of the world where things actually get made today, to understand the real-life challenges of delivering technology solutions that fit with how people work.
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About Historic Futures: Historic Futures Limited are recognised experts in supply-chain traceability with world leading technologies and consulting expertise.
James World
Co-Founder of Tungl
James World joined Imburse as Solution Architect in 2021.
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About Imburse, Tungl: Tungl is a tech assessment platform designed to streamline tech recruitment and enable data driven hiring decisions.
Sean Miller
Co Founder & CEO of Tubular
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About Jyst Creative, Tubular: A sales tracking, collaboration, and workflow platform for sales teams.
Chris Allen
Co-Founder and Chief of Sales and Marketing of Licenseware
Chris Allen is the Co-Founder and Chief of Sales and Marketing at Licenseware.
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About Licenseware: The PAYG SAM App Ecosystem – What you need, when you need it.
Mike Morgan
Founder & CEO of Peoplevalue Ltd
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About Peoplevalue Ltd: Motivation solutions for companies in the UK and Europe.
Andy Wilkins
Co-Founder & Partner of Perspectiv
Andy Wilkins has more than 20 years’ experience helping people, teams and organizations significantly improve their performance. He has delivered more than 450 programs, workshops and coaching sessions for international companies in 11 countries. In 1997, Andy co founded Perspectiv, a research, consulting and training company specializing in the use of creative problem solving, strategy, leadership, and team development methodologies to help change and growth. Before that, he worked for 16 years at international IT companies as director of innovation and change, business unit managing director and director of strategy and marketing. Andy is also an Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow at Cass Business School in London on various MBA and MSc courses on innovation and management. He is currently working with the Business School on the delivery of the new master’s program in Creativity, Innovation and Leadership. Andy is researching the leadership approach necessary for dealing with “wicked problems” to help organizations better understand how to get the most from their methods.
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About Cass Business School, Perspectiv: Perspectiv is a consulting and training company, combining proven methodologies with practical application to enable organisations.
Andy Wilkins
Co-Founder & Partner of Perspectiv
Andy Wilkins has more than 20 years’ experience helping people, teams and organizations significantly improve their performance. He has delivered more than 450 programs, workshops and coaching sessions for international companies in 11 countries. In 1997, Andy co founded Perspectiv, a research, consulting and training company specializing in the use of creative problem solving, strategy, leadership, and team development methodologies to help change and growth. Before that, he worked for 16 years at international IT companies as director of innovation and change, business unit managing director and director of strategy and marketing. Andy is also an Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow at Cass Business School in London on various MBA and MSc courses on innovation and management. He is currently working with the Business School on the delivery of the new master’s program in Creativity, Innovation and Leadership. Andy is researching the leadership approach necessary for dealing with “wicked problems” to help organizations better understand how to get the most from their methods.
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About Cass Business School, Perspectiv: Perspectiv is a consulting and training company, combining proven methodologies with practical application to enable organisations.
Paul Mellor
Founder of Racketware
With a first class honours degree in Electronic Engineering, and Ph.D. in Computer Science, Paul spent his early career doing in research at HP Labs. He went on to build and run a large development team working on 3G mobile for Lucent Technologies, before becoming CTO for Vicorp working in speech services. Now founder of Racketware, he specialises in sensor fusion, inertial navigation, and machine learning.
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About Racketware: RacketWare provides a high performance electronic sensor that fits seamlessly into the handle of your racket.
Christopher Hockley
Co-Founder and CTO of Cocoasoft
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About Cocoasoft, Wave Marketing: Cocoasoft is a software development firm that has developed and maintains a third party email application for the iPhone.
