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 United Kingdom based CTO’ operating in the Cyber Security space. If you think a CTO’ 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.
Rajiv Mathur
CTO of Chainvine
Dr Rajiv Mathur is the co-founder chief technologist at Chainvine – Blockchain/DLT technology company headquartered in the UK. Dr Mathur has 20 years of extensive industry and academic research experience with numerous years in technology leadership roles both in the UK and internationally with some of the best known companies in the world such as Vodafone, Telefonica, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Nationwide Building Society etc. His experience in the industry has been in technology architecture, fraud detection and security of payments, digital transformation and agile delivery. In addition to his work in the industry, Dr Mathur also comes from an academic research background with his last academic position at Distributed Systems Engineering Research Group within the Computer Science Department at Imperial College London. Dr Mathur has a PhD in Mobile Communications Architecture from University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, UK.
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About Chainvine: Next Generation Enterprise Systems / Identity Access Management (IAM) / Technology Providers Blockchain
Ian McShane
Field CTO of Arctic Wolf
Ian McShane is the Field Chief Technology Officer of Arctic Wolf. Ian has over 20 years experience in cybersecurity and operational IT, with humble beginnings in a tech support call center and live-fire experience leading sysadmin teams for large multi-national organizations. As a former Gartner analyst, Ian has advised the largest and fastest growing technology companies in the world as well as tens of thousands of organizations world-wide. He is well known as a trusted advisor and popular commentator in our industry, and prior to joining Arctic Wolf Ian also spent time in various product leadership end executive roles at Symantec, Endgame, Elastic, and CrowdStrike.
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About Arctic Wolf: Arctic Wolf helps companies end cyber risk by providing security operations as a concierge service.
Edward Bishop
Co-Founder & CTO of Tessian
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About Tessian: Tessian creates a Human Layer Security that helps people work without security disruptions getting in the way.
Ilkka Turunen
Field CTO of Sonatype
Ilkka Turunen is the Field CTO at Sonatype, working at Sonatype in europe. His background is in software and systems engineering, acting as an architect for several commercial projects. He’s helped define everything from the software design to webscale infrastructure architectures and regularly works with companies across the world to understand and improve their software supply chain and continuous delivery pipelines.
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About Sonatype, Sonatype: Sonatype is the developer-friendly full-spectrum software supply chain management platform helps organizations and software developers.
Dominic Forrest
CTO of iProov
Dominic is responsible for the design and development of iProov’s cloud-based infrastructure. Prior to taking up his role with iProov, Dominic was the Senior Vice President of Engineering at mBlox Inc., where he managed a team of fifty developers over three continents, responsible for developing and scaling the platform so that it could seamlessly run over 6 billion transactions per year. Prior to mBlox, Dominic had over fifteen years’ experience in a number of senior roles within UK Telcos and ISPs. This included the responsibly for the Architecture and design of voice, transmission and IP networks for NTL, followed by the launch and growth of the company‘s broadband service to over 2 million customers.
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About iProov: iProov develops face authentication technology for online identity verification by global banks and governments.
Yogesh Patel
CTO & Head of AI Research of Callsign
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About Callsign: Delivering digital trust through simple secure customer interactions
Chris Goddard
CTO of G-Research
Chris Goddard is the Chief Technology Officer at G-Research.
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About G-Research: G-Research is a research and technology company that specializes in Quantitative Research and IT Infrastructure.
Niall Burns
Chief Technology Officer of Symphonic
Niall has led commercial software development projects for over 20 years within the finance, health, government, telecoms and oil industries. Prior to joining Symphonic during its proof of concept phase to design the product architecture, he was Technical Director for the design and delivery of an innovative patient safety solution for the health service market, working in collaboration with the NHS and leading pharmaceutical companies. Along with his technical expertise Niall brings a great passion for transforming technical ideas into commercially viable products.
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About Symphonic: Symphonic is the provider of Intelligent Authorization.
David Bestwick
Chief Technology Officer of Arqit Limited
David Bestwick is a Chief Technology Officer at Arqit company.
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About Arqit Limited: Arqit develops a quantum encryption platform.
Matt Holland
CTO & Co-Founder of Seedata.io
Matt Holland is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Seedata.
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About EF Education First, Seedata.io: Seedata.io is a cybersecurity platform that helps companies mitigate data leak incidents and crime threats.
Chris Hewertson
Principal | CIO | CTO | Board Advisory of Freeman Clarke
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About Freeman Clarke: Freeman Clarke creates, manages, and executes technological strategies and solutions to help one’s company grow.
John Rogers
Fractional CIO/CTO/IT Director of Freeman Clarke
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About Freeman Clarke, OPP Ltd: Freeman Clarke creates, manages, and executes technological strategies and solutions to help one’s company grow.
Michael Huth
Chief Technology Officer of Xayn
Michael Huth is CTO of XAIN AG and a Professor of Computer Science at Imperial College London. He is a Diplom-Mathematiker (TU Darmstadt, Germany) and obtained his Ph.D. in 1991 (Tulane University of Louisiana, USA). His research focuses on cybersecurity (notably the interplay of trust, security, risk, and economics), as well as security and privacy in machine learning. Michael served as the technical lead of the Harnessing Economic Value theme at PETRAS IoT Cybersecurity Research Hub in the UK. Professor Huth is an active research and product advisor within London’s cybersecurity startup scene.
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About Xayn: Xayn builds Web Search as it should be.
Daniel Saul
Co-Founder & CTO of Risk Ledger
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About Risk Ledger: Risk Ledger is the world’s most innovative vendor risk management platform, built on the model of a secure social network.
Bryan O’Neil
Chief Technology Officer of Digital Shadows
Bryan O’Neil is the chief technology officer of Digital Shadows.
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About Digital Shadows: Digital Shadows identifies unwanted exposure, protect against external threats, and minimize digital risk.
Patrick Craston
CTO of Intruder
Patrick has worked in software development for a decade. Before joining Intruder he was the Head of Development at one of the UK’s leading cyber security agencies. He has a PhD in Computer Science where he explored human cognition using artificial intelligence technologies.
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About Intruder: Intruder is a cloud-based vulnerability scanner that finds cyber security weaknesses in your external infrastructure.
Jon Stokes
CTO of CultureAI
Jon Stokes is a CTO at CultureAI.
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About CultureAI: CultureAI enables clients to orchestrate personalised security awareness, behaviour and culture programmes.
Marc Barry
CTO and Co-Founder of Enclave Networks
Marc Barry is the CTO and Co-Founder of Enclave Networks. He is a Master’s graduate in Information Security who builds, researches and secures computer networks. He has worked extensively with internet-based technologies, encryption and digital assurance, spending several years prior to Enclave Networks leading the security and infrastructure team of a large UK based digital media agency, delivering solutions to Government and enterprise.
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About Enclave Networks: Connect all your computers, servers, cloud instances and containers across any infrastructure with effortless Zero Trust Network Access.
Bangdao Chen
Chief Technology Officer of OxCEPT
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About OxCEPT: OxCEPT is an Oxford University spin-out company which has developed the ‘World’s Most Secure’ way to transmit data.
Bangdao Chen
Chief Technology Officer of OxCEPT
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About OxCEPT: OxCEPT is an Oxford University spin-out company which has developed the ‘World’s Most Secure’ way to transmit data.
Charlotte Slingsby
Co-founder, CTO of Nettoken
Charlotte Slingsby is the founder of Moya Power: London based wind energy harvesting startup, developing a flexible building textile to scavenge from existing infrastructure. Our future relies on farming green energy, therefore their mission is to capture abundant ambient wind energy from wasted urban space; creating energy generating hubs. Working together with CrossRail they have tested the potential in underground train tunnels, and have been recognised by Forbes 30u30 and Shell LiveWIRE.
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About Nettoken: The control panel for your digital identity!
Christopher Doman
CTO and Co-Founder of Cado Security Ltd
Chris Doman is the CTO and Co-Founder of Cado Security. He joined the industry after winning a forensics and development competition run by the US DoD. Chris is known for building the popular threat intelligence portal ThreatCrowd, which subsequently merged into the AlienVault Open Threat Exchange, later acquired by ATT. Whilst working at PwC and ATT AlienVault in research and development, Chris published a number of widely read articles and papers on targeted cyber attacks. His research on topics such as the North Korean government’s crypto-currency theft schemes, and China’s attacks against dissident websites, have been widely discussed in the media. He has given interviews to print, radio, and TV such as CNN and BBC News. cdoman@cadosecurity.com
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About Cado Security Ltd, Ignite Research: Cado Security provides the cloud investigation platform that empowers security teams to respond to threats at cloud speed.
Shadi Razak
Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Angoka
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About Angoka, CyNation: ANGOKA is an IoT security company focused on protecting machine-to-machine communications for Smart Cities and Mobility.
Charaka Goonatilake
Founder & CTO of Panaseer
Charaka is the brains behind our big data technology. His team lead the way in generating innovative techniques for deriving new security insight for our customers.
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About Panaseer: Panaseer helps businesses make informed, risk-based security decisions.
Jeremy Annis
CEO & CTO of Ripjar
Jeremy Annis serves as the Chief Executive and Technology Officer at Ripjar.
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About Ripjar: Ripjar is a data intelligence company that transforms global institutions ability to manage strategic risks.
Leonard Austin
Founder / CTO of Ravelin
Leonard Austin is the chief financial officer of [Ravelin](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ravelin), a smart fraud prevention platform. He was previously a technical lead at Hailo. Prior to Hailo, Austin founded Recensus before which he was a director at Welford Media. Austin holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Leicester.
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About Ravelin: Ravelin is a smart fraud detection and prevention platform that helps companies stop online payment fraud.
JP Jones
CTO of Top10VPN
JP is Co-Founder and EVP Technology at Student.com, the world’s leading marketplace for international student accommodation. JP has worked with co-founder Shak on and off for the past 14 years building various tech companies and met Founder and CEO Luke Nolan along the way in Shanghai in 2006. Witnessing Luke’s passion and vision for the business, as well as the enormous opportunity to scale the marketplace, JP joined the business in 2014 and is in charge of the company’s technology solutions, while also advising on platform strategy and acting as a soundboard for Shak and Luke. After getting his first computer at age 3, JP was hooked and subsequently made computers, and everything tech-related, a part of his DNA. As a member of the founding team and CTO at VoucherCodes.co.uk, JP has a proven track record of scaling companies for the international market, along with heading up the R&D department at The Search Works, one of Europe’s leading search marketing technology companies.
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About Top10VPN: Top10VPN.com is a leading VPN (Virtual Private Network) review website. We provide unbiased reviews and advice about VPN services.
Panos Dimitriou
CTO & Founder of Encode
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About Encode: Enorasys Security Analytics enables continuous cyber situational awareness to address advanced persistent threats (APTs).
Nigel Stanley
Chief Technology Officer – Global OT and Industrial Cyber Security CoE of TÜV Rheinland Group
Nigel is a specialist in information (cyber) security and business risk with over 25 years’ experience in the IT industry and has an MSc in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London where he was awarded the Royal Holloway University Smart Card Centre Crisp Telecom prize for his MSc research dissertation. Nigel has in-depth knowledge of cyber security, information security, business risk, data breach incident response, digital forensics, business continuity, cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, mobile device security, BYOD, smartphone security, application development, software development, systems engineering, SCADA and industrial control systems. He is a Chartered Engineer and member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (where he sits on the IET Cyber Security Steering Group and is a professional registration interviewer), Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association and the British Computer Society.
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About TÜV Rheinland Group: TÜV Rheinland Group is a provider of technical services worldwide.
Seamus Clarke
CTO of Skurio
Seamus Clarke serves as the Chief Technology Officer at Skurio.
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About Skurio: Skurio is a cybersecurity company that gives every organization the ability to reveal their spectrum of digital risk.
James Hooker
Co-Founder and CTO of Hack The Box
James Hooker is a self taught Engineer, who through necessity and intrigue became active within the field of Information Security. He went on to join the Hack The Box as a user, yet ended up joining the team in order to progress the platform and ensure high quality self driven training experiences are made available to the community.
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About Hack The Box: Hack The Box provides a training platform and community designed for advancing skills in penetration testing and cybersecurity.
Andy Still
CTO of Netacea
As the Chief Technology Officer, Andy provides the technical direction for Intechnica’s products and services as well providing consultancy and thought leadership to clients. The author of several books on performance and application development, Andy continues to pioneer digital performance for online systems.
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About Intechnica, Netacea: Smarter Bot Management using Intent Analytics™ powered by machine learning. A sophisticated approach for sophisticated threats.
Richard Wells
CTO of ThreatInformer
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About ThreatInformer: ThreatInformer provide advanced security metrics tailored for cyber insurance underwriters.
Nick Graham
Founder and CTO of Hicomply
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About Hicomply: Hicomply is an Information Security Management Software platform giving you the tools to build your ISMS as well as protect the business.
Darren Anstee
Chief Technology Officer of Arbor Networks
Darren Anstee is the Chief Security Technologist within the CTO office at Arbor Networks, based in the UK. Darren has over 20 years of experience in the pre-sales, consultancy and support aspects of telecom and security solutions. Prior to joining Arbor, Darren spent eight years working in both pre- and post-sales for core routing and switching product vendors. Currently in his twelfth year at Arbor, Darren is involved in both the research and strategic activities at Arbor in relation to their enterprise and ISP network threat detection, mitigation and traffic visibility solutions. Working with Arbor’s Security Engineering & Response Team (ASERT), Darren is able to identify trends and monitor the current threat landscape through ATLAS, research infrastructure that uses anonymous data from over 300 customers to monitor approximately one-third of all internet traffic. This previous experience and involvement with ASERT means Darren is au fait with attack methodologies and well placed to advise organisations on how to protect their networks threats ranging from DDoS attacks to Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). He speaks regularly at shows such as Infosec Europe, and is often quoted on a range of topics in media outlets such as BBC, Forbes and SC Magazine UK.
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About Arbor Networks: Arbor defines the leading edge of network security and management for today’s network operators.
Lewis Oaten
Chief Technology Officer of RazorSecure
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About RazorSecure: RazorSecure is a cyber security software that provides continuous threat monitoring & active defence strategy for trains, buses, cars & etc.
Sonal Rattan
CTO of eXate
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About eXate: eXate unlocks the value of production data by allowing you to share it safely, because data privacy is at the heart of everything we do.
Christopher Thomas
Chief Technology Officer of Idappcom
A graduate of the University of Birmingham, Chris has over twenty five years of computing and programming experience, and has worked in website development, and software development positions, as well as updating and maintaining order processing, financial control and point of sale technologies. Chris joined idappcom in 2006 to develop the eXert suite of SOX compliance applications, and now as CTO, oversees the future architecture and development of idappcom’s flagship network security assessment product, Traffic IQ Professional.
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About Idappcom: Idappcom supplied software and hardware that enhances network security, reducing risk and lowering cost of ownership of devices.
Eitan Moriano
CTO of Mazor
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About Mazor: Mazor offers solutions detection of threats on network and security components.
Thomas Olofsson
Chief Technology Officer of FYEO
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About FYEO, SEC-T: FYEO is an online threat monitoring and intelligence. mission to empower people to secure and take back control of their online security.
Tarquin Dunn
CTO & Director of Carbon Cloud
With over 30 years experience in the IT industry, with an in-depth technical background, Tarquin has held a variety of senior positions within a partner and reseller environment covering CTO, Technical Director, Technical Consulting, Large Outsourced/Managed Services, Service Desk & Senior Management. Tarquin started Carbon Cloud in order to bring all the Enterprise-grade benefits of Cloud Computing to the wider market and also validates new technical products and vendor solutions.
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About Carbon Cloud, Education IT: Cloud Consultancy, Azure, AWS, Google, IT Support, Service Desk, Infrastructure, Storage, Virtualization, Networking, Security, Repair, AV
Radek Dymacz
Co-founder/ CTO of Kazoup
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About Kazoup: Protect, identify and control access to sensitive information across Office 365, G Suite and more
Will Harwood
CTO & co-founder of Silicon:SAFE
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About Silicon:SAFE: Silicon:SAFE develops impenetrable network storage solutions in hardware that prevent bulk theft of sensitive data.
Andrew Willmott
CTO – Applications Performance and Security of Communication Stem
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About Communication Stem: Communication Stem is a globally recognised reputation for helping businesses with their delivery of productivity & recreational assurance.
Tony Richards
CTO of Securestorm
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About : Securestorm – The Expert Advisers on Cloud and Cyber Security
