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 CEO’ operating in the Digital Entertainment 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.
Martin Higginson
Co-founder & CEO of Immotion Group plc
Martin is recognised as a seasoned Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) entrepreneur, and was awarded North West Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002. He has started, sold, and listed numerous businesses. His first business was sold to IPC Magazines in 1982. Following three years with IPC he left to set up his own publishing and telecoms business, this was subsequently sold to Scottish Power plc. During his time with Scottish Power he joined their subsidiary Scottish Telecom, as Managing Director of their Internet and Interactive division, including Internet ISP Demon Internet. Following the flotation of Thus plc (formerly Scottish Telecom) he left to start Monstermob, a company he went on to list on AIM in 2003; growing it to a Top 50 AIM listed business. Monstermob Group plc was sold to Zed Worldwide in 2006. Martin has subsequently founded Cityblock plc, a luxury student accommodation business, and NetPlayTV plc, an interactive TV gaming business where he formed exclusive partnerships with Virgin Media, Channel Five, and ITV. Martin has held Non-Executive Director positions with Legend plc, Cupid plc and CMG Media. Martin is the Founding Partner at M Capital Investment Partners. Formed in 2010, M Capital Investment Partners manages multiple real estate investments across the UK, with a focus on delivering above average returns for investment cash with minimal risk. He also holds the position of Non Executive Director at Digitalbox Group – which was listed in The Sunday Times HISCOX Tech Track 100 in 2015 and 2016, placing it amongst Britain’s top 100 fastest growing private tech companies, and is Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer at Immotion Group Plc – an award-winning animation and multi-directional motion platforms to deliver mind-blowing immersive VR experiences.
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About Crash Media Group, Digitalbox: Immotion combine award-winning content & multi-directional motion platforms to deliver immersive VR solutions for high-traffic destinations.
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Efe Cakarel
Founder & CEO of MUBI
Efe Cakarel is a Turkish entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of MUBI, an online film service. Previously, Cakarel worked with Goldman Sachs in London and New York, where he worked on IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity investments. Cakarel obtained his bachelor of science in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT in 1998, and his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2005. Cakarel was a contributor to The Huffington Post. He also has two patents involving the monetization of web applications.
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About MUBI: MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor.
Devran Amaratunga Karaca
CEO of Kyra Entertainment
Devran Karaca co-founded Kyra with partners James Cadwallader and Nick Dart in 2017 with the vision to build an entertainment company for Gen Z. The team has harnessed the power of Gen Z to create content that resonates with youth culture through a talent agency, global production studio and media properties under the Kyra umbrella. Under Karaca’s leadership, Kyra has evolved into a leader in Gen Z branded and editorial content. Karaca oversees the management strategy for the company and is responsible for the finances and operations of the growing business. With its unique approach to video, social media and marketing, Kyra is uniquely positioned to engage this new, digital-native generation of youth better than any traditional publisher, with an audience of 78 million social media followers, racking up 750 million monthly video views in 190 countries around the world. The team works with global blue chip brands such as Nike, Google HP and Spotify to create meaningful, long term engagement with Gen Z. A serial entrepreneur, Karaca was one of the co-founders of Dojo Media, the leading city discovery app in London that was Best App on Google Play two years in a row. Named one of Forbes 30 Under 30, Karaca is emerging as an expert on Gen Z and building new business models in the always-changing media landscape. He has been invited to speak about the company’s unique approach to video, leveraging social media, and marketing brands to digital natives, including recent talks at AdWeek, Digiday and Pitti. A graduate of Bristol University, Karaca is based in London, with frequent travel to the company’s New York and Los Angeles offices.
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About Dojo App, Kyra Entertainment: An entertainment company harnessing the power of Gen Z.
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.
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About Cube Interactive, Fusebox Games: Live the stories you love with Fusebox Games.
Nick Varney
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of Merlin Entertainments
Nick has over 24 years’ experience in the visitor attractions industry and was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Merlin Entertainments in 1999. He was appointed a Director of the Company on 20 October 2013. Nick started his career in fmcg marketing, first with Rowntree and then with Reckitt Colman. He went on to hold senior positions within The Tussauds Group (Pearson PLC), including Marketing Director of Alton Towers and Head of Group Marketing, before becoming Managing Director of Vardon Attractions and a main board director of Vardon plc. In 1999 Nick led the management buyout of Vardon Attractions to form Merlin Entertainments and, in 2005, initiated the process which led to its acquisition by Blackstone.
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About Merlin Entertainments: Merlin Entertainments is the largest European entertainments company operating in Europe.
Jonathan Curley
Founder & CEO of FurShows
Velivian Fesothe is my artist/furry name, a persona I developed through Second Life to express aspects of who I am.
I started my Tech journey slightly before the Commodore 64 days and surfed the internet back when dial up modems were released just before 56k kbit/s, one of my memories is sitting with my now deceased father where he tried
to teach me to code on the Commodore to animate a hot air balloon or just a balloon to move across the screen.
When I was ready to leave school I was asked what I wanted to do for work at my first school careers interview, I asked if I could work with satellites or in the semiconductor industries, manufacturing microchips/CPUs etc as I’d been intrigued, impressed, and inspired by watching Intel Technicians on TV working in clean rooms. Alas such opportunities we’re out of reach in my town but I’ve never forgotten what I dreamed of and it will always motivate me to learn more.
This is likely why I joke I have a tech/laboratory trolley addiction as I enjoy daily surfing products to see what cool looking items come up.
Around 2002 or so I started an ISIT Course and I’ve been moving in multiple directions over the years picking up skills but not certifications, I’m actively looking to finalise my skillset and collect certifications to prove I’m capable which I hope will lead to the opening up of further opportunities to learn and work in the Tech/3D industries, or will help me with my own projects or opportunities I create myself through my own businesses.
My journey into 3D started when I joined Second Life in 2006 where I started modelling using primitives and became a registered mentor, I then went on to design sims/virtual environment’s for DAZ3D in an effort to develop/transition them into a high-end University, Shopping mall, and Welcome Hub when mesh was added to the service, I then moved away to Open simulator to develop DAZLife.
Around 2016 I was trained as a teacher/trainer, part of a 3d printed motorsport program (The Blair Project) after which I started 3d printing on the Ultimaker 2+ for a none profit social enterprise 3d teaching company I founded in 2016 called FossaLab Technologies, where I helped children get started with 3D using Tinker cad and trained adults in Fusion 360 and Hexagon.
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About FurShows, Glow Raiser, Snack Ferret Studio, The Furry Party: FurShows is a cultural archive and video hosting site for the furry fandom and anthropomorphic fans that aspires to be a streaming service.
Matthew Warneford
Founder & CEO of Dubit
Matthew Warneford is the CEO and Founder of Dubit.
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About Dubit, WEARVR: Dubit is a game studio that specializes in games for the metaverse.
Rene Rechtman
CEO of Moonbug
René Rechtman has been a successful part of the media, entertainment and tech environment since 1998 both as an entrepreneur and investor. René has completed three significant exits. Most recently, selling Maker Studios to The Walt Disney Company, prior Goviral to AOL and in 2005 leading Tradedoubler to IPO. René has been listed in Wired Europe’s Top 100 most influential list several times.
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About Moonbug, The Walt Disney Company: Moonbug is a global digital-first entertainment company for kids.
Ian Chambers
CEO of Mind Candy
Ian’s wealth of entertainment experience comes from his time at Ubisoft and EA which in turn led to his role as Managing Director, International at IGN where he was responsible for its global expansion and making IGN the #1 video games media network in the world. Before joining Mind Candy Ian was Chief Digital Officer at GAME Digital Plc.
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About Mind Candy: Moshi provides a sleep and mindfulness app for kids featuring melodic stories created to help kids drift off to sleep quickly.
Chris Adams
Chief Executive Officer of OTHERWORLD
Chris Adams is the Chief Executive Officer at The Dream Corporation.
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About OTHERWORLD: The brick-and-mortar metaverse. An island paradise in the cloud reached through a growing network of multi-sensory immersion pods.
Steve Oliver
Co-founder & CEO of musicMagpie
Group CEO and co-Founder of Entertainment Magpie Limited, the recommerce company
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About musicMagpie: musicMagpie buys and sells consumer technology, CDs, DVDs, books, video games & Lego
Dominic Joseph
CEO & Co-founder of Captify
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About Captify: Captify offers a search retargeting service that enables advertisers to focus on users to match their desired audience with inventory.
Dmitri Lipnitsky
CEO & Co-Founder of Gismart
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About GeoZilla, Gismart, Intellectsoft, SE Ranking: A leading developer and publisher of entertainment-focused apps and games.
Sonny Michael Holmqvist
CEO of Basebone
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About Basebone: Basebone is a digital content business focused on the mobile phone user. We are the creators and owners of baseplay streaming services.
Shaun Rutland
Co-Founder and CEO of Hutch
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About Hutch: Hutch develops games app for iPhones and ipad.
Amit Pate
Founder & CEO of Snaptivity
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About Snaptivity: Snaptivity is a stadium tech that drives fan engagement by capturing key moments of events using AI, IoT sensors, and robotic cams.
Daniel Berg
CEO & Co-Founder of NextUp
Daniel Berg joined NextUp Comedy as CEO & Co-Founder in 2016.
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About ComComedy, NextUp: The home of stand-up, showcasing all the wonders of live comedy worldwide.
Jake Cossington
Founder & CEO of Terrabyte Studios Limited
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About Terrabyte Studios Limited: Terrabyte Studios Limited is a Media Company powering online services.
Matus Maar
CEO & Co-Founder of Pirate Studios
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About Pirate Studios: Pirate Studios is the music technology company.
Steve Callanan
CEO and Founder of WIREWAX
Steve was once the youngest TV producer in the UK, creating his first six-part series with record-breaking audience share while still at university. He established his first production company in 2001 and was also producing over 400 hours of branded, short-form content for the four biggest UK lifestyle publishers. During this time, he proposed that online video content should be as “connected” as the rest of the web; linking pixels to people, products and information was the goal. He engineered the world’s first “shoppable” video tool, which led to the most powerful interactive video platform to help hundreds of global brands realise their connected-video potential.
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About WIREWAX: WIREWAX is the leading interactive video technology company.
Alena Golden
Co-Founder and CEO of BattleMe – Hip Hop Community and Rap Studio
Alena Golden is a Co-Founder and CEO of BattleMe – Hip Hop Community and Rap Studio.
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About BattleMe – Hip Hop Community and Rap Studio: Mobile app creating a community where freestylers and rappers can record tracks and grow their talent through winning contests.
Jose Luis Vazquez
CEO of Mirada
CEO at Mirada.
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About Mirada: Mirada offers a multi-screen approach to digital TV platforms with a complete suite of end-to-end modular products.
Nic Hatch
Co-Founder & CEO of NCam
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About NCam: Ncam develops augmented reality technology for the entertainment industries.
Constantin Catalin Dascalu
CEO and Chairman Of The Board of The Luxury
Constantin Catalin Dascalu is the CEO and Chairman Of The Board at The Luxury.
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About The Luxury: Concierge – Lifestyle Management, Financial Technology, Entertainment & Tourism
Dhrupad Karwa
Co-Founder & CEO of HaikuJAM
Dhrupad Karwa is the Co-Founder and CEO at HaikuJAM
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About HaikuJAM, Inspo: Collaborative Poetry & Artistic Expression App
Douglas Lloyd
CEO & Co-Founder of Macademia
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About Macademia: Macademia is an award-winning global EdTech company providing educational programming and games for children.
Peter Leathem
Chief Executive Officer of PPL
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About PPL: PPL licenses recorded music played in public or broadcast on the radio or TV.
Caroline Pires
Founder and CEO of Nerdeo
Caroline Pires has worked in the visual effects industry for seven years as both an artist and supervisor. After her studies at Escape Studios, she went on to work on major blockbuster titles and eventually became part of an Oscar-winning visual effects team for Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo 3D”. She has become a master of VFX for TV and advertising, having worked with Framestore, Saddington Baynes, Mainframe, Vine FX, Pixomondo, Nvizible and Cinesite to name just a few of the facilities listed on her CV. Now the founder of her own business Nerdeo, Caroline has applied her wealth of experience to create an online collaboration platform for professionals within the independent film, TV and gaming industries.
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About Nerdeo: An online platform for professionals within the independent film, TV, commercial and Gaming industry.
Sunil Bhardwaj
CEO of Globatalent
Sunil Bhardwaj is a CEO at Globatalent.
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About Globatalent: The Sport Neobank. An App that allows you to acces discounts on sport products, buy tickets and invest in young athletes.
Albin Serviant
CEO of I/O Media
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About I/O Media: I/O Media encourages media brands to embrace digitalization and diversify their channels.
Mark Burgess
Founder and CEO of Big Button Media
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About Big Button Media: Big Button Media produces films, videos, motion graphics, and animations.
Craig Lemmon
CEO of Miigen
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About 2e-volve, GlobalScot, Miigen: Miigen is a online social platform for older adults.
Sammy Andrews
Founder & CEO of Deviate Digital
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About Deviate Digital: Deviate Digital is a digital advisory agency for the entertainment industry.
Justin French
CEO & Creative Director of Dream Harvest
Founder, CEO and Creative and Managing Director of Dream Harvest Games. Previously a Sound Designer, Composer, Game Designer working across AAA and Indie games. Worked at OMUK, one of the UK’s leading Dialogue production studios for the games Industry as well as working previously with their main competitor, Side (Now owned by PitStop Productions) on multiple AAA projects. Also worked extensively with several other small indie game studios in the position of sound designer, composer, game designer and project manager/producer, often all at the same time. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some incredibly talented people on some really fun projects, some released and some that unfortunately never saw the light of day. I like to wear many hats and get involved in all aspects of the game development process. Started Dream Harvest in August 2013 where I undertook the task of hiring a talented team of Developers, Designers and Artists to work on multi-platform titles. I project manage the team, creative directing the projects with the aim of hitting our vision and always trying to get the best out of the team. My ability to communicate ideas in the language understood by each discipline has given the team a strong direction and I have endeavoured to fill in the gaps of knowledge that certain team members, including myself, have by holding training days and spending time with each member on a one to one basis to cultivate their talent. http://press.dreamharvest.co.uk
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About Dream Harvest: Combining narrative storytelling with online competitive gaming.
Mark Moriarty
CEO and Founder of Awesound
Mark Moriarty is Founder and CEO at Awesound. Previously, he was consultant at McKinsey and Company. He also used to work at UC Berkeley as an open educational resources researcher, and at Claritics as predictive analytics software developer.
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About Awesound: Awesound is a platform for personalized and interactive audio.
Miles Galliford
CEO of Beatroot Music
Miles Galliford is the Founder /CEO at Beatroot Music Ltd.
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About Beatroot Music: Empowering record labels and music publishers to prosper in the digital world by aggregating music catalogues, metadata and rights data
