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 Cambridge based Founder operating in the Manufacturing 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.
Maxim Lobovsky
Co-Founder and CEO of Formlabs
Maxim Lobovsky launched a successful career as an entrepreneur and startup founder by age 25. As a Program in Media Arts and Sciences master’s student at MIT’s Media Lab, Lobovsky enjoyed access to three-dimensional printers to create necessary components for his projects, designed and printed to spec. Lobovsky could see the potential applications of 3D printing for designers, architects, engineers, and other small businesses;however, the machines he used were prohibitively expensive. After graduating, Lobovsky worked with two of his friends to create the first small-scale, affordable 3D printer for “prosumers,” or professional consumers, and thus was born his startup, Formlabs. Once they had a prototype, called the Form 1, Lobovsky and Formlabs’ co-founders began a Kickstarter campaign, using the power of crowdsourced funding to finance the production of commercial models. Formlabs raised more than $1 million in a week, and nearly $3 million overall—30 times their original fundraising goal. The Form 1 is compatible with CAD software, and uses stereolithography technology to print layers as thin as .001 inches.
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About Formlabs: Formlabs develops accessible 3D fabrication systems designed for printing intricate figures.
Natan Linder
Co-Founder and Chairman of Formlabs
Natan Linder is the Co-Founder of Formlabs, creator of the Form 1 3D Printer. Natan is an R&D Executive with over 10 years of experience has a broad understanding of the Wireless and Mobile industries. He has strong entrepreneurial leadership experience, taking products from concept definition to market launch, and a proven track record building cross-functional R&D teams. Natan has worked with industry leaders leaders such as Sun Microsystems and Samsung Electronics.
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About Formlabs, Tulip Interfaces: Formlabs develops accessible 3D fabrication systems designed for printing intricate figures.
Yet-Ming Chiang
Co-Founder of A123 Systems
Yet-Ming Chiang is a co-founder of Desktop Metal. As one of the top battery experts in the world, as well as a leading materials scientist, Prof. Chiang has been integral in Desktop Metal’s development of an office-friendly metal 3D printing system, as well as building out the company’s materials science team. Prof. Chiang is also the Kyocera Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, where his research focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of advanced inorganic materials and related devices. Prof. Chiang earned his SB in Materials Science and Engineering and his ScD in Ceramics, both at MIT. He has published approximately 200 scholarly articles and a widely-used textbook on ceramic materials, and holds about 20 issued patents and 30 pending patent applications (excluding substantially identical foreign filings).
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About 24M Technologies, A123 Systems, Baseload Renewables, Desktop Metal, Form Energy: A123 Systems is a manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries and battery systems for the transportation, electric grid, and commercial markets.
Clara Vu
Co-Founder & CTO of Veo Robotics
Clara Vu has been building autonomous robots for over 20 years. She began her career at iRobot in its early days, where she developed robots for oil well exploration and wrote the programming language behind Roomba. After iRobot’s IPO, she went on to found Harvest Automation, where she led software development for their autonomous agricultural materials handling system. This was the world’s first product that combined fully autonomous mobility and manipulation in an unconstrained environment. Clara connected with Patrick Sobalvarro through Rethink Robots, where she became interested in the challenge of human-robot interaction for manufacturing. As CTO of Veo Robotics, Clara leads the company’s advanced technology development and product roadmap planning to solve fundamental problems in durable goods manufacturing.
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About Veo Robotics: Veo Robotics develops smart device solutions to enable high performance collaborative industrial robotics.
Patrick Sobalvarro
President, CEO & Co-Founder of Veo Robotics
Patrick Sobalvarro is the co-founder and CEO of Veo Robotics, a company that brings advanced computer vision, 3D sensing, and AI to industrial robots, allowing them to work side-by-side with humans in manufacturing processes. Patrick has more than twenty-five years of experience in computer vision, robotics, and industrial automation. Prior to founding Veo Robotics, Patrick was the first Entrepreneur in Residence at Siemens Venture Capital, focusing on the creation of the vision behind Veo. He also served as the VP of New Growth Platforms for Avery Dennison, building a new business line in RFID-based IoT products, was President of Rethink Robotics, creators of collaborative manufacturing robots, and founded and led the computer vision startup IntelliVid to its acquisition by Tyco International. Originally trained as a computer scientist, Patrick holds a Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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About Veo Robotics: Veo Robotics develops smart device solutions to enable high performance collaborative industrial robotics.
Shawn Murphy
Founder | Chief Executive Officer | Chief Technology Officer of Titan Advanced Energy Solutions
Shawn Murphy is the co-founder, CEO, and CTO of Titan Advanced Energy Solutions.
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About Titan Advanced Energy Solutions: Titan Advanced Energy Solutions is a provider of ultrasound-based battery management solutions
Robert Devlin
Co-Founder and CEO of Metalenz
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About Metalenz: Metalenz designs and sells meta-optics including consumer electronics, mobile phones, and automotive.
Steve Bennett
Co-Founder and Managing Director of WOOF & BREW Limited
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About WOOF & BREW Limited: WOOF&BREW is a beverage company that produces healthy and herbal doggy teabags.
Salvatore Mascia
Founder & President of CONTINUUS Pharmaceuticals
Salvatore Mascia is the Founder & CEO of CONTINUUS Pharmaceuticals. He was the former Strategic Project Manager at the Novartis-MIT Center for Continuous Manufacturing, where he led the integration of the first end-to-end continuous manufacturing process for pharmaceuticals. At the end of the project, he was presented with the “Leadership Award” that recognized his leadership role at the Center. Salvatore has gained experience in strategic management and fund raising in addition to leadership skills via various roles of responsibility within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Among those, he co-founded “Professionisti Italiani a Boston” in 2009, and served as President of the “Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club” in 2006/07. He also ran a pharmacy business for 2 years. Salvatore completed a post-doc at MIT in Chemical Engineering and holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, UK and a BS and MS in Pharmacy (summa cum laude) from University of Perugia, Italy.
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About CONTINUUS Pharmaceuticals: Continuus Pharmaceuticals designs, builds, and runs manufacturing processes for pharmaceutical and generic clients.
Daniel Oran
Founder & CEO of Irradiant Technologies
Daniel Oran currently works as the Founder and CEO for Irradiant Technologies Inc.
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About Irradiant Technologies: Irradiant Technologies develops implosion fabrication lithography for chemically amplified high throughput micro-fabrication.
Danielle Zurovcik
Founder & CEO of WiCare
Danielle Zurovcik is the founder and CEO of WiCare.
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About WiCare: WiCare develops innovative medical devices that are clinically effective and affordable worldwide.
Yang Zhang
Founder of AptaCam
Yang Zhang is Founder at AptaCam.
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About AptaCam: Aptacam strives to be the leading producer and supplier of high quality aptamers.
Don Arnone
Founder & CEO of TeraView
Don became CEO when TeraView was founded in 2001. He has over 16 years’ experience in the field of terahertz technology, first at the Cavendish Laboratory (Department of Physics) at the University of Cambridge and then for nine years at the Toshiba Research Europe Laboratory in Cambridge UK where he was head of the Terahertz Technology Programme. He was responsible for liaison with Toshiba, Japan on commercialization of the technology, as well as customer relations and marketing of the technology within Toshiba. He was also responsible for all aspects of business development of Terahertz technology outside Japan, which involved liaising with potential customers in the US and EU. He brought funding into the business from the European Commission, DTI and DARPA in the US as well as various companies. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Leeds.
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About TeraView, University of Leeds: TeraView develops terahertz instruments which can generate, detect and manipulate radiation to characterize a wide range of materials.
Andy Boothman
Founder of DressCode
Andy Boothman is the founder of Dresscode. He has a bachelor’s degree in graphic design at Blackpool & the Fylde College.
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About DressCode: DressCode designs and produces high-quality shirts with tech-inspired icons and patterns.
Jan Zastera
Founder of CEDAR Audio
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About CEDAR Audio: CEDAR Audio is the world in noise suppression and audio restoration.
Pritesh Hiralal
CEO, Co-Founder of Zinergy
Pritesh Hiralal, CEO/CTO, studied Physics and completed his Ph.D. in Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He has spent time in business in Spain and set up Casa Hiralal S.L. and Zendal Backup. He has spent time in industry at the Nokia Research Centre working on high power energy storage, and has published 30+ papers and 8 patents in the field. He has consulted for materials as well as energy storage device companies. He spent time as a Research Associate as well as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Cambridge and is now a founder and CEO at Zinergy.
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About Zinergy: ZInergy UK is aiming to manufacture thin, printed and flexible batteries at low cost which could power wearable devices.
Pritesh Hiralal
CEO, Co-Founder of Zinergy
Pritesh Hiralal, CEO/CTO, studied Physics and completed his Ph.D. in Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He has spent time in business in Spain and set up Casa Hiralal S.L. and Zendal Backup. He has spent time in industry at the Nokia Research Centre working on high power energy storage, and has published 30+ papers and 8 patents in the field. He has consulted for materials as well as energy storage device companies. He spent time as a Research Associate as well as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Cambridge and is now a founder and CEO at Zinergy.
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About Zinergy: ZInergy UK is aiming to manufacture thin, printed and flexible batteries at low cost which could power wearable devices.
