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 CEO’ operating in the Manufacturing 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.
Warren East
CEO of Rolls-Royce
Appointed to the Board in January 2014 and Chief Executive in July 2015 Warren joined ARM Holdings in 1994 and was appointed Chief Executive in 2001. Under his leadership the company became the world’s leading semiconductor IP licensing company. He retired from ARM Holdings in 2013. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and a Distinguished Fellow of the BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. He was awarded the CBE in 2014 for services to the technology industry. Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive, Warren had been appointed as a Non-Executive Director in 2014 and was Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee and a member of the Audit Committee and the Nominations and Governance Committee. Warren is a non-executive director of Dyson Ltd. In July 2015, he was appointed as a member of the UK Government’s business advisory group.
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About British Computer Society, Institution of Engineering and Technology, Rolls-Royce, Royal Academy of Engineering: Rolls-Royce is an industrial technology company that provides integrated power and propulsion solutions.
Jeff Engler
CEO of Wright Electric, Inc.
Jeff Engler is Founder & CEO at Wright Electric.
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About Wright Electric, Inc.: Wright Electric is a leader in the future of sustainable, lower emissions air travel.
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.
Scott N. Miller
Chief Executive Officer of Dragon Innovation
MD at Dragon Ventures.
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About Dragon Innovation, Dragon Ventures, Olin College: We help you navigate the New Product Introduction process as you launch complex products.
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.
Chris Harris
CEO of YASA
Chris joined YASA Motors as CEO in December 2011. He has over 25 years experience of building and leading high technology companies in the UK, US and Europe. He previously held the post of CEO at Light Blue Optics, a spin-out company from the University of Cambridge. Chris has a degree in Physics from the University of Oxford and a PhD from Imperial College.
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About Eight19, YASA: Yasa develops and manufactures electric motors and generators of high power and high torque density electric.
Mike Creedon
CEO of Scientific Digital Imaging (SDI)
Mike Creedon is the Chief Executive Officer and a Member of the Board of Directors at Scientific Digital Imaging. Mike joined the Board in May 2010. A Chartered Certified Accountant, Mike brings to SDI considerable experience of working within quoted companies and technology businesses, and of fundraisings, mergers and acquisitions. Mike has served as Finance Director at Innovision Limited, a subsidiary of the NASDAQ listed company, Leitch Technology Corp and as Finance Director of Ninth Floor plc, a company formerly on the Official List. In 2002 Mike was appointed as Finance Director to the board of Ideal Shopping Direct plc, an AIM listed television shopping and mail order catalogue company. In 2006 Mike was appointed as Interim Finance Director at NextGen Group plc, an AIM listed company focusing on the design, manufacture and sale of services and equipment to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector, following which Mike acted as Chief Financial Officer at Durham Scientific Crystals Limited, a company whose principal activity is the development, manufacture and sale of products for the x-ray imaging market. Mike earned his MBA from Henley Management College.
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About Scientific Digital Imaging (SDI): Scientific Digital Imaging designs and manufactures digital imaging technology.
Jean de La Verpilliere
CEO and Co-founder of Echion Technologies
CEO @Echion Technologies.
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About Echion Technologies: Echion Technologies develops superfast-charging Li-ion batteries
Steve Barber
CEO of Sepura
Steve joined Sepura in 2002 to manage the company’s portfolio of TETRA products, later expanding his role to encompass management of interoperability and standardisation across the whole group. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the analogue and digital PMR industry and over 13 years in digital fixed line communications. Prior to joining Sepura, Steve held a variety of technical and operational positions at Simoco, ACIS, GEC-Marconi and British Telecom.
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About Sepura: Sepura is a global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of digital radio products
Gordon Watling
CEO of Sepura
Gordon was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2008, having joined the company as Chief Operating Officer in 2006. He has over 20 years’ international experience leading operations and development teams at Schlumberger and Agilent. He has also held directorships at Invensys and Honeywell.
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About Sepura: Sepura is a global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of digital radio products
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.
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.
Hamish Watson
CEO of Polysolar
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About Polysolar: Polysolar is a developer and installer of photovoltaic glazing solutions.
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.
