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 London based Partner operating in the Retail space. If you think a Partner 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.
Mark Evans
Founding Partner and Associate of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)
Mark is currently an LP and Investment Committee member at Kindred Capital, a European Seed-Stage Venture fund, based in London. He was a General Partner at Balderton Capital/ Benchmark Europe from 2002 through 2015, and an EIR at Benchmark Capital in 1999/2000. He spent the prior 15 years @ Goldman Sachs, where he was a General Partner and Management Committee member. He studied Economics at both University of Oxford and Queen’s University in Canada.
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About Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Headspace, Kindred Capital: Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a no-fee/no-equity mentoring program for the founders and executives of pre-seed stage ventures.
Niklas Zennström
Founding Partner and Associate of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)
Niklas Zennström is CEO and Founding Partner at Atomico. He works daily with founders and sits on the boards of Farmdrop, Lilium, Pipedrive, Oden Technologies and Varjo. Niklas is an experienced technology investor and entrepreneur, having previously co-founded and managed globally successful technology companies including Skype, Kazaa and Joltid. Niklas founded Atomico in 2006. He is passionate about partnering about founders solving big challenges facing their planet with digital technology. In 2007, he co-founded Zennström Philanthropies with his wife, Catherine. They focus their efforts in two areas: human rights and the environment. Niklas also founded the Race for the Baltic, a foundation for a well-managed and sustainable Baltic Sea, one of the most threatened major bodies of water in the world. Niklas is a keen yachtsman and has won four World Championships with his yacht racing team, Rán. Niklas holds dual degrees in Business and MSc Engineering Physics/Computer Science from Uppsala University in Sweden, and he spent his final year at the University of Michigan.
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About Atomico, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Joost: Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a no-fee/no-equity mentoring program for the founders and executives of pre-seed stage ventures.
Peter Davies
Founding Partner and Associate of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)
Peter is the founder of Verv. A serial entrepreneur with an engineering background, Peter also founded Austin Consultants, the UK’s highest certified LabVIEW Consultancy specialising in automated test, measurement and control systems for aerospace and automotive industries. Co-founder of the European Workshop for NILM technology and organiser of the London LabVIEW user group, Peter was also a finalist for the Rising Star Award in the Energy Innovation Awards in 2014 and then went on to win Innovator of the Year at the 2016 Business Green Technology Awards.
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About Austin Consultants, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), European NILM Workshop (Non-Intrusive-Load-Monitoring): Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a no-fee/no-equity mentoring program for the founders and executives of pre-seed stage ventures.
Robin Klein
Founding Partner and Associate of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)
Robin Klein is the Non – Executive Chairman of MOO Print Ltd. He is also a Venture Partner at Index Ventures. Robin joined the London office of Index Ventures in April 2010 as a Venture Partner. He is a founding partner of The Accelerator Group, a seed investment company specialising in e-commerce, digital media and Internet services. He is currently Chairman of Quickbridge (Wonga), Moo Print Ltd, MyBuilder. He sits on the Boards of EDITD, Farfetch, FreeAgent, OneFineStay, Skimlinks, Zoopla. Robin is a governor of Rhyl primary school. He is also a past Chairman of Great Ormond Street hospital’s funding company. Robin has 25 years of operating experience, 20 years of which as entrepreneur and 14 years of investing experience and he has been on the boards of three publicly quoted companies. In his last operating role as Chairman and CEO of Innovations, he conducted the very first UK ecommerce transaction in May 1995. Since starting his investment career in earnest in 1998 by co-founding The Accelerator Group (TAG) with his son, Saul, they have made over sixty investments. Robin is passionate about helping to build the European technology start-up ecosystem and actively supports Saul in the promotion of Seedcamp and OpenCoffee. He has a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering. An MSc in Industrial Engineering.
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About Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Latitude, LocalGlobe, Moneysupermarket, PrimeLocation.com, The Accelerator Group, The Digital Property Group: Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a no-fee/no-equity mentoring program for the founders and executives of pre-seed stage ventures.
Cyrus Akrami
Head of Brand Partnerships of Faire
Cyrus Akrami is the Global Head of Market Development for Workplace by Facebook. He joined Facebook in 2017 to help organisations build a more connected, next-generation workplace. He is responsible for relationships with business associations, new market development, and the growth & awareness strategy across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. Prior to joining Facebook, Cyrus worked in a variety of B2B roles at Dropbox, including opening the company’s London offices in 2015. He started his career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. Cyrus is a graduate of Dartmouth College.
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About Endeavor, Faire: Faire is a company that helps retailers find and buy wholesale merchandise for their stores.
Jon Carter
UK Innovation Scouting Lead, , Group Partnering & Devices of Deutsche Telekom
Jon leads Business Development for Deutsche Telekom’s white label and open connected home platform, with a specific focus on the UK market. Successfully launched in Germany in late 2013, Deutsche Telekom’s open platform is now available internationally, with a principle focus on Europe. Deutsche Telekom’s platform has been designed to move the industry beyond simple control of connected devices, to create a foundation for new revenue generating services. In the UK, Jon’s focus is on establishing partnerships with telcos, utilities, insurers and retailers, as well as third party platform providers and OEMs to enable the realization of innovative new models and revenue generating services. Jon has worked in and around the connected home space since the early 2000s, and has a deep knowledge of the UK and European market, and in particular what will finally drive growth in this market. He has previously consulted for both E.ON Group and RWE UK on their connected home strategies, including the latter’s partnership with Google’s Nest. Prior to joining Deutsche Telekom, Jon worked several years for a boutique innovation consultancy, and before that was 12 years at Orange, where amongst other things he led Orange UK’s R&D initiative on the connected home, as well as being Head of Strategy and subsequently Head of Propositions.
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About Deutsche Telekom: Deutsche Telekom is a telecommunications company that offers a range of fixed-network services.
Robert Darwent
Partner of Lion Capital
Robert Darwent is a Partner of Lion Capital. Prior to founding Lion Capital, Robert served with Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst for six years. Prior to joining Hicks Muse, he was employed in the private equity group of Morgan Stanley in London. Robert received his BA and MA from Cambridge University.
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About Lion Capital: Lion Capital is a consumer-focused investor passionate about investing in brands about which people are passionate.
Mary Minnick
Partner of Lion Capital
Mary Minnick is a Partner of Lion Capital. Prior to joining Lion Capital, Mary completed a 23-year career with The Coca-Cola Company serving in a variety of global executive positions ranging from general management to marketing. In her last role, Mary was EVP and President of Marketing, Strategy and Innovation. Prior to that, Mary held a number of general management positions outside the United States including COO of Asia, responsible for the P&L and operations of 38 countries (based in Hong Kong). She serves as a board director for Target Corporation, a US-based retailer, and Heineken, a beverage company based in Amsterdam. Mary received a BA in Business from Bowling Green State University and an MBA from Duke University.
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About Lion Capital: Lion Capital is a consumer-focused investor passionate about investing in brands about which people are passionate.
Lyndon Lea
Partner of Lion Capital
Lyndon Lea is a Partner of Lion Capital and serves as its Managing Partner. Prior to founding Lion Capital, Lyndon was a Partner of Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst where he co-founded its European operations in 1998. Prior to joining Hicks Muse, Lyndon served at Glenisla, the European affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. He was previously an investment banker. Lyndon is a strong supporter of Not For Sale (“NFS”), a charity dedicated to the abolition of modern day slavery. He currently sits on the Board of NFS. With a personal commitment from Lyndon, NFS recently built a children’s home in Romania that accommodates approximately 100 children reclaimed from trafficking. Lyndon grew up between the UK, Southern Africa and Canada. He received his BA from the University of Western Ontario in Canada.
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About Lion Capital: Lion Capital is a consumer-focused investor passionate about investing in brands about which people are passionate.
Libby Gibson
Partner of Piper Private Equity
Libby heads up Piper’s added value team, which answers Piper’s key commercial questions during due diligence and post-investment helps our brands better understand and communicate with their customers, through research, branding and marketing. She has developed her customer focused understanding of branded businesses through her work with over 30 different brands in the last 30 years. Having joined Fitch & Company, the UK’s leading commercial design consultancy, Libby left in 1985 to co-found Piper. She was also intimately involved in the start-up and growth of their highly successful bar brand Pitcher & Piano. Libby takes the lead on our food and drink, beauty and travel investments.
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About Piper Private Equity: Piper is a specialist private equity firm focused on investments in consumer brands with strong growth potential.
Dave Nicholson
VP Strategy & Partnerships & Co-Founder of Yoyo Wallet
Dave is a co-founder and VP Strategy & Partnerships at Yoyo Wallet, responsible for ensuring that Yoyo continues to innovate and scale in the digital loyalty space through building relationships with partners. Before starting Yoyo, he was co-founder and Head of Product at Zopa – the world’s first peer to peer lender.
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About Yoyo Wallet: Yoyo Wallet is a mobile payment, loyalty and marketing platform.
Irena Miroforidu
Data Strategy and Partnerships Manager of GfK
Adventure traveller, surf enthusiast and a Founder of Tribd, a social networking application connecting solo travelling adventure seekers, helping them to find a travel partner from the same tribe. Experienced FinTech Industry professional.
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About GfK, Tribd: GfK is a market research institute in Germany.
Jean-Marc Bonnefous
Managing Partner of Tellurian
Jean-Marc Bonnefous is a Managing Partner at Tellurian Capital Management LLP. He is a former CCO and Board Observer at Clearmatics.
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About Colony Lab, Tellurian: Tellurian is a builder of natural gas business.
Talal Cheaib
Partner / Operations Director of Slidr
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About Slidr: SLIDR is a dynamic pricing technology allowing customers to buy products/services at prices always lower than retail
Adrian Firth
Founding Partner of Rattle Technology
Adrian is a tech focused creative with a natural ability to combine advanced technologies with everyday life. His foremost skill is bringing together teams from various disciplines: designers, carpenters, technologists, builders, musicians, writers and guiding them to collaborate on technologically led creative projects.
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About Rattle Technology: Rattle enables brands and their agencies to access the power of augmented reality experiences through our unique plug and play platform.
