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 Founder operating in the Higher Education 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.
Jan Lynn-Matern
Founder and Partner of Emerge Education
I am a Founder and Partner at Emerge Education. Emerge Education is a European seed investor focused on companies that bridge the skills gap. Emerge specialises in providing its portfolio companies with access to market insights, partners and customers through its unique industry network. We have a particular focus on investing in challenger universities, bootcamps, workforce re-training programmes, and companies that help universities scale online.
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About Emerge Education: The only fund backed by the world’s leading education entrepreneurs
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Dave Sherwood
Co-Founder & CEO of BibliU
Dave Sherwood co-founder and CEO of Bibliotech, a core etextbooks platform that provides academic libraries and students with unlimited access. He is the co-founder and Chairman of Teach Learn Grow Inc. Dave earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Western Straya, coming to Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship shortly afterwards. Dave dropped out to found Bibliotech.
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About BibliU: An EdTech innovator, BibliU’s platform enables colleges and universities with digital content management, automation, and analytics.
Thomas Woolf
Founder of EdAid
Thomas is an entrepreneur and former professional athlete. His pioneering approach to frontier markets and technology has seen him build successful businesses in the UK, Middle East & Africa. Thomas’s commercial grounding was delivering innovative solutions for some of the UK’s leading banks as part of Accenture’s Financial Services strategy team in London with career highlights being his work with the World Economic Forum and Islamic Finance ecosystem development. The growth of the UAE as a regional hub for commerce and enterprise saw Thomas move to Dubai in 2005 and build his own successful businesses in the health/fitness and financial technology industries. In 2011, Thomas launched JustGiving the world’s largest fundraising platform for charities across the Middle East and Africa. JustGiving has raised over $4 Billion for 12,000 charities since 2002 and is scaling and transforming charitable giving across the MEA region. In 2016 Thomas launched EdAid.com a crowd funding platform for students to finance their higher education, interest free. EdAid’s mandate is to reduce the cost of higher education, increase access to university, and improve the employability of graduates leaving the system. In his spare time, for fun, Thomas remains a competitive athlete and is Head Coach for Nike in the Middle East.
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About EdAid: EdAid is the alternative lending platform for graduate-level, Higher Education.
Fadl Al Tarzi
Founder & CEO of Nexford University
+15 years of experience in media & technology-related businesses. Hands-on experience building successful strategies, growing companies, raising VC funds, building & managing teams. Founded and played pivotal role in growing several successful businesses,
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About Nexford University: A next generation online university providing students with access to quality, affordable, dynamic education.
Yanto Barker
Co-Founder of Le Col
Yanto Barker (Le Col) is a cyclist from London , United Kingdom. Join Strava to track your activities, analyze your performance, and follow friends. Strava members can plan routes, participate in motivating challenges, and join clubs. Get started by signing up for free.
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About Le Col: Le Col is driven by Yanto’s desire to bring the attitude and approach from his sport into the business
Darren Hill
Founder & CEO of Inzite
Founder & CEO, Inzite (inzite.com)
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About Inzite: Smart discovery tools and streamlined scheduling help your customers hold meetings with the right people, at the right time.
