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 Managing Director operating in the Crowdfunding space. If you think a Managing Director 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.
Paolo Simonato
Managing Director of BlackRock
Paolo Simonato, Managing Director, is a senior member of the investment team and head of the London office for BlackRock Private Equity Partners (PEP) within BlackRock Alternatives Investors (BAI). He has primary responsibility for the sourcing, diligence and monitoring of private equity funds, secondary transactions and direct co-investments with leading private equity firms across Europe.
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About BlackRock: BlackRock is an investment company that offers its services to institutions, intermediaries, foundations, and individual investors.
Martin Cook
Managing Director of BlackRock
As EMEA Head of Technology & Operations, Cook is responsible for working closely with the Head of EMEA, the Chief Operating Officer and the BlackRock Executive Committee to ensure effective delivery of technology and operations within the EMEA Region. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2006, Cook spent ten years with Wall Street Systems in the design, development, and implementation of a front-to-back integrated trading system for global financial institutions, and two years in a similar role with Calypso Technology, a market-leading Derivatives Technology provider. Other industry roles included that of Assistant Treasurer at the London Office of Credit Agricole Indosuez, and the Derivatives Risk Controller at Foreign & Colonial Investment Management. Cook studied Mathematics, Economics and Physics at Palmers College, and “Institute of Bankers” professional qualifications at Thurrock Management College.
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About BlackRock: BlackRock is an investment company that offers its services to institutions, intermediaries, foundations, and individual investors.
Sandra Boss
Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Investment Stewardship of BlackRock
Sandra Boss has been a director of the Company since November 2015. Ms. Boss has served since September 2014 as an independent director of the Prudential Regulation Authority, part of the Bank of England responsible for the prudential regulation and supervision of around 1,700 banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms. Ms. Boss was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, from 2005 to 2014, and a Partner from 2000.
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About BlackRock: BlackRock is an investment company that offers its services to institutions, intermediaries, foundations, and individual investors.
Brett Pybus
Managing Director – Head of iShares EMEA Investment and Product Strategy of BlackRock
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About BlackRock: BlackRock is an investment company that offers its services to institutions, intermediaries, foundations, and individual investors.
Jamie M. Weinstein
Managing Director of PIMCO
Jamie M. Weinstein (San Francisco) joined KKR in 2005 and is the Co-Head of special situations investing, which includes the firm’s global activities in public and private distressed and structured principal investments. He is also a member of the Credit Portfolio Management Committee and the Real Estate Investment Committee. Previously, he was a portfolio manager with responsibility across KKR’s credit strategies. He also has extensive experience as a research analyst managing the financial services, healthcare and commercial real estate sectors. Prior to joining KKR, Jamie Weinstein was with Tishman Speyer Properties as Director of Acquisitions for Northern California and The Boston Consulting Group as a strategy consultant. He received a B.S.E. degree cum laude in Civil Engineering and Operations Research from Princeton University and a M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. Jamie Weinstein serves as a Trustee of the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco and is actively involved in the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco on its Endowment Investment Committee and Capital Planning Committee.
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About PIMCO: PIMCO, a global investment solutions provider that manages investments for public and private pension and retirement plans and other assets.
Louise Wilson
Co-Founder & Joint Managing Director of Abundance Investment
Louise spent over 15 years at UBS Investment Bank and was responsible for structuring multi million pound flotations and share sales across several global regions. In the end she questioned why traditional markets don’t serve the ordinary investor and left to pursue a new degree and finding a way to build a fair society and while generating a decent return. Louise is on the Advisory Board for the Centre for Climate Finance & Investment at Imperial College Business School.
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About Abundance Investment: Abundance is an online debt crowdfunding platform allowing individuals to invest as little as £5 in to help accelerate net zero.
Karl Harder
Co-Founder & Joint Managing Director of Abundance Investment
Karl went from writing about renewable energy as a parliamentary researcher to running his first green business, which also pioneered the London Living Wage. After 5 years he recognised that finance was the key barrier to creating a more equal and environmentally sustainable world, so left to study for an MBA at Imperial College and to pursue the idea that became Abundance.
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About Abundance Investment: Abundance is an online debt crowdfunding platform allowing individuals to invest as little as £5 in to help accelerate net zero.
Tom Buttress
Co-Founder & Managing Director of Propio
Tom is Propio’s day-to-day lead and is involved in all strategic and operational aspects of the business. An expert in building, improving and re-orientating regulated financial services firms, Tom previously worked as a management consultant advising household names such as Barclays, Bank of England, Aviva, FCA and T. Rowe Price. He holds a BA from Oxford University.
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About Propio: Propio is a crowdfunding platform that brings together investors property firms seeking funding for development.
