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 CEO’ operating in the Funding Platform 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.
Jeff Kelisky
Chief Executive Officer of Seedrs
Jeff Kelisky is an experienced executive with a track record in building, leading and scaling successful technology businesses. Before joining Seedrs, Jeff was CEO for Picsolve, a Fidelity-backed $75 million image capture business in the entertainment space where he delivered the company’s transformation from analogue to digital. Previously, he was CEO of Multimap, Europe’s first and ultimate leader in online mapping service which he led for five years through the first dotcom crash to a successful sale to Microsoft. In his free time, he enjoys tennis, skiing, cinema, and trying to play COD with his kids.
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About Seedrs: Seedrs is a UK-based investment and crowdfunding platform.
Damon Chapple
Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Sonovate
After spending almost two decades in recruitment, Damon wanted to do something uniquely different. Having encountered all the barriers involved with financing and running contractors first hand, Damon set-up Sonovate to challenge the stagnant finance on offer and provide a new solution tailored specifically to the needs of the contract recruitment sector. Damon is using his experience of building businesses all over the world as a group director of a global recruitment band, to drive Sonovate into the market transforming solution it is today.
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About Sonovate: Sonovate solves cash flow and admin headaches for users and suppliers of global contingent workforce solutions
Richard Prime
Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Sonovate
Richard has nearly two decades’ experience within the recruitment industry and in that time there isn’t much he hasn’t seen. Before setting up Sonovate, he was a board member of one of the largest recruitment companies in the world and was responsible for a number of brands across key territories. Building on his encounters with traditional finance providers, Richard has built Sonovate to cater exclusively for the contract market.
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About Sonovate: Sonovate solves cash flow and admin headaches for users and suppliers of global contingent workforce solutions
Oliver Woolley
CEO & Co-founder of Envestors
Oliver is CEO and Co-Founder of ENVESTORS Private Investor Network. Oliver sits on the Board of the UK Crowdfunding Association (UKCFA) and sat on the Board of the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA) from 2006 to 2014. He is also a Member of Court at Imperial College (London). After completing a degree in Finance, Oliver decided not to become an accountant but instead raised equity and bank debt to start Woolleys Healthfoods. The business comprised three retail catering outlets in central London, three organic sausage shops and a factory in the south-east of England, which wholesaled to 200 establishments including Harrods. In 1997 he sold the business to Northern Foods and moved into early-stage investing. Oliver is a keen Chelsea supporter, an enthusiastic cyclist and enjoys cooking for his family (with varying levels of success).
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About Braveheart Investment Group, Envestors: Envestors digital platform connects entrepreneurs and investors
Rob Ward
CEO & Founder of Forward Food
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About Forward Food, Grocery Accelerator: Forward Food working with AgTech and FoodTech businesses that provide access to commercial support with investment.
Jamie Seaton
Chief Executive Officer of GVQ Investment Management
Jamie is Chief Executive of GVQIM and has been the Lead Fund Manager of the GVQ UK Focus Fund since April 2009 and the GVQ Opportunities Fund since launch in October 2015. Jamie is also a member of GVQIM’s Research Committee. Prior to this, Jamie was an equities analyst for GVQIM, and its first recruit following its formation. Previously he was an Investment Manager at Rothschild Asset Management and worked at Goldman Sachs. Jamie is a CFA charterholder and also has the IMC qualification.
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About GVQ Investment Management: GVQ Investment Management is a manager of public equity funds.
Richard Blakesley
Co-Founder & CEO of Capital Pilot
Previously a TMT mergers and acquisitions specialist, Richard has been directly involved in 12 startups in the past 15 years and has the scars to prove it. He co-founded Capital Pilot in 2016 to help companies avoid the same problems that he has encountered numerous times, aiming to bring velocity, efficiency and transparency to the early stage tech funding marketplace. In the process he has found his dream job. Capital Pilot currently has 300 companies registered on its investment readiness and investor matching platform and aims to become the trusted marketplace for high quality EIS and SEIS investment activity. Richard also mentors early stage entrepreneurs and startups through programmes run by London & Partners and New Entrepreneurs Foundation.
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About Capital Pilot: Changing the way startups and investors connect
Dillen Iyavoo
Co-Founder | CEO of Funding Tree
Founder at Funding Tree
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About Funding Tree: Funding Tree is the UK’s first fully regulated crowd-funding and peer-to-peer lending platform.
Steven Cooklin
CEO of Manolete Partners
Steven founded Manolete Partners in 2009 and is Chief Executive. Steven is a Chartered Accountant having qualified at Coopers and Lybrand in 1991. Steven has over 20 years’ experience in corporate finance with National Westminster Bank, Calder Corporate Advisory Ltd and Hill Samuel Investment Bank and is a former director of HSBC Investment Bank (Corporate Finance Division). Steven is an Associate Member of The Association of Business Recovery Professionals.
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About Manolete Partners: Manolete Partners is a UK insolvency litigation financing company.
