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 United Kingdom based Founder operating in the Media and Entertainment 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.
Harry Briggs
Managing Partner & Founder of OMERS Ventures
Harry is a partner at OMERS Ventures, previously at Balderton Capital & BGF Ventures- and the youngest investor in the inaugural Forbes “Midas List Europe”, thanks to investments such as The Hut Group, GoCardless, Touch Surgery and Revolut. Prior to Balderton, Harry co-founded Firefly Tonics, a healthy energy drink brand that sells in over 30 countries, sold to Private Equity in 2012. Harry started his career at McKinsey & Co., the strategy consultancy, in London and New York.
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About OMERS Ventures: OMERS Ventures is a transatlantic multi-stage investor in growth-oriented, disruptive technology companies
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Andrew Banks
Chairman and Co-Founder of ABRY Partners
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About ABRY Partners, Bain & Company: ABRY Partners is an equity firm focused on investments in media.
Mat Clayton
Co-Founder and CTO of Mixcloud
Mat Clayton is a specialist in social media and web 2.0 development projects. He has developed a range of successful Facebook applications, including Sponsor Me, and the Sony commisioned Become Rambo, which was awarded best Viral Application by the Facebook Developer Garage London, in association with Sun Microsystems. Mat is now a co-founder of Mixcloud and heads up the technical development of the site. Mat has a Masters in Engineering from the University of Cambridge, specialising in Electrical and Information Sciences. He was sponsored throughout his BA by Qinetiq and by the Institute of Engineering and Technology, of which he is still a member. Mat has worked on a variety of systems and control projects, ranging from biometric monitoring for Electronic Arts to Zigbee based wireless data capture systems for the oil industry. In his spare time, Mat enjoys playing squash and rock climbing.
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About Mixcloud, Wakari: Mixcloud is an online long-form audio platform providing content such as radio shows, podcasts and DJ mixes.
Barry Smith
Co-Founder of Noah Media Group
Barry Smith co-founded Skyscanner in early 2002. Since then the company has grown to be the largest independent travel search company in the world, with offices in Edinburgh, Singapore, Barcelona, Beijing, Budapest and Miami. It is currently valued at over £1billion, and employs over 700 people around the globe. Barry is also an active angel investor/adviser in a number of technology companies, mentors several tech startups and is on the Board of Trustees for the Entrepreneurial Charity – NEF. Barry’s experience and involvement in the technology sector will drive Noah’s digital arm, where our team plan to experiment and innovate with all filming projects using the very latest emerging technologies – including VR, which will become an ever increasing focus for Noah Media Group.
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About Noah Media Group: Noah Media Group is a production company, specialise in Documentary, Film, TV, Promos and Digital Content.
Wil Stephens
Founder, CEO of Fusebox Games
Wil is a Welsh entrepreneur with extensive experience of building transformational businesses in media and interactive entertainment. Wil is currently CEO of Fusebox Games, an interactive entertainment company he co-founded in 2016 that develops and publishes mobile games based on hit TV shows. Wil founded his first business aged 23 and as CEO of Cube TV, led the company to win BAFTAs and Broadcast Digital Awards for their ground-breaking interactive and TV formats. After growing Cube TV to offices in Cardiff and London, he joined the leadership team at New York based video streaming company Boxee to build out their international business, later acquired by Samsung. Wil is an investor in the media and interactive entertainment industry through his holding company, Closs Holdings.
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About Cube Interactive, Fusebox Games: Live the stories you love with Fusebox Games.
Nick Varney
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of Merlin Entertainments
Nick has over 24 years’ experience in the visitor attractions industry and was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Merlin Entertainments in 1999. He was appointed a Director of the Company on 20 October 2013. Nick started his career in fmcg marketing, first with Rowntree and then with Reckitt Colman. He went on to hold senior positions within The Tussauds Group (Pearson PLC), including Marketing Director of Alton Towers and Head of Group Marketing, before becoming Managing Director of Vardon Attractions and a main board director of Vardon plc. In 1999 Nick led the management buyout of Vardon Attractions to form Merlin Entertainments and, in 2005, initiated the process which led to its acquisition by Blackstone.
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About Merlin Entertainments: Merlin Entertainments is the largest European entertainments company operating in Europe.
Nick Gatfield
Co-Founder of Synchronized
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About Synchronized: Synchronized transforms linear videos into Smart-Video, making them fully interactive and as powerful as hypertext!
Jonathan Curley
Founder & CEO of FurShows
Velivian Fesothe is my artist/furry name, a persona I developed through Second Life to express aspects of who I am.
I started my Tech journey slightly before the Commodore 64 days and surfed the internet back when dial up modems were released just before 56k kbit/s, one of my memories is sitting with my now deceased father where he tried
to teach me to code on the Commodore to animate a hot air balloon or just a balloon to move across the screen.
When I was ready to leave school I was asked what I wanted to do for work at my first school careers interview, I asked if I could work with satellites or in the semiconductor industries, manufacturing microchips/CPUs etc as I’d been intrigued, impressed, and inspired by watching Intel Technicians on TV working in clean rooms. Alas such opportunities we’re out of reach in my town but I’ve never forgotten what I dreamed of and it will always motivate me to learn more.
This is likely why I joke I have a tech/laboratory trolley addiction as I enjoy daily surfing products to see what cool looking items come up.
Around 2002 or so I started an ISIT Course and I’ve been moving in multiple directions over the years picking up skills but not certifications, I’m actively looking to finalise my skillset and collect certifications to prove I’m capable which I hope will lead to the opening up of further opportunities to learn and work in the Tech/3D industries, or will help me with my own projects or opportunities I create myself through my own businesses.
My journey into 3D started when I joined Second Life in 2006 where I started modelling using primitives and became a registered mentor, I then went on to design sims/virtual environment’s for DAZ3D in an effort to develop/transition them into a high-end University, Shopping mall, and Welcome Hub when mesh was added to the service, I then moved away to Open simulator to develop DAZLife.
Around 2016 I was trained as a teacher/trainer, part of a 3d printed motorsport program (The Blair Project) after which I started 3d printing on the Ultimaker 2+ for a none profit social enterprise 3d teaching company I founded in 2016 called FossaLab Technologies, where I helped children get started with 3D using Tinker cad and trained adults in Fusion 360 and Hexagon.
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About FurShows, Glow Raiser, Snack Ferret Studio, The Furry Party: FurShows is a cultural archive and video hosting site for the furry fandom and anthropomorphic fans that aspires to be a streaming service.
Cassandra Harris
Founder of Venturespring
Founder at Venturespring
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About Venturespring: A digital transformation firm and early growth venture capital fund that match makes corporates with game changing startups.
Sekip Can Gokalp
CEO & Co-Founder of Coda Platform
Şekip Can Gökalp is the founding partner of Mobilike, a mobile advertisement network. Gokalp’s previous experience includes his time as a regional business development manager of Netlog and a part-time interactive marketing lecturer. He also contributes regularly to publications related to his field.
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About Coda Platform: Coda Platform is a publishing platform to enable free-to-play and casual mobile games to go to market.
Vashi Dominguez
Founder, Chairman & CEO of Vashi
Visionary entrepreneur with strong background on branding and e-commerce. Vashi Dominguez founded Vashi in 2007 with the goal of making fine jewellery accessible for all. Previously he ran an International diamond wholesale company with clients in 4 continents.
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About Vashi: Vashi is a fine jewellery brand that offers a genuinely unique, disruptive, and omni-channel retail experience.
Florian Stronk
Co-Founder & CEO of Magmatic Games
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About Koyoki, Magmatic Games: Magmatic Games provides expertise in developing online games for entertainment.
Francisco Hein
Co-Founder & CMO of Fever
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About Chaze App, Fever: Fever is a global live-entertainment discovery platform, helping people discover experiences in their cities
Xavier Collins
Co-Founder & Business Development Manager of Nexus Notes
Xavier Collins is a Co-Founder and Business Development Manager at Nexus Notes.
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About Nexus Notes, Turo: Nexus Notes operates as an online marketplace for university students to buy and sell their course notes.
Morgan Sowden
Co-Founder & CTO of paydesk
Currently a product-focused CTO at Lendinvest, a VC backed fin-tech disruptor in the mortgage-lending space. Formerly the CTO at the Octopus Group, where I co-founded and built octopuslabs.com, octopuschoice.com and octopuscash.com; built the Octopus digital design team from scratch, as well as their product and (distributed) engineering teams; and initiated the group transformation from waterfall to agile. I am also co-founder and CTO of paydesk.co, a B2B media platform with 6000+ journalists in 165+ countries. Prior to Paydesk, I was interim CEO and CTO of birthdayalarm.com, a very profitable online greeting card site with 55+ million active members. I’ve also been: Entrepreneur in Residence at Monkey Inferno, a San Francisco based startup accelerator; a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded (and sold) two other web businesses, including an early social network (2003); and a board member / NED. Mostly though, I am DJ and love Techno. Search for me on Mixcloud.
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About Facebook AI, paydesk: On-demand workforce platform disrupting the recruitment industry one sector at a time. Starting with media and doing it with payments
Phil Hutcheon
Founder & CEO of DICE
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About DICE: DICE is a curated platform that connects fans to live shows.
Tobin Ireland
Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of MetaGravity
Tobin Ireland is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of MetaGravity.
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About MetaGravity, Mobile Value Partners: MetaGravity is a deep-tech startup that is pushing the boundaries of blockchain and the Metaverse.
Ant Ganjou
Founder & CEO of CÜR Media
Ant Ganjou a creative entrepreneur with a proven track record of building businesses and generating long term value for clients across a wide range of industry vertices. Currently in my role as CEO at CURB we have helped over 300 clients win hundreds of awards and generate hundreds of millions of pounds in exposure as well as direct business.
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About Airhead, Brand Advance, CÜR Media, DOOH, Gravity Industries, Handi, Hydra, Lifesaver, move.ai: CUR Media is a mobile application that enables its users to create online profiles to share music with their photos and videos.
Justin Hsu
CEO / Founder of MarcoPolo Learning
Justin Hsu is one of the founders of Marco Polo Learning.
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About MarcoPolo Learning: MarcoPolo Learning is an award-winning digital curriculum developer for early learners.
Turi Munthe
Founder of Parlia
Turi manages a significant proportion of NBM’s dealflow, with a particular focus on EMEA. He sits on the boards of NBM portfolio companies in the US, Europe, the Middle East and India. Before joining NBM, Turi advised multiple early and later stage media and media tech companies. In 2012, Turi exited his company Demotix to Bill Gates’ Corbis Images. Demotix, which he founded in 2007, had become the world’s largest network of photojournalists.
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About North Base Media, Parlia: The Encyclopedia of Opinion
Sharon Reed
Co-Founder & Director of Framestore
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About Framestore: Framestore is a creative studio that offers production, pre-production, and post-production services for its users.
Mike McGee
Chief Creative Office, Founder, of Framestore
Framestore’s co-founder and creative director Mike McGee has directed for some of the UK’s most well-known brands, including the BBC, Next and Robinsons, who sent him up in the ‘vomit comet’ to shoot their commercial in zero gravity. His most recent directing work has been for O2 where Jonesy the cat was transported into space as part of their ongoing ‘Be More Dog’ campaign. Having worked in the industry for over 25 years, Mike is highly awarded in his field and his eye for detail is unrivalled. Mike’s skills as a live-action director are welded to an exceptional understanding of visual effects. His credits as a VFX supervisor include the BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs, feature films Nanny McPhee and Your Highness, and advertising campaigns for GE and ESPN. Mike has also given talks at various events across the world such as Ciclope and the GREAT festival of Creativity, whilst writing articles for well-known publications such as The Guardian and Marketing Magazine.
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About Framestore: Framestore is a creative studio that offers production, pre-production, and post-production services for its users.
Matt Heiman
Founder & CEO of The Game Day
Matt Heiman is the Founder and CEO at The Game Day.
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About Cocoon, The Game Day: The Game Day is an operator of a multi-channel platform for sports content.
David Spindler
Co-Founder of Electric Gamebox
David Spindler is a Co-Founder and CFO at Electric Gamebox. Previously, David founded Tough Mudder Bootcamp- the studio fitness concept of Tough Mudder Inc. David joined Tough Mudder in 2012, leading Strategy and Marketing teams. He built growth projects and new business initiatives from after-parties to Global Mudder marketing events. Prior to Tough Mudder, David was a Consultant at Bain and Company in London, Zurich and Johannesburg. David graduated from the London School of Economics with a degree in Philosophy and Economics.
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About Electric Gamebox: Electric Gamebox delivers immersive team adventures in the world’s smartest room
Col Needham
Founder and CEO of IMDB
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About IMDB: IMDb, the world’s most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content.
Asaf Peled
Founder and CEO of Minute Media
Asaf is the Chief Executive Officer of Minute Media, parent company of 90min. Asaf founded 90min in 2011as FTBpro. Since then, 90min has grown to be the world’s largest football media platform, driven by a contributor-driven model, and has expanded the brand throughout Europe, North America, South America and Asia. Asaf is involved in all aspects of Minute Media’s growth and operations, from product development to marketing and content. Prior to 90min, Asaf was the founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Top 7 International and also spent four years at Cisco Systems Israel where he was responsible for business development in the Israeli market. Asaf has a M.B.A. from The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania and a bachelors of arts from Tel Aviv University. He resides in London and his favorite team is the San Antonio Spurs.
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About 90min, Minute Media: Minute Media is a media and technology brand focused on two main pillars—platform and content.
James Craven
Founder of Hybrid
James Craven is the Managing Director and founder of Hybrid, a place where traditional and contemporary communications merge and outcomes are measured. Powered by a young collective of journalists, strategists and business minds, Hybrid moves with unparalleled pace across five independent brands in high-growth markets. In June 2017, traffic to Hybrid’s combined portfolio exceeded 8.5m unique visitors. Hybrid operates out of Bristol (UK), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Sydney (Australia) and from Q1 2018, will open a further office in Boston (USA).
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About Hybrid: Hybrid is a media company that creates content for brands across digital platforms.
Jamal Edwards
Founder & CEO of SBTV
Jamal Edwards founded SB.TV which he still runs as CEO. What started as a UK online urban music channel has quickly grown into an innovative and exciting music and lifestyle media platform with global reach. SB.TV now has over 200 million youtube views and has featured interviews with a varied list of guests from politicians such as David Cameron and Ed Milliband to globally recognized artists such as Nicki Minaj and Jessie J as well as urban stars like Giggs & Drake. In 2011 Edwards was the face of the Google Chrome ad which was the second most popular YouTube ad that year. In 2012 he was named one of Richard Branson’s ‘Young Pioneers’ and has since been described as ‘The Branson of the Urban Scene’. Later that year Edwards was named on the Sunday Times Rich List and gave a talk at a TEDx Talk hosted at the houses of parliament where he put forward a case for why the next Prime Minister could be found on YouTube. 2013 saw the release of Edwards’ groundbreaking innovative business book Self Belief: The Vision which was a number 1 bestseller in its first week! Edwards is a patron for The Prince’s Trust and Access to Music and committed to using his success to shine light on other young entrepreneurs and help spread Self Belief amongst all people.
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About SBTV: SBTV is an online platform that provides its users with news on media.
Daniel Couchman Kendall
Managing Director & Founder of Mission Based Media
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About Mission Based Media: Mission Based Media creates and produces audio content that depends on the organization’s goals.
Ross Westgate
CEO and Co-Founder of Infinity Creative Media
Ross has over 22 years in the global broadcast business, helping to launch the European TV operations of Dow Jones and CNBC. He developed the world’s first tri-anchored, transcontinental daily live newscast programme Worldwide Exchange, a show he hosted from inception in 2006 until leaving to help build Infinity, where he is also Executive Producer across the IFTV series. Whilst at CNBC Ross additionally became the face of the channel’s media coverage, presenting ‘Media Talk’ as well as hosting panels and broadcasting from MIPCOM, the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival and Mobile World Congress. Ross is a regular business commentator and has been a frequent moderator at the annual meetings of The World Economic Forum in Davos, The Ambrosetti Forum in Lake Como, the CBI and many one off events including The Future of Digital Media at BAFTA.
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About Infinity Creative Media: Infinity Creative Media creates quality media content designed for global commercial exploitation across multi-platform outlets.
Russ Lindsay
Founder of Infinity Creative Media
Russ co-founded James Grant Media and over the last 30 years has managed many of the UK’s top media and sports personalities including Phillip Schofield, Ant & Dec, Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan, Clare Balding, Holly Willoughby, Davina McCall, Richard & Judy, Fearne Cotton and England Rugby Captain Lawrence Dallaglio. During his time at James Grant, Russ was the Creative Director of the Group and produced the majority of its productions in music, theatre & TV. Since leaving James Grant in April 2013, Russ set up Infinity Creative Media Ltd, where he is the Executive Producer for each of the investor funded television strands as well as The Celebrity Cup. Russ sits on the committee of the British Inspiration Awards and chairs the media sector of Debretts People of Today.
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About Infinity Creative Media: Infinity Creative Media creates quality media content designed for global commercial exploitation across multi-platform outlets.
Chris Howard
Founder of The Rattle
Chris is a serial technology entrepreneur from MIT specialising in creating companies that blend deep tech with phsychology. Formerly an entrepreneur in residence for Techstars, UCL, and the Digital Catapult, Chris is currently the founding CEO of The Rattle – a tech enabled incubator for the music industry.
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About The Rattle, University College London (UCL): The Rattle is a venture studio and incubator for provocative artists, hackers, inventors, and startups.
Jon Eades
Director and Co-Founder of The Rattle
Jon heads up Abbey Road’s new technology and innovation department, Abbey Road Red, managing the music tech start-up incubation program and partnering with researchers to investigate emerging technologies for music.
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About Abbey Road Red, Abbey Road Studios, The Rattle: The Rattle is a venture studio and incubator for provocative artists, hackers, inventors, and startups.
Bobby Bloomfield
Founder of The Rattle
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About The Rattle: The Rattle is a venture studio and incubator for provocative artists, hackers, inventors, and startups.
Sergio Mottola
Founder & President of Public Pressure
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About Public Pressure: Public Pressure operates an online NFT marketplace for the music industry.
James McAulay
Co-Founder & CEO of Encore Technologies
Our resident Cellist and CEO, James dreams of a future where live music is everywhere.
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About Encore Technologies: Encore is an online network of musicians that enables them to access many performance opportunities in the music community around them.
James King
Co-Founder & CTO of Encore Technologies
An avid pianist and our CTO, James is rarely seen away from a keyboard of some kind.
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About Encore Technologies: Encore is an online network of musicians that enables them to access many performance opportunities in the music community around them.
David Reymondet
Founder of A R T C U B E
Founder of ArtCube.
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About A R T C U B E: Online social marketplace for art
Solomon Rogers
Co-Founder & CEO of REWIND
Founder and CEO of REWIND, the VR content studio behind international award winning work such as the BBC’s Home: A VR Spacewalk, Björk’s NotGet VR, Red Bull Air Race VR and the acclaimed launch title Project Falcon for the FOVE eye-tracking VR headset. Sol is a BAFTA VR Advisory Group Executive, advisor and board member to globally recognised conferences including Autodesk University, FMX.de, Develop:VR, MIPCOM and MIPTV. He is co-founder of the nonprofit VR Together platform, creating VR for Good, and founder and organiser of the UK’s most popular VR meetup, VRLO. Sol was awarded the first “VR Technology & Innovation” award from UK Government Trade & Investment in 2015 and recognised as one of the digital industry’s brightest stars in the BIMA HOT 100 in 2016. Sol was a University Hertfordshire Senior Lecturer for 15 years in Digital Animation, VFX & Emerging Technology, writing four Degrees, two Masters and supervising PHDs. He is a VR evangelist and prominent international keynote speaker, often quoted in press and appearing on TV. www.REWIND.co
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About REWIND: REWIND is an award winning content production agency, working with bleeding edge technology to create unforgettable brand experiences.
Didier Metelo
Founder – CEO of Kauris Ltd
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About Kauris Ltd: Kauris Ltd. develops LAMOOVA promoting clubbing trough App, Animation Film and Series, Comics and Website, AR / VR.
Clare Stewart Munn
Chief Executive Office, Founder of Box Media
Media Executive and entrepreneur passionate about communication, Ai and equal pay. Focused on disrupting how information is digested and expressed in the workforce. In 94 Munn’s script and animation treatment to entertain and educate children about Africa and the environment was licensed by Paramount/Simon & Schuster Interactive . In parallel she co-founded Penga Partners with a vision to disrupt communication and training in the workplace. This became Employment Law Training Inc. owned by Littler Mendleson. ELT-Inc.com became the first multidimensional, online site for compliance story based training. Instrumental in raising $15 million from Lazard and selling for multiple X 10 years later. After ELT, Munn became EVP of Global BD & Partnerships instrumental in raising Series B $22 million for Playback Media, a $28M venture back software and media company founded in 1998 in Silicon Valley to deliver cutting edge e- Learning videos to Global 50 companies. Even though both companies had successes, Munn realized broadband was not quite there to create her vision of streaming mixed media short format engaging episodic videos in the workplace and after founding an award winning boutique agency, The Communication Group, Munn concentrated on creating brand and digital strategies for Fortune 100 clients including Hitachi, Maxtor, Cisco, McKesson, AMD, ebay, Danskin, Eddie Bauer etc. This became the 1st 50 Green Certified agency in SF. Coined and trademarked CQ: Communication Quotient: Expressive & Receptive Intelligence, and H2H, Human 2 Human. And soon after being an Executive Producer of The Square – a 3 Emmy, Oscar Nominated film with Netflix, Munn knew it was finally time to realize her vision of 20 years ago and Boxspring Entertainment was founded in 2016. Boxspring was the 1st 100 to sign the Equal Pay Pledge.
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About Box Media, Unreasonable: Reinventing Learning. An EdTech company producing short form media and technology tools focused on the Future of Work
Julian Assange
Founder of WikiLeaks
Julian Assange is the founder of [WikiLeaks](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/wikileaks). He was a physics and mathematics student, a hacker and computer programmer before setting up WikiLeaks. He is currently a citizen of Australia.
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About WikiLeaks: WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organisation that publishes classified information provided by anonymous sources.
Joshua Nino De Guzman
CEO, Co-Founder & Director of Dexerto
Joshua Nino De Guzman is the CEO & Co-Founder at Dexerto
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About Dexerto: Dexerto is the world’s largest digital esports and gaming lifestyle platform news platform.
Chris Marsh
Co-Founder & Director of Dexerto
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About Dexerto: Dexerto is the world’s largest digital esports and gaming lifestyle platform news platform.
Mike Kent
Co-Founder & Director of Dexerto
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About Dexerto: Dexerto is the world’s largest digital esports and gaming lifestyle platform news platform.
Daniel Berg
CEO & Co-Founder of NextUp
Daniel Berg joined NextUp Comedy as CEO & Co-Founder in 2016.
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About ComComedy, NextUp: The home of stand-up, showcasing all the wonders of live comedy worldwide.
Stuart Snaith
Co-Founder of NextUp
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About NextUp, NextUp: The home of stand-up, showcasing all the wonders of live comedy worldwide.
Sarah Henley
Co-Founder of NextUp
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About NextUp: The home of stand-up, showcasing all the wonders of live comedy worldwide.
Kenny Cavey
Co-Founder of NextUp
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About NextUp: The home of stand-up, showcasing all the wonders of live comedy worldwide.
Simon Windsor
Founder, Joint Managing Director of Dimension
Simon has been at the forefront of immersive technologies since 2011, launching several successful companies in AR and VR, and bringing state-of-the-art immersive production facilities to the UK. He is joint-head at immersive media company, Hammerhead, and at Dimension, a pioneering volumetric video capture studio and first Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture studio partner, focused on creating next generation virtual humans. Simon is also a director at TimeSlice Films, one of the UK’s leading multi-cam and capture solutions specialists, and prior to this he was part of the management team that launched AR technology platform, String. An award winning AR and VR producer, Simon has inspired and lead projects for companies including Disney, Nike, Sky, Audi, HSBC, Magic Leap and many more, and produced original VR titles including ABE and Syren.
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About Dimension: Revolutionary volumetric production studios for the creation of next generation digital humans, XR content and virtual production.
Jake Cossington
Founder & CEO of Terrabyte Studios Limited
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About Terrabyte Studios Limited: Terrabyte Studios Limited is a Media Company powering online services.
Chris Elrin
CEO and Founder of Attachment London
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About Attachment London: Attachment London is a start-up works directly with the biggest talent to help brands unlock opportunities “that would never be possible”.
Ben Saul-Garner
Co-Founder of Attachment London
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About Attachment London, Rebel Book Club: Attachment London is a start-up works directly with the biggest talent to help brands unlock opportunities “that would never be possible”.
Claire Enders
Founder of Enders Analysis
Claire Enders founded Enders Analysis in 1997. Claire is one of the most experienced analysts and forecasters in UK and European media and telecoms, with more than 30 years in strategy development and market research in these sectors. Claire is particularly valued for her independent views and insights regarding cyclical and structural impacts on companies in the media, telecoms, technology and retail sectors. Claire is a graduate of Yale and of the London Business School. Enders Analysis supports a wide range of charities in the UK with which Claire is actively involved, including the NSPCC, and many cultural enterprises. Claire is a Trustee of Glyndebourne and a Trustee of the Natural History Museum development trust.
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About Enders Analysis: Enders Analysis is a TMT analysis firm providing senior corporate managers with an alternative perspective on 3G and the internet.
Kevin Spacey
Founder of Trigger Street Productions
Kevin Spacey Fowler, better known as Kevin Spacey, is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, and comedian. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television.
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About Trigger Street Productions: Trigger Street Productions is an entertainment production company that develops and produces movies.
Martha Fox
Founder of Lucky Voice
Martha is the founder and executive chair of Doteveryone.org.uk. In April 2016 she was appointed as a non-executive director of Twitter. Martha became a crossbench peer in the UK House of Lords in March 2013. In March 2014 she was appointed Chancellor of the Open University. Martha co- founded and chairs LuckyVoice, revolutionising the karaoke industry. She is a non executive director of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Creative industries federation, the Scale Up Institute and the Open Data Institute. In 2007 Martha founded her own charitable foundation Antigone and also serves as a Patron of AbilityNet, Reprieve, Camfed and Just for Kids Law. In 2013 Martha was awarded a CBE. In 1998. Martha co-founded Europe’s largest travel and leisure website, lastminute.com with Brent Hoberman. They took it public in 2000 and sold it in 2005.
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About Doteveryone, Lucky Voice, The Open University: Lucky Voice, is offers music karaoke services.
Mark Hain
Founder and CEO of DingIt.tv
Mark Hain is the founder and CEO of DingIt.tv.
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About DingIt.tv: DingIt is a leading destination for premium eSports and Gaming content
Kim Thesiger
Co Founder and Group Director for Asia Pacific of TVT
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About TVT: Building digital tools for the Entertainment industry
Rob Lough
Chief Strategy Officer / Co-Founder of KidsKnowBest
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About KidsKnowBest: A full-service creative agency; driven by insights; powered by youth. Delivering effective and results-led solutions.
Joel Silverman
CEO / Co-Founder of KidsKnowBest
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About KidsKnowBest: A full-service creative agency; driven by insights; powered by youth. Delivering effective and results-led solutions.
Magdeline Pokar
Founder, Managing Director of Asia Research News
Maggie is the managing director of Asia Research News, overseeing all aspects of this innovative startup.
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About Asia Research News: Asia Research News connects researchers with international media, policy makers, fellow collaborators and the science-hungry public.
Andrea Radrizzani
Chairman & Founder of Aser Ventures
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About Aser Ventures: Aser Ventures is an investment platform specialising in sports, media and entertainment.
Irina Albita
Co Founder of FilmChain
Irina has founded several startups and mentored for accelerator programmes in the areas of education, retail and film. She is a guest speaker on the blockchain subject at tech conferences and major film festivals. She has a background in computer science, management and governance and is a Masters graduate from London School of Economics. Irina has recently spoke at the IBM Blockchain in New York alongside ConsenSys and is now working on her newest project FilmChain with childhood friend Maria Tanjala.
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About Big Couch, FilmChain: FilmChain is the fintech infrastructure modernising payments in film and TV, and operating a royalties management for enterprises.
Anna Frankowska
CEO & Co-Founder of Nightset
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About Nightset: Nightset is a nightlife marketplace that connects people, venues, and brands on one platform globally.
Nicholas Minter-Green
CEO & Founder of Parable Works
An expert in content creation, public relations and integrated marketing, Nicholas was president of Economist Films, steering the team responsible for creating content that reflected the newspaper’s heritage as a world leader in reporting, analysis and investigation. Before that he was managing director at TVC group, building the agency into a leading brand content-communications business and top-10 UK PR agency.
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About Parable Works: A Virtual Reality and Television Studio & Agency.
Pierre Figeat
CEO and Co-Founder of Admo.tv
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About Admo.tv: Admo.tv is the best TV analytics platform that helps TV & radio advertisers to measure and optimise the online impact.
George Marangos-Gilks
Founder of Tab Media
George Marangos-Gilks is a Founder at The Tab.
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About : Tab Media is a global youth media startup for people under 25. It publishes The Tab and babe.
Max Roebuck
Founder & MD of Crowder
Max is the founder of Crowder, a London based tech start up that provides consumers with an unparalleled level of insight into their local bars & restaurants and provides venues with an online marketing and anlaytics dashboard to help streamline their operations and increase revenue.
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About Crowder: Brick and mortar venues get critical performance insight. Consumers are shown how busy the venues are. The two are linked with advertising.
Dee Harvey
Founder & Director of Controvert
Over 20 years experience in interactive media production at the highest level, and a graduate of NYU.
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About Controvert: Controvert creates and develops media content using immersive technology.
Sarah Jane Thomson
Co Founder of Discover Film
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About Discover Film: A technology and entertainment platform for short movies. Films can be watched online and via mobile and Smart TV Apps.
Steve Harmston
Founder of Discover Film
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About Discover Film: A technology and entertainment platform for short movies. Films can be watched online and via mobile and Smart TV Apps.
Chris Watts
CTO / Co-Founder of NumberEight
Chris is the co-founder and CTO of NumberEight, a London-based AI company that detects user context from smartphone sensors and uses it to build audiences of behaviourally similar users. He is an ex-IBMer, where he researched air pollution sensors and has multiple patents to his name. He holds computer science degrees from Southampton and Cambridge and brings the know-how to achieve the theory of context detection in the real world.
Chris’ team has since produced patent-pending inventions, including efficient techniques for smartphones to process high-frequency data without significant battery impact, the ability to make personal devices work together to adapt to context and mood, and the process of defining groups of people with similar interests using anonymised sensor data.
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About NumberEight: NumberEight solves mobile addressability at scale by giving new life to untapped 1st party data. The company empowers app developers, ad partners, and advertisers to explore the power of mobex (mobile context) to connect with their users in a relevant, impactful, and most importantly, a private way. They do this through our best-in-class mobile AI software, which predicts the live context of a user (e.g. running, commuting) from sensors present in the device, and then packages them neatly into ID-less behavioural audiences (e.g. joggers, frequent shoppers). All computation happens on-device, thus producing a privacy-by-design solution that guarantees a higher regulatory immunity.
Abhishek Sen
CEO / Co-Founder of NumberEight
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About NumberEight: On-device AI software to predict user context using mobile sensors
Ian Clethero
Founder & Director of 1Hub Media Ltd
Ian Clethero is the founder of 1Hub Media (London) and Platform8 Asia (Hong Kong). These are online media companies publishing platforms for two verticals: music education and choirs. Platform8 Asia is reponsible for marketing the projects in Hong Kong, SE Asia and the wider region. 1Hub Media takes the same role for the UK and European markets. The aim is to build MUSIC:ED and Chorally into ‘go-to’ global resources for their respective sectors. Each platform efficiently links individual users with organisations and businesses. The platforms combine independent media (news, magazine articles) with directories and listings (classifieds, project profiles, jobs, resources). Online membership, social networks and iOS/Android mobile apps will be launched in 2019 to provide new benefits for platform users, boosting overall engagement and traffic. MUSIC:ED is designed for students, educators, performers and parents as end-users. Advertisers include education providers (including university and college music departments, international schools, private music schools), music and software publishers, providers of specialist services, charities, government departments and arts councils, membership organisations and performance venues. Chorally serves the global choral sector, a market of an estimated 2m performing groups and 60m singers. The platform brings together choirs, singers and audiences in one place (the idea for Chorally came from Ian Clethero’s extensive experience as a church musician). From mid 2019, choirs will be able to create profiles and add jobs, events and news to Chorally. Both platforms are monetised through advertiser subscriptions, individual listing fees (eg for summer schools and jobs) and individual membership subscriptions (from 2019). Additional revenue is derived from sponsorship and affiliate commissions from sales originated on the platforms. The projects have bases in both Europe and Asia. Ian Clethero’s aim is to expand MUSIC:ED and Chorally in these regions. After this, the projects will be extended worldwide including to North and South America.
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About 1Hub Media Ltd: Publisher of digital information platforms, MUSIC:ED (https://musiceducation.global) and Chorally (https://choral.ly).
Matthew Woods
Co-Founder of AFK Creators
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About AFK Creators: Influencer Management and Marketing Agency, Gaming and Esports
Charles Thiede
CEO and Co-Founder of Zapnito
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About Zapnito: Zapnito is the SaaS online community platform for intelligence-driven organizations.
Jon Beer
CTO and Co-Founder of Zapnito
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About Zapnito: Zapnito is the SaaS online community platform for intelligence-driven organizations.
Mantas Malukas
Founder & CEO of Dapp Life
Mantas Malukas is an entrepreneur, journalist & blogger. As an entrepreneur his main focus is in the development of high level concepts mainly in the editorial news projects and journalism.
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About Dapp Life: Dapp Life is an online platform that features cryptocurrency news, crypto app reviews and incisive commentary on blockchain and dApps.
Andrew Sheldon
Creative Director & Founder of True North Productions
ndrew is an award winning journalist and film maker who leads the Documentaries and Current Affairs departments at True North. Having started his career in newspapers, he’s been telling stories that matter ever since. Andrew is constantly breaking new ground, often in the world of the police and crime. His genre-bending Big Sting brand took the best of Candid Camera and Crimewatch, working with police forces to catch up with criminals on the run. His eye for a story often takes him inside the stories that everyone is talking about – like One Man and His Canoe for ITV, which told the story of fraudster John Darwin as the police investigation unfolded. With a reputation for negotiating exclusive access and years of investigative experience, Andrew’s Executive Producer credits include the inside story of the disappearance of schoolgirl Shannon Matthews in Panorama: The Mother of All Lies, the UK’s first ever hand transplant in My New Hand and the expose of the UK’s biggest funeral company in Dispatches: Undercover Undertaker.
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About True North Productions: True North Productions is one of the biggest most dynamic TV production companies in the UK – a beacon for talent in the north of England.
Jess Fowle
Creative Director & Founder of True North Productions
Jess started in television as a TV-am trainee and during her time in ITV’s factual department was behind some of the channel’s highest ever factual ratings with the shocking expose Nannies from Hell. In a twenty-year career in factual television, Jess has made everything from long running, multi-episode features series to immersive one-off docs. At True North Jess leads the Features and Children’s departments – creating returning brands like Building the Dream and Junior Vets and has also been responsible for delivering some of the company’s most talked-about pop docs including Addicted to Surrogacy, My Mums Used to Be Men, The Twins who Share a Body and My Fake Baby. Working collaboratively with contributors, Jess has been at the forefront of forging True North’s reputation for telling sensitive stories with integrity and humanity.
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About True North Productions: True North Productions is one of the biggest most dynamic TV production companies in the UK – a beacon for talent in the north of England.
Jess Fowle
Creative Director & Founder of True North Productions
Jess started in television as a TV-am trainee and during her time in ITV’s factual department was behind some of the channel’s highest ever factual ratings with the shocking expose Nannies from Hell. In a twenty-year career in factual television, Jess has made everything from long running, multi-episode features series to immersive one-off docs. At True North Jess leads the Features and Children’s departments – creating returning brands like Building the Dream and Junior Vets and has also been responsible for delivering some of the company’s most talked-about pop docs including Addicted to Surrogacy, My Mums Used to Be Men, The Twins who Share a Body and My Fake Baby. Working collaboratively with contributors, Jess has been at the forefront of forging True North’s reputation for telling sensitive stories with integrity and humanity.
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About True North Productions: True North Productions is one of the biggest most dynamic TV production companies in the UK – a beacon for talent in the north of England.
Calum Yuill
Founder of POPBOX
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About Picton Street Media, POPBOX: Let’s compete together
Nick Hayward
Co-Founder of The Companion
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About The Companion, The Narrative Digital Studios: The Companion operates an online platform for news and updates about films and television shows.
Mal Duffin
Co-Founder of Out Of Tune Games
A software engineer, again with over 20 years experience in 3D coding, has worked globally in the games, education and marketing sectors.
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About Out Of Tune Games: Out Of Tune Games creates and develops interactive online games.
Fivos Pantazis
Founder of Aphetor
Fivos Pantazis is the Founder at Aphetor.
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About Aphetor: Aphetor is the next generation, creator-based sports/entertainment property for the next generation of fans
Carsten Thode
Founder of Aphetor
Carsten Thode is the Founder at Aphetor.
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About Aphetor: Aphetor is the next generation, creator-based sports/entertainment property for the next generation of fans
Colin Yellowley
Founder & President of Igloo Vision
Colin is a co-founder of Igloo, and now runs its US operations. He previously had more than ten years’ experience of working in multimedia, web design and film production. Having originally launched Igloo on the contemporary arts circuits, he successfully steered the company into the simulation and visualisation sector, and continues to play a central role in its product development.
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About : Igloo Vision is the shared VR company. We create 360° immersive solutions and all of the enabling technologies.
William Blears
Co-Founder of By Gamers For Gamers
Will Blears is the Co-Founder at By Gamers For Gamers.
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About By Gamers For Gamers: We’re here for gamers of every level, providing unbiased reviews of the latest tech and games to help you run the best games possible.
Dumisani Kapanga
Founder of Mvelani
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About Mvelani: Mvelani is an on-demand African music platform that helps music lover discover and listen to old and new music on all of their devices
Mark Nagurski
CEO and Co-Founder of Makematic
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About Makematic, Really Practical: Connecting brands with education through exceptional content and distribution
Catherine Ross-Davies
COO and Co-Founder of Makematic
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About Makematic: Connecting brands with education through exceptional content and distribution
Siobhan Freegard
Founder of Channel Mum
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About Channel Mum: Channel Mum is dedicated to shopping hauls and includes bloggers that give shopping and style tips.
Deidre MacNair
Co Founder of The Village Communications
I have a dual role here at The Village. Firstly, ensuring we deliver outstanding work for our amazing clients. The rest of my time is spent helping make The Village the best place to work for our fabulous people!
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About The Village Communications: Small and independent, with a talented, passionate, multi-disciplinary team, we allow great ideas to flourish
Richard Cox
Co Founder of The Village Communications
Since Launching the Village Communications with Dee and Kat , the pride in watching the agency grow and producing such fantastic work has being second to none. Allowing not only myself, but the team, to explore the creative side of media is also a thrill, but always keeping an eye out for that extra value alongside any deal is still my number one priority.
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About The Village Communications: Small and independent, with a talented, passionate, multi-disciplinary team, we allow great ideas to flourish
George Rockett
Co-Founder & CEO of DatacenterDynamics
George is a co-founder of the global DatacenterDynamics Conference and Expo Series and is the Publisher of ZeroDowntime Magazine. He and his team are responsible for the content direction of all DCD events. Having been involved in IT and Business publishing for over a decade, he cut his teeth on the data centre market in 1998 with the launch of ‘Colocation Network Europe’ and has been involved in a multitude of publishing initiatives within this market sector since that time, including the award-winning ‘Building Datacentres Europe’ Directory. George’s ability to view things continually from a fresh perspective and to join the dots between the various disciplines that converge on the data centre market are hallmarks of DCDs success as an organisation. DatacenterDynamics considers itself much more than just a B2B media provider which is highlighted by the number of long-term relationships that have been forged internationally with end-users, vendors and consultants alike.
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About DatacenterDynamics: DatacenterDynamics is a full service B2B information provider tailored to professionals that design, build, and operate data centers.
Sven Herold
CEO & Founder of LiveTube
Sven is a Media Executive with more than 15 years’ experience in Television, Communications and Reputation Management. He is an award-winning broadcast journalist who worked as a Senior Investigative Correspondent, Feature Writer and News & Entertainment Correspondent at major broadcasters across Europe and the U.S. Most recently, he was a global VP and member of the Communication & Marketing leadership team at Shell International. He built and led both Shell’s and SAP’s global Television divisions. In 2015, Sven founded LiveTube, a global media-house specialising in original live content-creation and distribution via mobile devices.
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About LiveTube: The world’s first Curated Live Video Platform.
Mark Burgess
Founder and CEO of Big Button Media
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About Big Button Media: Big Button Media produces films, videos, motion graphics, and animations.
Belle Robinson
Founder of JIGSAW
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About JIGSAW: Luxury British Fashion Clothing & Accessories.
Steve Boulton
Co Founder & CEO of Golden Egg Innovation
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About Golden Egg Innovation: Golden Egg Innovation offers strategy, video content, promotion, campaign, web and app design services.
Ella Gascoigne
Founder, Consultant of Startup PR
Ella is the founder of Startup PR and an award winning PR consultant covering B2B and B2C media. With excellent relationships with editors in the national, online, broadcast and trade media, Ella has a proven record of securing outstanding media coverage for her clients (business owners, publishers and authors). Before launching Startup PR, Ella worked in-house for ITV; Friends Reunited, & Crimson Business Ltd (working across several brands including Startups.co.uk; Growing Business Magazine and Crimson Publishing). Ella was awarded Young Business Woman 2010 at the Women in Business Awards and was a finalist in the York Press Young Business Woman of the Year 2011 and the Ackrill Media Awards 2012. She also collected two other awards for Startup PR in 2011 – Home Business of the Year at the Startups Awards and Smarta100 Winner.
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About Startup PR: Startup PR is an award winning PR agency.
Rob Beynon
Chief Executive Officer and Founder of DMA Media
DMA’s founder Rob Beynon is an experienced TV executive who has overseen dozens of news and factual channel start-ups. He is an expert at broadcast and digital strategy, building and managing teams, and has an unrivalled knowledge of international markets. Rob has managed news channels and programmes for the BBC, ITN, Sky, Star TV, Bloomberg, Dow Jones and CNBC. As DMA’s chief executive he has been personally involved in all the company’s major launches. He oversaw the team behind Rudaw TV, the news and multimedia service in Iraqi Kurdistan, where DMA has been the media partner after five years. He sourced and managed a 30-strong team to launch and produce news output for Arise TV, owned by a Nigerian company and with offices in New York, London, Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi. He also ran a recent project with Thomson Reuters to launch an English language news channel for the state broadcaster TRT.
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About DMA Media: DMA Media is a global media services company, launching, making and managing digital content for broadcast and corporate clients.
