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 COO’ operating in the Robotics space. If you think a COO’ 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.
Nick Rogers
COO & Co-Founder of Sky-Futures
Nick is Chief Regulatory and Training Officer (CRTO) and co-founder at Sky-Futures. He oversees the Training and Regulatory framework including the UK CAA National Qualified Entity (NQE) Status, ensuring that the Remote Pilot training is robust and fit for purpose. As a qualified civilian airline Captain who continues to fly Airbus A320 passenger jets, Nick’s aviation experience and understanding of the manned aviation environment have been instrumental in establishing a culture of safety and outstanding operational procedures that help enhance Sky-Futures position as a leading drone technology company.
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About Sky-Futures: Sky-Futures is a provider of drone-based inspection and data services to the industrial inspection market.
Samantha Payne
Co Founder & COO of Open Bionics
Samantha Payne is the co founder of Open Bionics; a robotics company developing assistive devices that enhance the human body. The company has won multiple awards for Engineering and Innovation including two British Engineering Excellence Awards and the James Dyson award for innovative design. Open Bionics works with companies like Disney to children with limb differences into bionic superheroes. They were the first company to bring affordable multi-grip bionic hands to the National Health Service in the UK.
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About Open Bionics: Open Bionics is a robotics company creating affordable 3D-printed bionic hands for amputees, researchers and makers.
Thomas Fleming
Co-Founder & COO of Arctoris
Thomas Fleming is an award-winning chemist, cancer researcher, and SME Leader of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Tom is the Co-Founder & COO at Arctoris.
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About Arctoris: Arctoris is a tech-enabled platform company in biotechnology, combining robotics & data science to accelerate drug discovery.
John Rudin
Founder, CTO, and COO of Folium Optics
John studied Engineering at Durham University, and Optics at Reading University. After working as a product design engineer he joined Hewlett Packard and helped found their UK based displays research group. In 2013 he and Steve Kitson set up Folium Optics to further the commercialisation of colourful, low power plastic displays.
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About Folium Optics: Folium Optics was founded in November 2013 by Steve Kitson and John Rudin.
Chris Forster
Chief Operating Officer of Altitude Angel
Chris is passionate about both aviation and technology. Chris has a Masters of Engineering degree in Computer Science and Cybernetics and has worked in the technology industry for over 15 years. Prior to Altitude Angel, Chris worked at Microsoft for 10 years where he held consulting and leadership positions, focused on helping enterprise customers deliver their full potential with the right technologies.
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About Altitude Angel: Altitude Angel makes drones safer by providing the data and cloud services needed to safely unlock their potential.
Dimitris Nikolaidis
Co-Founder and COO of Perceptual Robotics
Dimitris Nikolaidis is the COO and co-founder at Perceptual Robotics.
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About Perceptual Robotics: Perceptual Robotics is creating intelligent automation to make wind turbine and other infrastructure inspection simple and fast
David Brain
Co-founder and COO of Symphony Ventures
David is a process and automation expert. He has designed and led billion pound outsourcing deals, developed BPO product suites, and built industry-leading Incubation Labs. Most recently, David has gained recognition as the pre-eminent expert in Robotic Process Automation, building BPO’s most recognized capability in the field. David’s mission at Symphony is to ensure flawless solution design and execution, providing clients with the innovation journey they have long sought.
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About Sykes Enterprises, Symphony Ventures: Symphony is a professional services firm passionate about creating value for the world’s leading organizations.
Emma O’Malley
Chief Operating Officer of Causeway Technologies
Emma O’Malley is the Chief Operating Officer at Causeway Technologies.
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About Causeway Technologies: Causeway Technologies is a provider of software solutions to the construction industry.
Wasif Mehdi
Chief Operating Officer of Unmanned Life
Wasif Mehdi is the Chief Operating Officer at Unmanned Life.
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About Unmanned Life: Unmanned Life is the leading software platform for seamless orchestration of autonomous robotics
Andre Ferreira
Co-Founder and COO of Airstoc
Andre Ferreira is the Co-founder and COO of Airstoc.
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About Airstoc: Airstoc is the world’s first dedicated marketplace for the professional drone industry.
Sebastian Bain
Director & COO at Advanet Inc of Advanet
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About Advanet: Advanet Inc. is a leading provider of industrial embedded board computers and systems designed, developed, and manufactured in Japan.