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 Associate operating in the FinTech space. If you think a Associate 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.
Sarah Shanfield
Associate of Felix Capital
Follow Sarah Shanfield:
About Felix Capital: Felix Capital is a venture fund that focuses on digital commerce, digital media, and information technology companies.
Charlotte Clune
Associate of Atomico
Charlotte is an Associate at Atomico. Based in London, she works on sourcing and due diligence of investment opportunities in the consumer space across Europe, as well as supporting Atomico and its portfolio companies on operational projects and research. Prior to joining Atomico, Charlotte was an Associate at The Blackstone Group in New York, followed by roles in the pre-seed and seed-stage investing ecosystems in New York and Oxford, respectively. Charlotte holds a BA in History (with distinction) from Yale University as well as an MBA (Hons) from the University of Oxford, where she was a Forté Foundation Scholar. Outside of work, when not searching for the best Sunday roast in London, Charlotte is often dreaming about big-wave surfing and the prospect of space tourism.
Follow Charlotte Clune:
About Atomico: Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Luca Eisenstecken
Senior Associate of Atomico
Luca Eisenstecken is an Associate. Based in London, Luca is part of the investment team where he works on sourcing and due diligence of investment opportunities and portfolio management for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He has worked with Automation Hero. Prior to joining Atomico, Luca spent two years at San Francisco-based private equity firm Vector Capital, where he worked on multiple growth equity investments and buyouts across diverse technology verticals, including the growth investment into CPQ software firm CloudSense. Luca began his career at MergerTech Group, a Bay Area-based technology investment bank, where he advised clients on M&A and financing processes. Luca holds a Master of International Business with a concentration in Corporate Finance from Hult International Business School in San Francisco, as well as a BA in International Management with a concentration in hospitality management from IUBH School of Business & Management in Germany. He is fluent in German and English, with some basic knowledge of Italian. As he lived in California for half a decade, he will not get tired of reminding you how much better the weather is over there.
Follow Luca Eisenstecken:
About Atomico: Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Nicole Lai
Associate of Atomico
Nicole Lai works as an Associate at Atomico. Before joining Atomico, she was a Partner Associate at Real Ventures for 2 years. She also worked as a Scientific Project Lead at Moonshot Health.
Follow Nicole Lai:
About Atomico: Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Sarah Guemouri
Senior Associate of Atomico
Sarah Guemouri is a Senior Associate based in London. She focuses on research to support the sourcing and evaluation of investment opportunities, provides regular insight on key technology trends, and helps compile the State of European Tech report. She is passionate about new ways of integrating data into work as machine learning and AI continue to mature, and using data to solve for biases and make the world a better place. Before joining Atomico, Sarah worked at App Annie, where she supported business development in EMEA and was responsible for mobile strategy consulting. Before that, she spent time in investment banking at J.P. Morgan in London, and in private equity at BNP Paribas in New York. She has a Master of Science in Corporate Finance and a Master in Management from EDHEC Business School. While Sarah’s preferred method of data analysis is Excel, her preferred method of dream analysis are short story classes where her nighttime imaginings often serve as inspiration into writing. Sarah is also the only Atomican who has ever lived full time on a sailboat and had her own yoga venture.
Follow Sarah Guemouri:
About Atomico, Atomico: Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Harriet Hamblin
Associate of Northzone
Follow Harriet Hamblin:
About Northzone: Northzone is an early-stage venture capital fund built on experience spanning multiple economic and disruptive technology cycles.
Ajit Mehta
Debt Finance Associate of OakNorth
Follow Ajit Mehta:
About OakNorth: OakNorth is the creator of the ON Credit Intelligence Suite – proven cloud software that transforms commercial lending
Stephanie Opdam
Associate of Notion Capital
Stephanie Opdam is an Associate at Columbia Lake Partners. She is responsible for the screening of investment opportunities, financial analysis, structuring, due diligence and portfolio management of debt relationships with technology companies. Prior to joining CLP, Stephanie worked as an Intern Structured Finance at NIBC Bank and as an Intern Product Development at ITPreneurs in the Netherlands. Stephanie graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BSc), International Business Administration (with distinction) from the Erasmus University Rotterdam and obtained a Master of Science (MSc), Finance & Private Equity (with merit) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Follow Stephanie Opdam:
About Notion Capital: Notion is an early-stage venture fund that focuses on technology and cloud computing markets.
Chris Beckett
Associate Director of Data Science (Product and Marketing) of Monzo
Chris Beckett is the Associate Director of Data Science (Product and Marketing) at Monzo Bank.
Follow Chris Beckett:
About Monzo: Monzo is a digital-only bank platform and marketplace that allows customers to access a range of products and services.
Jennifer Grist
Associate, Investor Services of Oxford Capital Partners
Jennifer is part of the Investor Services team. Previously she worked for HSBC Bank Plc dealing with high net worth clients and assisting financial advisers. Additionally Jennifer has over 10 years experience in customer services. In her spare time she enjoys reading, travelling and spending time with friends and family.
Follow Jennifer Grist:
About Oxford Capital Partners: Oxford Capital is a technology venture capital investor based in London and Oxford.
Rachel Guest
Portfolio Associate of Oxford Capital Partners
Rachel assists the investment management team and provides office management support. She graduated from York University with a Masters degree in Public Administration and Public Policy and a BA Hons in Politics. Her interests outside the office include going to the theatre and cooking.
Follow Rachel Guest:
About Oxford Capital Partners: Oxford Capital is a technology venture capital investor based in London and Oxford.
Duncan Chapple
Associate Director, Head of Analyst Relations of CCgroup
Duncan Chapple is the preeminent researcher worldwide studying the value of industry analysts and analyst relations. Chapple directs research projects and development workshops that increase the value generated by relationships with industry analysts and sourcing advisors. He is also completing a PhD, at the University of Edinburgh, looking into industry analysts. For the last 15 years, he has directed the two major longitudinal studies used by analyst relations professionals: the Analyst Value Survey and the Analyst Attitude Survey. Since 2013, he has been the core organiser of the annual Analyst Relations Value Forum. Chapple has helped over 100 high-growth companies to use relationships to influence customers, channel partners and third-party sales recommenders like analysts, advisors and consultants. His clients have included Cisco, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Huawei, IBM, and Microsoft. An expert in the international evaluation of influencer relations, he is the co-author of three books on relationship marketing. Chapple is a co-founder of the Institute for Industry Analyst Relations. Duncan remains one of fewer than 20 people worldwide with the elite IIAR professional certification. He holds a BA degree with honours from the University of Manchester. His master’s studies were at three University of London colleges: City; King’s College; and London Business School. Duncan Chapple has also studied at, among others, Ashridge, Dartmouth College, EDHEC, the Handelshochschule Leipzig, Université Catholique de Lyon, UCLA, the University of the Arts and the University of Newcastle. He is a fellow at Nottingham Business School and, until the start of 2017, served on the LBS international alumni council. Chapple has also qualified as a Chartered Marketer and as a member of the Association of Business Psychologists.
Follow Duncan Chapple:
About CCgroup, Institute of Industry Analyst Relations: B2B tech PR, marketing consultancy, analyst relations, Mobile & Telecoms, Enterprise Tech, FinTech, MediaTech.
Adam Page
Associate of Ardent Advisors
Follow Adam Page:
About Ardent Advisors: Strategic corporate finance advice in the e-commerce and digital technology market.
