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 Animation 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.
Will Jackson
Founder & Director of Engineered Arts
Will Jackson is the Director of Engineered Arts Ltd, based in Cornwall UK and is the creator of RoboThespian, a full sized humanoid acting robot. Will formed Engineered Arts Ltd in 2004 and employed the talents of many local artists and engineers to produce a number of bespoke commissions for UK science centres and museums. Their accomplishments including major installations for The Eden Project in Cornwall, Glasgow Science Centre, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and Centrum Kopernik in Warsaw.
Follow Will Jackson:
About Engineered Arts: RoboThespian, a life-size humanoid acting robot designed by Engineered Arts Ltd. info@robothespian.co.uk
David Sproxton
Co-Founder of Aardman Animations
David Sproxton is Co-Founder at Aardman Animations.
Follow David Sproxton:
About Aardman Animations: Aardman has a deserved reputation as a world leader in model animation. Peter Lord and David Sproxton began their animating partnership at
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
Follow Solomon Rogers:
About REWIND: REWIND is an award winning content production agency, working with bleeding edge technology to create unforgettable brand experiences.
Arvid Niklasson
Co-Founder of Analog
Arvid Niklasson Born in Sweden. Lives and works in London. Co-owner and director of Analog and leads the Realtime development at the studio.
Follow Arvid Niklasson:
About Analog: Analog Visual Effects makers and problem solvers of cosmic impossibilities.
Gareth Williams
Founder & Non-Executive Director of YellowDog
Gareth hounds the YellowDog kennel, spearheading the vision to build a world where people do more, create more, discover more; unleashed from limited computing power. Following an MEng in Information Systems Engineering from the University of Durham, Gareth cut his canines working in software and telecoms at companies including Orange, Experian QAS, FREEDOM4 and Arieso, where he was part of the Management Team that completed the successful sale of the company to JDSU in March 2013 for $85m. One day he had a brilliant idea for using spare mobile capacity which, following a chat with someone in the animation department at the University of the West of England, gave birth to what is now YellowDog. When not coming up with brilliant ideas, he is a dad, a keen cyclist, an ardent reader, a Samaritans Listening Volunteer. He also likes ale and talking to anyone (usually together). You can email Gareth on gareth@yellowdog.co or phone +44 (0) 330 223 2499.
Follow Gareth Williams:
About YellowDog: Helping businesses power their innovations with the most scalable cloud native scheduling and provisioning technology.
David Cagigas
Founder of edworking
Follow David Cagigas:
About edworking: Edworking is a creative agency that offers mobile apps, websites, DevOps, animation, UX design, marketing, and advertising services.
Stuart Logan
Founder & CEO of Twine
As the Big Boss, Stuart spends his days in a large leather armchair, staring out over the Manchester skyline while smoking a cigar and plotting world domination. (He doesn’t really). Originally from Salisbury, he studied computer science at Manchester University but was always keen to break into the exciting world of start-ups, and was involved in a number of ventures before finalising his plans for Clowdy. When not wearing his chief executive hat (metaphorically speaking) he enjoys harbouring unrealistic expectations for Manchester United’s future success and live music.
Follow Stuart Logan:
About Twine: Twine connects companies to diverse creative and digital freelancers
Christopher O’Reilly
Co-Founder of Nexus Studios
Follow Christopher O’Reilly:
About Nexus Studios: Nexus Studios is an independent production company, interactive arts and animation studio.
Martin McDonnell
Founder of Soluis
Martin McDonnell has built a group of successful businesses that deliver best in class 3D visualisation and interactive digital presentation. His vision to connect the latest digital technology platforms to the needs of different market sectors has led his businesses to be amongst the earliest innovators in bringing the benefits of augmented and virtual reality to a variety of industries including design, construction, manufacturing and healthcare. This drive has led his business Sublime to recently win one of only three inaugural Higgs EDGE awards and Soluis to win Innovate UK’s IC Tomorrow competition to develop augmented reality (AR) software, utilised at Crossrail sites in London. Martin is now pioneering (and a recognised thought leader) in the development of shared immersive solutions for business, and advanced AR assisted tools that will transform the world of work.
Follow Martin McDonnell:
About Edify, Soluis, Sublime: Soluis Group is a UK-based creative studio that specializes in design visualization, animation, software development, and more.
Adam Whiteside
Co-Founder of Whitepot Studios
Co-Founder of Whitepot Studios, where I do a load of start up stuff and lead Game Design and Development. Unity, Phaser and much more!
Follow Adam Whiteside:
About Whitepot Studios: A kickass games studio founded in 2016, creating Android, iOS, & PC games, for clients & bespoke use cases, using both HTML5 & Unity
Victoria Potts
Co-Founder, Production & Dev of Whitepot Studios
Follow Victoria Potts:
About Whitepot Studios: A kickass games studio founded in 2016, creating Android, iOS, & PC games, for clients & bespoke use cases, using both HTML5 & Unity
Dan Weaver
Co-Founder/Creative Director of Fudge Animation Studios
Follow Dan Weaver:
About Fudge Animation Studios: Fudge Animation Studios are a full service agency who astonish, inspire and motivate target audiences with exceptional character animation.
Anders Sundstedt
Founder of Sundstedt Animation
Motion graphic designer, 2D/3D artist, animator & illustrator specializing in After Effects & explainer videos. After Effects artist, animator, motion graphic designer, illustrator, video editor & 3D artist based in the UK. I work in areas that require moving or still images for animation, commercials, short film, television & music videos.
Follow Anders Sundstedt:
About Sundstedt Animation: Handcrafted animated film and video production
