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 CFO’ operating in the Enterprise space. If you think a CFO’ 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.
Paul Smolinski
Chief Financial Officer of Forterro
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About Forterro: Forterro is a federation of ERP product companies serving mid-market companies with local software around the globe.
Joanne Barnes
Chief Financial Officer of vTime Limited
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About vTime Limited: vTime is a virtual reality software company that develops apps and cloud-based solutions that redefine virtual engagement and communication.
Courtney Grant
CFO of Kalo
Courtney became Kalo’s first angel investor in 2014 before joining the team as CFO in 2016. Before diving into the startup world, he spent his career in finance with a variety of corporate finance roles at leading North American and European investment banks.
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About Kalo: Kalo provides an online platform that enables businesses to manage their external workforces.
Amit Patel
Chief Financial Officer of HighQ
Amit leads financial strategy at HighQ. Prior to joining the business,Amit founded and built a prepaid credit card and e-money business, Blue Sky Card Solutions, which he successfully sold to the company’s largest UK competitor in 2012. Before setting up Blue Sky, Amit built a career within banking and private equity where he was involved in several multi-billion leveraged buy-outs, principal investments and other high profile real estate transactions with Bank of Scotland. Amit has a bachelor’s degree in Banking & International Finance from Cass Business School, London.
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About HighQ: HighQ empowers leading law firms and corporate legal teams to transform the way they work and deliver legal services.
Iveta Cabajova
Group CFO of ITRS Group
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About ITRS Group: ITRS Group is the leading provider of risk mitigation solutions to global financial institutions.
Steve Turner
Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer of ITRS Group
Steve joined ITRS in November 2016 as the CFO & COO, bringing more than 30 years’ management and leadership experience from across all industries. Steve had been previously running his own company coaching leaders and executive teams on the benefits of Organisational Health. Prior to this he has led the Services division at Misys Banking, a leader in the core banking market, and several other software companies through significant growth programmes (Ariba, BroadVision and SAP). Steve is a double Olympian in the sport of rowing, entrepreneur and has passion about sport, technology and performance.
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About ITRS Group: ITRS Group is the leading provider of risk mitigation solutions to global financial institutions.
Andrew Hicks
CFO of Advanced
Andrew Hicks is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Advanced, having joined the company in December 2015. He is responsible for leading the Group’s strategic and operational finance, legal and HR departments. He also drives strategic organic and inorganic initiatives across the group. Andrew brings 15 years’ experience in the software sector, serving in senior finance roles in public and private equity backed firms both in the UK and USA. Most recently, he was CFO of Kewill, a global leader in multi-modal transportation software solutions, which he helped transition from a public company to private ownership. Prior to that, he worked for a number of Vista portfolio companies including Advanced’s sister company, financial services software provider Misys, and as CFO of Vista’s P2 Energy Solutions.
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About Advanced: Advanced provide software & services for commercial, public and third sector organisations that make the complex simple.
Andrew Hicks
CFO of Advanced
Andrew Hicks is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Advanced, having joined the company in December 2015. He is responsible for leading the Group’s strategic and operational finance, legal and HR departments. He also drives strategic organic and inorganic initiatives across the group. Andrew brings 15 years’ experience in the software sector, serving in senior finance roles in public and private equity backed firms both in the UK and USA. Most recently, he was CFO of Kewill, a global leader in multi-modal transportation software solutions, which he helped transition from a public company to private ownership. Prior to that, he worked for a number of Vista portfolio companies including Advanced’s sister company, financial services software provider Misys, and as CFO of Vista’s P2 Energy Solutions.
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About Advanced: Advanced provide software & services for commercial, public and third sector organisations that make the complex simple.
Matthew Ashley
Chief Financial Officer of Micro Focus
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About Micro Focus: Micro Focus is a software company with 40 years of experience in delivering and supporting enterprise software solutions.
Haywood Chapman
Chief Financial Officer of Iqgeo
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About Iqgeo: IQGeo is a company having end-to-end geospatial software that improves productivity and collaboration across various industrial processes.
Peter Wallace
Chief Financial Officer of Kadence
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About Kadence: The operating system for hybrid working. Everything you need to connect your people, projects, and space, enabling your team’s greatest work
Nick Taylor
Chief Financial Officer of Bizagi
An experienced finance professional with a wide range of experience in leadership roles across many industries including software, technology, banking, professional services and more. Nick has a proven track record of partnering with the leadership teams of high growth businesses to build finance functions that have the capabilities to enable the organization to achieve its goals. Most recently Nick was the CFO for the International Business Unit at Blackbaud, a large publicly listed software company, partnering with the business to deliver the strongest period of revenue growth and margin improvement in the business unit to date. Previously Nick has also worked at Eversheds, BT, Lloyds TSB, American Express, Travelport and Accenture.
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About Bizagi: Bizagi is a global leader in digital process automation software.
Lisa Davis
CFO of CensorNet
Most recently Lisa was finance director at SaaSID, a UK based single sign-on and application security vendor until it was acquired by Intermedia Inc. in September 2013. Prior to SaaSID, she has held a number of senior finance roles with companies whose turnover ranged from £1m to in excess of £100m including Pitney Bowes Ltd, Autoglass Ltd, Belron International Ltd and Audatex (UK) Ltd
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About CensorNet: CensorNet Unified Security Service (USS) is a new-generation comprehensive cloud-based cyber security solution.
Lisa Davis
CFO of CensorNet
Most recently Lisa was finance director at SaaSID, a UK based single sign-on and application security vendor until it was acquired by Intermedia Inc. in September 2013. Prior to SaaSID, she has held a number of senior finance roles with companies whose turnover ranged from £1m to in excess of £100m including Pitney Bowes Ltd, Autoglass Ltd, Belron International Ltd and Audatex (UK) Ltd
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About CensorNet: CensorNet Unified Security Service (USS) is a new-generation comprehensive cloud-based cyber security solution.
Hannah Lowry
Chief Financial Officer of Ecrebo
Hannah joined Ecrebo in July 2017 and brings proven experience in driving business performance and robust financial management for multinational companies in Europe and the Middle East. In her role as CFO, Hannah is responsible for all financial matters for Ecrebo and as part of the senior leadership team, will help set and implement the strategic direction of the company. Hannah previously served as finance director for the data and analytics business at Aimia, as well as tenures with GE Capital in Dubai, and Barclays in London.
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About Ecrebo: Ecrebo is a point of sale marketing platform.
Simon Corley
Co-Founder & CFO of CloudApps
Simon is a co-founder of CloudApps and is responsible for Finance, Administration & Operations and brings over 18 years of relevant experience to this role gained whilst working at Salesforce, Siebel Systems and Informix. Prior to founding CloudApps, Simon spent over 6 years at salesforce.com, joining in 2003 before its IPO. Simon has been a member of the European Management team since hire and initially was responsible for the company’s Finance and Administration for EMEA. In 2007 Simon was promoted to Vice President, Operations for EMEA, and in 2009 to Vice President of Strategy for International Sales. Simon’s focus was to optimise sales performance through targeted go-to-market strategies, coverage models, and evaluation of sales execution. Prior to joining Salesforce, Simon spent 6 years at Siebel and 5 years at Informix within the European Finance functions, providing infrastructure support to enable explosive growth in their sales teams. Simon is a Chartered Accountant who gained his professional qualification with Deloitte and Touche in London in 1990. He has a BSc in Geography from King’s College, London University. Simon is married with two children and lives in Hampshire, UK.
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About CloudApps: CloudApps increases sales performance by motivating more of your high-value, winning sales behaviours
Phil Wright
CFO, Treasurer and Company Secretary of PrismTech
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About PrismTech: PrismTech provides software platforms and tools for the Internet of Things, Industrial Internet and advanced wireless communications.
Nigel Dahl
Interim CFO/COO, M&A Specialist of EPM Gurus
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About EPM Gurus, PYXI Group: EPM Gurus specializes in Oracle Hyperion EPM solution planning, architecture, and implementation.
