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 Gamification 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.
Rob Whitehead
CPO & Co-Founder of Improbable
Robert Whitehead is the Co-Founder & CTO at Improbable. He worked as Cohort Member at Entrepreneur First. He served as Technical Consultant at McKinsey & Company. He was the Founder of TyroTech Software. He also served as Financial Software Developer Intern at Bloomberg LP.
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About Improbable, Improbable: Improbable is a UK-based games technology company that is dedicated to building powerful technology designed to help problems.
Herman Narula
CEO and Co-Founder of Improbable
Herman Narula is the cofounder and CEO of Improbable, a London-based technology startup born out of Cambridge University. Improbable is creating SpatialOS, a distributed, cloud-based platform for game development that integrates with and augments existing workflows, engines, and tools. SpatialOS empowers developers to build, run and operate previously impossible online games, with unprecedented levels of scale, complexity and persistence. Improbable has investment from some of the world’s most admired venture capitalists. Improbable currently has a team of over 200 people in offices in London and San Francisco, including top software engineering talent from world-renowned academic institutions and companies such as Google, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Microsoft. Founded in 2012, Improbable received $20m in Series A funding from Andreessen Horowitz in March 2015, with a $30m follow-on led by Horizons Ventures in July 2015. In May 2017 Improbable announced a $502m Series B funding round, led by SoftBank and including Andreessen Horowitz and Horizons Ventures. Herman holds a computer science degree from Cambridge, and is interested in the potential impact that powerful, virtual worlds will have on how they think, play and make decisions.
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About Improbable: Improbable is a UK-based games technology company that is dedicated to building powerful technology designed to help problems.
Josh DeSeno
Co-Founder of Fish Bowl VR
Josh DeSeno is Founder and CTO at Fish Bowl VR.
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About Fish Bowl VR: Fish Bowl VR is an online platform that assists its users in testing and analyzing VR applications.
Adetunji Adegbesan
Founder/CEO of Gidi Mobile
Dr Adetunji Adegbesan is the Founder & CEO of Gidi Mobile, creators of gidimo, Africa’s leading curriculum mastery & learning-as-a-service platform. Tunji has a First Class Honours degree in Electronic Engineering, and a PhD in Strategic Management from the IESE Business School. He is globally respected as one of Africa’s top scholars of competitive strategy, as well as one of her leading experts on the mobile telecommunications industry. A recipient of multiple awards, he has been invited to speak at knowledge events in more than 20 countries across four continents. Immediately prior to founding Gidi Mobile, he was Director of the Centre for Competitiveness & Strategy at the Lagos Business School (LBS), where he led sessions on Competitive Strategy, as well as on issues arising out of the intersection of Strategy, Technology, and Innovation. During his 14 years at LBS, his consulting experience spanned the software, telecommunications, banking, oil and gas, publishing, logistics, identity management and electronic payments sectors; while prior to LBS, his work experience spanned software development, consulting, information systems management, and electrical engineering, in both manufacturing and service sectors. Tunji is a member of the Editorial Review Board of the Academy of Management Review, the world’s leading conceptual journal in the field of strategic management. He is also a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Businessday Newspapers (West Africa’s premier business periodical), and a peer reviewer for several of the world’s top strategy research journals. He is a past member of the Executive Committee of the Strategy Division of the global Academy of Management, as well as a past Global Representative for Africa of the Division. He has also been a Representative-at-Large for the Competitive Strategy Interest Group of the Strategic Management Society, and a member of the Research and Strategic Planning Committee of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. He is a past Visiting Scholar & Associate Researcher at the Center for Globalisation and Strategy at the IESE Business School in Barcelona. An amateur historian, philosopher, and student of culture and geo-political affairs, Tunji has native fluency in English and Spanish, and basic literacy in French, Yoruba and Catalan.
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About Gidi Mobile: Gidi Mobile is the creator of gidimo, the developing world’s leading personal mastery & learning-for-opportunity platform
Kerem Ozelli
Founder, Director of Cygnecode Ltd.
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About Cygnecode Ltd., d:code:it – DCODEIT LTD.: Creators of Flick a Trade. London based tech company designs, develops and operates trading games and gamified financial applications.
Max Adamski
Co-Founder and CPO of Jigsaw
Max Adamski is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Jigsaw.
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About Jigsaw: Jigsaw develops a dating app that covers the user’s face in a jigsaw puzzle.
Alex Durrant
Co-Founder and CEO of Jigsaw
Alex Durrant is the Co-Founder and CEO of Jigsaw.
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About Jigsaw: Jigsaw develops a dating app that covers the user’s face in a jigsaw puzzle.
Robert Newry
Managing Director and Co-Founder of Arctic Shores
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About Arctic Shores: Arctic Shores pioneer behavioural assessments combining neuroscience, AI and game technology to generate data-driven people insights.
Dan McGuire
Founder & CEO of cube19
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About Broadbean, cube19: cube19 is a cloud-based business intelligence and performance management solution for recruitment and staffing companies.
Simon Wheeldon
Co-Founder and COO of CloudApps
Simon is a co-founder of CloudApps and is responsible for Professional Services Delivery and Corporate Strategy. Prior to founding CloudApps, Simon spent 4 years at Salesforce.com leading the adoption of the pioneering Force.com platform across EMEA. Under Simon’s guidance the Force.com platform in Europe grew to be a multi-million dollar business. With over 20 years experience in the software industry, Simon was responsible for the widespread sales and adoption of the Force.com platform; helping numerous Salesforce.com’s customers to build and sell their very own Software-as-a-Service applications. Prior to joining Salesforce.com Simon was responsible for the financial services business at Siebel Systems in the UK. Previously, he has held senior positions at Business Objects and Accenture. Simon has a BSc in Computer Science from Bristol University. He is married with two children and lives in Oxfordshire, UK.
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About CloudApps: CloudApps increases sales performance by motivating more of your high-value, winning sales behaviours
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
Anthony Day
Co-Founder & Board Member of CloudApps
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About CloudApps: CloudApps increases sales performance by motivating more of your high-value, winning sales behaviours
Herbert Siu
CEO & Co-Founder of Quokka
Serial entrepreneur. Sharp insights with proven experience in UK PE/VC. Also a CFA & CPA.
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About Quokka: Quokka is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) employee engagement platform that develop engaged & high-performing teams
Michael Ballard
Founder of Genie
Founder of Genie.
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About Genie: Genie is a social search application that allows the user to get personalized recommendations or give answers based on their experience.
Katz Kiely
CEO & Founder of We are beep
A award-winning expert in open-innovation, participatory systems design and digital engagement. She converts complex challenges into memorable experiences, smart solutions and strong innovative cultures. Over a 17 year career, she has supported a host of global brands through transformation: including BBC, GSK, HP and the UN. Some highlights. She has: * Helped organisations use digital to evolve, drive efficiency and connect to customers/ stakeholders * Influenced at C- level * Build and led large multi-disciplinary teams and managed multiple service provider * Designed winning pitches, multi-channel strategies and services * Built strong partnerships * Worked in global environments * Grown large and loyal networks As a digital pioneer she has delivered a number of breakthrough projects including: * The first open-innovation competition for Hewlett Packard * A massive transformation project for a UN agency. A visible voice in the digital transformation, innovation and behaviour change arena, she is a regular speaker at global conferences including TED, SXSW and IBC and regularly writes for b2b publications on stuff like this: http://www.cmo.com/features/articles/2016/8/18/recruit-change-agents-and-save-11-trillion.html#gs.Cja9aQU She is a proud ambassador for the Burning Man Foundation.
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About We are beep: beep (Business Enterprise Engagement Platform), a world changing enterprise platform, that unlocks the wisdom of employees
Chris Martin
Business Development Manager and Co-Founder of LootBear
Chris Martin is the Business Development Manager and Co-Founder at LootBear.
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About LootBear: LootBear is an All-In-One skin marketplace where the users can buy, rent, and convert skins to gaming gear.
Helen Walton
Founder. Chief Commercial Officer of Gamevy
Helen Walton is co-founder of Gamevy, a tech start-up bringing gameshows online and who recently launched their first game on Facebook – Blackjack Attack. As a company, they are employee-owned with no bosses and a democratic decision-making structure. She began her career working in marketing for Unilever before specialising in branding and copywriting for clients ranging from publishers to supermarkets. Helen has written 18 books for Value Flow Quality – the Agile Practitioner Course approved by the BCS. She has written numerous articles for different magazines and events, including InfoQ, but also on subjects as diverse as make-up in the Mail on Sunday and Henry Moore’s sculptures for Tate Britain. Helen is one of the organisers of the Spark the Change event which runs in London, 3-4 July. It aims to transform the whole business, not just a part – allowing us to build more successful businesses, become better leaders and create happy workplaces. Speakers include Tim Harford, Jurgen Appelo and Simon Baker, while companies involved include Unilever, change.org and PropellerNet.
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About Gamevy: Gamevy is a new start-up, owned by its employees and aiming to follow in the footsteps of pioneering companies who work differently.
Vincent Rainey
Founder & Chief Creative Officer of QuizFortune
Vincent Rainey is the founder and chief creative officer at QuizFortune.
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About QuizFortune: QuizFortune is an experiential real-time trivia platform that monetises your mobile [fan] engagement, by adding new revenue streams.
Ben Cooper
Co-Founder & CEO of Gallantcloud Games
Ben Cooper is a Co-Founder & CEO at Gallantcloud Games.
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About Gallantcloud Games: Gallantcloud Games are striving to create new and interesting games and bring fun and reward to the masses.
