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 Partner operating in the Risk Management space. If you think a Partner 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.
Mark Evans
Founding Partner and Associate of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)
Mark is currently an LP and Investment Committee member at Kindred Capital, a European Seed-Stage Venture fund, based in London. He was a General Partner at Balderton Capital/ Benchmark Europe from 2002 through 2015, and an EIR at Benchmark Capital in 1999/2000. He spent the prior 15 years @ Goldman Sachs, where he was a General Partner and Management Committee member. He studied Economics at both University of Oxford and Queen’s University in Canada.
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About Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Headspace, Kindred Capital: Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a no-fee/no-equity mentoring program for the founders and executives of pre-seed stage ventures.
Niklas Zennström
Founding Partner and Associate of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)
Niklas Zennström is CEO and Founding Partner at Atomico. He works daily with founders and sits on the boards of Farmdrop, Lilium, Pipedrive, Oden Technologies and Varjo. Niklas is an experienced technology investor and entrepreneur, having previously co-founded and managed globally successful technology companies including Skype, Kazaa and Joltid. Niklas founded Atomico in 2006. He is passionate about partnering about founders solving big challenges facing their planet with digital technology. In 2007, he co-founded Zennström Philanthropies with his wife, Catherine. They focus their efforts in two areas: human rights and the environment. Niklas also founded the Race for the Baltic, a foundation for a well-managed and sustainable Baltic Sea, one of the most threatened major bodies of water in the world. Niklas is a keen yachtsman and has won four World Championships with his yacht racing team, Rán. Niklas holds dual degrees in Business and MSc Engineering Physics/Computer Science from Uppsala University in Sweden, and he spent his final year at the University of Michigan.
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About Atomico, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Joost: Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a no-fee/no-equity mentoring program for the founders and executives of pre-seed stage ventures.
Peter Davies
Founding Partner and Associate of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)
Peter is the founder of Verv. A serial entrepreneur with an engineering background, Peter also founded Austin Consultants, the UK’s highest certified LabVIEW Consultancy specialising in automated test, measurement and control systems for aerospace and automotive industries. Co-founder of the European Workshop for NILM technology and organiser of the London LabVIEW user group, Peter was also a finalist for the Rising Star Award in the Energy Innovation Awards in 2014 and then went on to win Innovator of the Year at the 2016 Business Green Technology Awards.
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About Austin Consultants, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), European NILM Workshop (Non-Intrusive-Load-Monitoring): Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a no-fee/no-equity mentoring program for the founders and executives of pre-seed stage ventures.
Robin Klein
Founding Partner and Associate of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)
Robin Klein is the Non – Executive Chairman of MOO Print Ltd. He is also a Venture Partner at Index Ventures. Robin joined the London office of Index Ventures in April 2010 as a Venture Partner. He is a founding partner of The Accelerator Group, a seed investment company specialising in e-commerce, digital media and Internet services. He is currently Chairman of Quickbridge (Wonga), Moo Print Ltd, MyBuilder. He sits on the Boards of EDITD, Farfetch, FreeAgent, OneFineStay, Skimlinks, Zoopla. Robin is a governor of Rhyl primary school. He is also a past Chairman of Great Ormond Street hospital’s funding company. Robin has 25 years of operating experience, 20 years of which as entrepreneur and 14 years of investing experience and he has been on the boards of three publicly quoted companies. In his last operating role as Chairman and CEO of Innovations, he conducted the very first UK ecommerce transaction in May 1995. Since starting his investment career in earnest in 1998 by co-founding The Accelerator Group (TAG) with his son, Saul, they have made over sixty investments. Robin is passionate about helping to build the European technology start-up ecosystem and actively supports Saul in the promotion of Seedcamp and OpenCoffee. He has a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering. An MSc in Industrial Engineering.
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About Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Latitude, LocalGlobe, Moneysupermarket, PrimeLocation.com, The Accelerator Group, The Digital Property Group: Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a no-fee/no-equity mentoring program for the founders and executives of pre-seed stage ventures.
Darren Forshaw
Senior Partner/co founder of Endless LLP
Darren, our co-founder and Partner, splits his time across all of the Endless offices. Having seen the business grow from the very beginning, he’s a key team member and big believer in the Endless way of doing things. MORE ABOUT DARREN He’s been at the helm throughout history, seen thousands of jobs saved and been instrumental in raising our funds now nearing a total of £1billion. Leading from the top, Darren keeps the team motivated. And he’s as determined to make businesses succeed now, as he was the day he first walked through the door. “I love it when we continually surprise people, be it with a quick transaction that flies in the face of all expectations, we invest into a tough turnaround and sort it out or we do a buyout with partners people don’t expect. It’s in our DNA that we keep pushing the edges of what we do and keep pushing ourselves.” Outside of work, father of three Darren goes out as often as he can in his pride and joy, a Volkswagen T5 campervan, and refers to himself as a “slow and steady runner”, which isn’t a world apart from the performances of his favourite football club, Liverpool.
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About Endless LLP: Endless is an investor that specializes in supporting management buyouts, acquisition of non-core businesses, and turnaround investments.
Matthew Jubb
Partner of Endless LLP
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About Endless LLP: Endless is an investor that specializes in supporting management buyouts, acquisition of non-core businesses, and turnaround investments.
Kerry Battiscombe
Partner and Head of Due Diligence of Endless LLP
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About Endless LLP, Endless LLP: Endless is an investor that specializes in supporting management buyouts, acquisition of non-core businesses, and turnaround investments.
Aidan Robson
Partner of Endless LLP
Aidan is one of the founding members of Endless. Based in our London office, he is in charge of sourcing and executing investments, whilst managing his own portfolio at board level.
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About Endless LLP: Endless is an investor that specializes in supporting management buyouts, acquisition of non-core businesses, and turnaround investments.
James Woolley
Partner of Endless LLP
Since joining the team in 2007, James has brought his talents and experience to the role of Portfolio Partner. Based in the Leeds office, he’s responsible for monitoring our entire roster of investments.
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About Endless LLP: Endless is an investor that specializes in supporting management buyouts, acquisition of non-core businesses, and turnaround investments.
Lucia Villamor
Partner of Endless LLP
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About Endless LLP, Endless LLP, Endless LLP: Endless is an investor that specializes in supporting management buyouts, acquisition of non-core businesses, and turnaround investments.
Richard Harrison
Partner of Endless LLP
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About Endless LLP: Endless is an investor that specializes in supporting management buyouts, acquisition of non-core businesses, and turnaround investments.
Andrew Ross
Partner of Endless LLP
Andy joined our Leeds investment team in 2015 from PwC. Andy has over 16 years of experience advising regional corporates and their stakeholders through sales, purchases, restructures and refinancing projects and he now works closely with a number of our portfolio companies to keep things running smoothly.
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About Endless LLP: Endless is an investor that specializes in supporting management buyouts, acquisition of non-core businesses, and turnaround investments.
Francesco Santinon
Partner of Endless LLP
Francesco joined Endless at start of 2013 and leads our London Office and investment activity in the South East. Since joining the firm Francesco has been involved with numerous transactions including Gradus, The Book People, Ink Media, Brabant Alucast, Arran Aromatics, and Affinity Workforce. He has also led a number of secondary debt acquisitions and realisations. A PwC chartered accountant by training, Francesco has spent nearly 20 years in private equity working previously with Aberdeen Asset Management PLC running their buy-out business, and prior to that Close Brothers (now CBPE). Over his career he has been involved in numerous successful investments and realisations. ‘Having known Garry and Darren since before they formed Endless I was delighted to join the business and be given the opportunity to contribute to the continued growth of the firm. I believe we are genuinely different from other private equity firms in the UK market and can create value and opportunity in a wide range of situations, and often when speed and certainty are essential. We also prioritise our responsibilities to all stakeholders which is extremely important.’ A father of two Francesco likes to keep active through running, skiing or playing golf.
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About Endless LLP: Endless is an investor that specializes in supporting management buyouts, acquisition of non-core businesses, and turnaround investments.
Tom Jack
Partner of Endless LLP
Tom joined Endless on 1 September 2016 as a Partner in our Manchester office. Prior to Endless Tom was a Partner at EY for 9 years, and Head of Regions for EY’s Restructuring team. Tom is a Partner based in Manchester where he has lived for over 20 years. He will work with Mat Deering and our Manchester team in leading our Endless presence in the North West of England to drive growth through new investments and to work with our existing investee companies throughout the UK and Europe. Having trained as a Chartered Accountant at Andersen, Tom moved to EY in 2002. Prior to joining Endless Tom was a Partner at Ernst & Young for 9 years, and Head of Regions for EY’s UK & Ireland Restructuring team. Tom has extensive restructuring and transactions experience advising multiple and diverse stakeholder groups in complex restructuring and turnaround situations across a wide range of sectors and geographies.
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About Endless LLP: Endless is an investor that specializes in supporting management buyouts, acquisition of non-core businesses, and turnaround investments.
Stuart Leak
Partner of 4most
As Head of Lending, Stuart leads the management of our lending products alongside first line credit risk responsibilities including collections and loan loss provisioning. He has 18 years international experience specialising in portfolio credit risk and data analytics across unsecured retail and SME lending. Stuart joined Starling for the opportunity to use technology and innovation to improve customer outcomes, providing transparent and equitable products that meet real life needs. If he wasn’t at Starling, Stuart would be getting lost in nature, wandering the world with his music searching for the perfect spot to build a sustainable home for his family.
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About 4most: 4most is a global specialist risk consultancy that designs, builds, and implements pricing solutions in the financial credit risk market.
Marco Knaap
Strategic Partnerships of Cassini Systems
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About Cassini Systems: Cassini Systems is a new financial technology company.
Toby Orr
Founding Partner of Shearwater Global
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About Shearwater Global: Shearwater Global is a consulting business that specializes in strategic planning.
Joe Kim
Managing Director/Partner of UPIN Fund Management
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About UPIN Fund Management, XnTree: UPIN is an investment and management consulting firm that helps to optimize its clients’ business solutions and meet its goals.
Richard Shirreff
Co Managing Partner of Montt Strategia International
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About Montt Strategia International, Strategia Worldwide: MSI delivers an integrated one-stop-shop solution to de-risk the construction of desalination plants and pipelines from ocean to mine.
