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 Managing Director operating in the Angel Investment space. If you think a Managing Director 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.
Swen Werner
Managing Director, Digital Product Development and Innovation of State Street
Swen Werner is currently part of State Street’s Digital Product Development and Innovation team responsible for designing new products, leveraging different emerging technologies, including distributed ledger technologies and engagement with industry partners to design industry-leading service and operating models. He has been working in the financial services industry for over 15 years and has held senior roles in Europe, the USA and Asia with JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Boerse focusing on product management for custody, clearing and collateral management. Mr. Werner has and continues to be actively engaged in regulatory and industry developments affecting the securities services environment. He holds an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) from Cass Business School in London.
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About State Street: State Street is a leading financial services provider serving some of the world’s most sophisticated institutions.
Alfredo A. Marti
Managing Director of Riverstone Holdings
Mr. Marti is a Managing Director of Riverstone. He is based in London. Prior to joining Riverstone in 2008, Mr. Marti served in various leadership positions at BP plc, one of the world’s largest energy firms, including leading the organization responsible for overseeing the financial and operational performance and capital allocation of all of BP’s oil & gas exploration and production businesses worldwide. Other roles at BP included Head of Strategy for BP’s North America Gas business, General Manager of oil & gas production operations in Wyoming, USA, and Joint-Ventures Coordinator in Venezuela. Mr. Marti received his M.B.A. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. He also holds a summa cum laude degree in Economics from Venezuela’s Andres Bello University and a Corporate Finance diploma from London Business School.
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About Riverstone Holdings: River Stone is a private investment firm founded in 2000.
Andy Lund
Managing Director of Riverstone Holdings
Andy joined Advent International in 2011 and is located in Advent’s London office where he focuses on research and analysis initiatives to support the Firm’s fundraising and investor relations activities. Andy was previously a Director at UBS Private Equity Funds Group where he managed several fundraising assignments for leading private equity firms. Prior to attending business school, Andy spent over ten years as a pilot in the UK Royal Air Force flying Tornado fast jets and Puma helicopters in a number of operational theatres.
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About Riverstone Holdings: River Stone is a private investment firm founded in 2000.
Robin Duggan
Managing Director of Riverstone Holdings
Mr. Duggan is a Managing Director of Riverstone. He is based in London. Prior to joining Riverstone in 2007, Mr. Duggan was the founder of Commodity Optimization Ventures Ltd., a business providing advice to clients in the private equity industry, including Texas Pacific Group. Before the founding of his business, Mr. Duggan served for over 17 years in various positions with subsidiaries and affiliates of BP plc, one of the world’s largest energy firms. From 2004 to 2005 Mr. Duggan was the Vice President of European Business Optimization at Innovene, BP’s olefins and derivatives subsidiary, where he was responsible for commercial activity for olefins and refining in Europe, and also oversaw Innovene’s successful separation from BP in Europe. From 1999 to 2003, Mr. Duggan held a number of senior level positions in BP’s Petrochemicals segment, including serving as the Performance Unit Leader of the Aromatics and Olefins division, Global Business Manager of the Styrene business unit, and the Planning, Performance and Strategy Manager of the Acetyls business unit. Prior to that time, Mr. Duggan held various positions in the BP’s Upstream segment in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Venezuela over a period of 10 years. Mr. Duggan currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Cuadrilla, Enviva, Origo, Patagonia, Proserv Group, ReEnergy and Velocita, and previously was the Chairman of the Board of Seajacks. Mr. Duggan holds a degree in Biochemistry from Oxford University and a Sloan Master’s of Science in Management from Stanford University.
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About Riverstone Holdings: River Stone is a private investment firm founded in 2000.
Bob Brown
Managing Director of Riverstone Holdings
Mr. Brown is a Managing Director of Riverstone, focused on Limited Partner relations, fundraising, and communications. He is based in London. Prior to joining Riverstone in 2014, Mr. Brown was Managing Director and Global Head of Limited Partner Services for Advent International. Prior to Advent, he was a Managing Director at The Carlyle Group, where he focused on North American fundraising and investor relations. Mr. Brown joined Carlyle in 1999 and during his tenure there raised capital for the firm’s investment partnerships, including funds and coinvestments, and was actively involved in product development, fund formation and marketing strategy for these partnerships. Bob also served on the firm’s Investor Relations Coordinating Committee, focusing on new fund initiatives, capital formation and limited partner relationships. Prior to Carlyle, he was a Vice President in the Private Equity Group at Merrill Lynch from 1994 to 1999. There, he was responsible for raising private equity, real estate, hedge fund, co-investment capital and direct private placements for almost 100 transactions. Mr. Brown graduated with a B.A. from Southern Methodist University and has an M.B.A. from the University of Connecticut.
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About Riverstone Holdings: River Stone is a private investment firm founded in 2000.
Ajay Chowdhury
Managing Director and Senior Partner. Regional Chair: Western Europe, South America, Africa of BCG Digital Ventures
Ajay Chowdhury is a Managing Director and Partner at BCG Digital Ventures.
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About Acacia Capital Partners, BCG Digital Ventures, Cambridge Enterprise, EnActe Arts, Inc., MachineMax, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art: BCG Digital Ventures is a corporate investment and incubation firm.
Patrick Rouvillois
Partner & Managing Director of BCG Digital Ventures
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About BCG Digital Ventures: BCG Digital Ventures is a corporate investment and incubation firm.
Charles Miller-Jones
Managing Director, London of OMERS Private Equity
Charles is a Managing Director in the London office of OMERS Private Equity, having joined the team in September 2017. He is part of the investment team focusing on direct investments in Europe. He was involved in the acquisition of Alexander Mann Solutions in 2018, and is now a non-executive board director with that asset. Before joining OMERS, Charles spent 12 years at Cinven, where he was involved in a range of private equity transactions and investments, including Smurfit Kappa, PizzaExpress, Gala Coral, CPA Global and Kurt Geiger. Charles has an MA (Cantab) in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University.
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About OMERS Private Equity: OMERS Private Equity has been making private equity investments for OMERS, one of Canada’s largest plans with in excess of $50 billion of
Orla Ralston
Managing Director, Investment Tax, London of OMERS Private Equity
Orla is Managing Director, Investment Tax in the London office, advising the Infrastructure and Private Equity investment teams in relation to the tax and structuring aspects of their transactions across Europe. Orla joined OMERS in July 2016. Prior to joining OMERS, Orla spent 11 years at Goldman Sachs, working alongside the Merchant Banking Division on their European investments in real estate, infrastructure, debt and equity. Orla was previously a tax associate at Slaughter and May, from 1998 until 2005. Orla holds a joint honours degree (LLB) in Law & Accountancy from Queen’s University Belfast and is qualified as a solicitor in Northern Ireland, and in England and Wales.
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About OMERS Private Equity: OMERS Private Equity has been making private equity investments for OMERS, one of Canada’s largest plans with in excess of $50 billion of
Isabelle Pagnotta
Managing Director, London of OMERS Private Equity
Isabelle is Managing Director at OMERS Private Equity Europe, based in London. She leads sourcing, execution and portfolio management of private equity investments in Europe, and is responsible for the origination of deals in France. Since joining in 2012, Isabelle has been involved in OMERS Private Equity’s investments in V. Group, Civica, ERM and Trescal, and has served as Director of Civica and Trescal. Before joining OMERS Private Equity, Isabelle worked at Bridgepoint for four years, and Arcapita for six years, where she assessed and invested in businesses across a range of sectors in both the U.K. and France. Isabelle received a Master’s in Management and a Diplome de Grande Ecole, both from ESCP Europe.
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About OMERS Private Equity: OMERS Private Equity has been making private equity investments for OMERS, one of Canada’s largest plans with in excess of $50 billion of
Jonathan Mussellwhite
Senior Managing Director and Head of Europe of OMERS Private Equity
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About OMERS Private Equity: OMERS Private Equity has been making private equity investments for OMERS, one of Canada’s largest plans with in excess of $50 billion of
Matt Baird
Managing Director, Operations & Strategy, London of OMERS Private Equity
Matt is Managing Director, Operations & Strategy for OMERS Private Equity in Europe, having joined in April 2017. He works with the management teams leading OMERS portfolio companies to help them generate maximum value through the lifetime of the investment. Matt brings over 20 years’ experience working with and supporting senior executives in PE-backed businesses to deliver results. Prior to joining OMERS, he was a Managing Director in Alvarez & Marsal’s Private Equity Performance Improvement practice, where his work included serving in interim CFO/COO roles in client businesses as well as advising management teams. Prior to this, he was a consultant with McKinsey & Company. He started his career with Arthur Andersen. Matt holds a Masters in Engineering, Economics & Management from Oxford University and is a Chartered Accountant.
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About OMERS Private Equity: OMERS Private Equity has been making private equity investments for OMERS, one of Canada’s largest plans with in excess of $50 billion of
Julian Carter
Founding Partner & Managing Director of EC1 Capital
Julian Carter is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of EC1 Capital. Julian is a hands-on entrepreneur and experienced executive with over 20 years of working in web-related companies in verticals such as Casual Social Games, Interactive TV, Mobile, Classifieds Publishing, SEO and Legacy Software Modernisation in the UK and Ireland. Julian currently sits on the board of WeSwap, User Replay, Glean.in, Truly Experiences, CitySocializer, LoyaltyLion, Hypaship, Tailster, Big Data For Humans and HandsHQ.
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About Big Data for Humans, EC1 Capital: EC1 Capital is a technology investment fund that offers seed, post seed, and Series A participation in web and mobile startups.
Sophia Damianou
Managing Director of Northleaf Capital Partners
Sophia is responsible for Northleaf’s business development activities in Europe, working closely with existing and prospective investors and investment consultants to design, develop and monitor their private markets portfolios. Prior to joining Northleaf in 2019, Sophia was Director of Marketing at CapeView Capital where she had global sales coverage responsibility across all of CapeView’s products. Previously, Sophia was Vice President – EMEA Business Development for Mesirow Financial International where she was responsible for business development strategy for new markets in the EMEA region. Sophia began her career as an Associate on the Capital Introductions team at Credit Suisse. Sophia holds a B.Sc. from University College London, an M.Sc., Law and Economics, from the London School of Economics and an MBA, Finance from Columbia Business School.
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About Northleaf Capital Partners: Northleaf Capital Partners is private equity firm that manages pension plans, endowments, foundations, financial institutions accounts.
David Ross
Managing Director of Northleaf Capital Partners
David is head of Northleaf’s private credit program and a member of the Investment Committees for Northleaf’s private credit and private equity programs. He oversees all aspects of Northleaf’s private credit investment activities, with a focus on the origination, evaluation and monitoring of private credit investments globally. In addition, he is involved in Northleaf’s investor relations and business development activities. Prior to joining Northleaf, David was at Bain Capital Credit, a leading global credit specialist, as a Managing Director, Global Head of Sourcing and a member of Bain Capital’s Opportunistic Credit and Private Credit team. Previously, David served as the Co-Head of Bain Capital Credit’s London office from 2009 to 2013. David began his career with Credit Suisse First Boston in Investment Banking before joining Bain Capital Credit in 2003. David received a B.A. from Harvard College.
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About Northleaf Capital Partners: Northleaf Capital Partners is private equity firm that manages pension plans, endowments, foundations, financial institutions accounts.
Roderick Gadsby
Managing Director of Northleaf Capital Partners
Roderick leads Northleaf’s infrastructure investment activities in the UK and Europe, with a focus on transaction origination, due diligence, execution and asset management. Prior to joining Northleaf in 2018, Roderick held senior-level infrastructure investment and advisory roles at institutions such as UBS Investment Bank, Macquarie Group and Barclays Capital, and was most recently a Partner at Stormharbour LLP. With more than 20 years of corporate finance and principal investing experience in the UK and Europe, Roderick has led the origination, execution and financing of infrastructure and other real assets. In addition, Roderick has served on the corporate boards of several privately-held companies. Roderick received a Masters in Business Administration from London Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of British Columbia.
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About Northleaf Capital Partners: Northleaf Capital Partners is private equity firm that manages pension plans, endowments, foundations, financial institutions accounts.
Daniel Dupont
Managing Director of Northleaf Capital Partners
Daniel manages Northleaf’s London office and is a member of the Investment Committee for Northleaf’s private equity program. Daniel oversees the origination, evaluation and monitoring of Northleaf’s private equity investments, with a focus on secondary investments. In addition, Daniel is involved in Northleaf’s investor relations and business development activities. Prior to joining Northleaf in 2011, Daniel spent more than a decade at Coller Capital, a leading private equity firm focused on secondary market transactions, where he was responsible for deal sourcing and investment execution for primary and secondary private equity investments, as well as business development activities globally. Previously, Daniel held senior positions in the private equity group at the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec and in the International and Treasury Divisions at the National Bank of Canada. Daniel has served on various fund advisory boards in Europe, Asia and Canada, and is a guest lecturer in the Masters program at INSEAD. Daniel received a B.B.A. and an M.B.A. in International Finance from the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC Montréal) and holds the Chartered Professional Accountant designation.
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About Northleaf Capital Partners: Northleaf Capital Partners is private equity firm that manages pension plans, endowments, foundations, financial institutions accounts.
Matthieu Ducharme
Managing Director of Northleaf Capital Partners
Matthieu participates in all aspects of Northleaf’s private equity investment activities, with a focus on the origination, evaluation and monitoring of secondary investments. Prior to joining Northleaf in 2013, Matthieu was a partner at PEFOX, a private equity secondaries and derivatives broker in Paris. Previously, Matthieu worked with Pantheon Ventures’ secondaries team in London where he was responsible for the sourcing, evaluation and negotiation of portfolio, fund and direct secondary transactions. Matthieu began his career with an expansion capital fund sponsored by Société Générale Asset Management in Paris. Matthieu received an M.Sc. in Financial Engineering from the Sorbonne University and a B.Sc. in Management Science & Finance from Dauphine University in Paris.
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About Northleaf Capital Partners: Northleaf Capital Partners is private equity firm that manages pension plans, endowments, foundations, financial institutions accounts.
Anthony Lyall
Managing Director and Co-Founder of Lyall Ventures
Anthony Lyall is the managing director and co-founder at Lyall Ventures.
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About Lyall Ventures, NOTWICS: Lyall Ventures is an angel investment company that focuses on travel and travel technology start-ups.
Paul Jackson
Managing Director of Castle Digital Partners
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About Castle Digital Partners: Castle Digital Partners is a venture services firm that partners with management teams to invest in software that drives their businesses.
