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 Chairman operating in the E-Commerce space. If you think a Chairman 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 Richardson
Chairman of Gymshark
Paul Richardson is the chief strategic officer at GymShark and director at Clade Group Ltd. He is a former managing director at Knowaste.
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About : Gymshark is an online retailer and technology company of fitness apparel and accessories brands.
José Neves
Founder, Co-Chairman & CEO of Farfetch
In 2008 José Neves launched Farfetch, bringing together his interests in fashion and technology, as well as his experience in design, wholesale and retail, to create a business that would celebrate and support the diversity of the global fashion industry. The seasoned entrepreneur had experienced first-hand the challenges facing bricks-and-mortar retailers wanting to expand online. His vision was to create a single portal, offering independent boutiques the opportunity to compete with the leaders of fashion e-commerce. Farfetch now comprises more than 300 boutiques, offering over 100,000 pieces from 1,000 brands. With customers in almost 190 countries, the site receives an average of 10 million monthly hits. José has been involved in the fashion start-up world since the mid-1990s when he launched footwear business SWEAR. José later founded SIX London, a fashion licensing and wholesale company selling to 600 retailers worldwide. In 2001 José opened the renowned bstore, which won the British Fashion Award for Retailer of the Year in 2006. José has received numerous accolades as an entrepreneur and for his business ventures, including The Business of Fashion’s 500 People Shaping the Fashion Industry in 2013, Ernst & Young’s 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year and Vogue’s DirectorsOf.COM Top Entrepreneur in 2011.
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About Farfetch, Farfetch China, PlatformE, SIX London: Farfetch is an online luxury fashion retail platform.
Rory Sutherland
Vice Chairman of Ogilvy
Rory Sutherland read Classics at Christ’s College, Cambridge, before joining Ogilvy as a Graduate Trainee. He was appointed Creative Director of OgilvyOne in 1997 and ECD in 1998. In 2005 he was appointed Vice-chairman of the Ogilvy Group in the UK. Sutherland was President of the Direct Jury at Cannes in 2007, and was elected President of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in 2009. He is a visiting professor at Warwick University and in 2012 was awarded an honorary doctorate (D.Litt) by Brunel University. He also writes The Spectator’s Wiki Man column.
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About Ogilvy: Global brand Strategy, Advertising, Customer Engagement and Commerce, PR and Influence, Digital Transformation, and Partnerships.
Karl Knoflach
Chairman, Co-Founder, Head of Marketing and Product of C88 Financial Technologies
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About C88 Financial Technologies: C88 connects banks and insurers in Asia to consumers buying financial products online.
Natalie Massenet
Founder & Chairman of Net-a-porter.com
Natalie Massenet is cofounder and co-managing partner of Imaginary Ventures, a venture fund investing in early-stage opportunities at the intersection of retail and technology, as well as the non-executive co-chairwoman of Farfetch, a global e-commerce platform for luxury fashion. Massenet is best known for founding the luxury fashion online retailer Net-A-Porter, in 2000. In the year before she stepped down from her role following its merger with YOOX, the Net-A-Porter-Group recorded net revenues of almost $1 billion. Massenet began her career as a journalist and fashion editor, working at WWD and Tatler before setting up Net-A-Porter. In 2009, she was awarded an MBE, and in 2016 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, both in recognition of her contributions to the U.K. fashion and retail industry. Massenet was chairman of the British Fashion Council between 2013 and 2017.
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About Daily Harvest, Imaginary Ventures, Net-a-porter.com: Net-a-porter.com is an online luxury fashion retailer.
Peter Williams
Chairman of Mister Spex
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About : Mister Spex is an online store that sells various brands of glasses and contact lenses.
Dan Wagner
Founder, Chairman and CEO of Rezolve
Dan Wagner began his career as a junior Account Executive at the advertising agency WCRS. While doing market research, that involved laborious searching of back copies of newspapers, journals, and research reports Dan first generated the concept of an electronic, PC-based information service. In 1985 at the age of 20, he left WCRS to pursue his ambition of creating such a service and established M.A.I.D. Dan was the driving force behind M.A.I.D.’s growth and development, including listings on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. Throughout his career he has engineered numerous acquisitions and has been responsible for forging a wide array of strategic alliances. He led M.A.I.D.’s move into the Internet technology and eCommerce markets, being one of the first to understand their huge potential, and conceived the technology which is now Venda, in 1998. He has won a variety of business awards that recognize his achievements including The World Economic Forum’s Global Leader of Tomorrow in 1997 and Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999.
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About Bright Station Ltd., Bright Station Ventures, Rezolve, Venda: Rezolve allows any kind of product or media to instantly trigger a highly relevant, contextual engagement between consumer and retailer
Chris (Sam) Sanders
Chairman of Shoprocket
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About : Sell from your existing website, social media and more, in minutes
Arnie Sriskandarajah
Chairman of ChewyMoon
Arnie Sriskandarajah joined Round Hill Ventures as Managing Director in 2017.
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About Ground Floor Ventures, Round Hill Capital, Round Hill Ventures: ChewyMoon is an online snack retailer delivering all-natural lunchbox and after-school snacks to homes via post.
David Tyler
Chairman of Sainsbury’s
Appointed to the Board on 1 October 2009, David became Chairman on 1 November 2009. He is also Non-Executive Chairman of Hammerson PLC and a Non-Executive Director of Burberry Group PLC. He was previously Finance Director of GUS PLC (1997-2006) and has held senior financial and general management roles with Christie’s International PLC (1989-96), County NatWest Limited (1986-89) and Unilever PLC (1974-86). He was Chairman of Logica PLC (2006-12) and of 3i Quoted Private Equity PLC (2007-09), and a Non-Executive Director of Experian PLC (2006-12) and of Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (2007-09). He has also been Chairman of Hampstead Theatre since 2012.
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About Sainsbury’s: Sainsbury’s operates supermarkets and convenience stores, an online grocery and general merchandise operation, as well as Sainsbury’s Bank.
Susanne Given
Chairman of Outfittery
Susanne works with and supports start-ups and early stage digital businesses in the consumer and tech segments and holds various board and advisory posts. She is Chairman of Made.com, Outfittery Gmbh and Push Doctor Ltd., and holds non-executive board seats with Eurostar International Ltd., Tritax Big Box REIT Plc and Al Tayer, a Middle Eastern luxury group. During her executive career, she worked across the consumer spectrum, from the luxury retailer Harrods to mainstream department stores John Lewis and House of Fraser, and within the ever-expanding global off-price segment as Managing Director of TK Maxx UK/Ireland. Her most recent executive role was as COO for Superdry Plc. She is credited with the turn-around of the Superdry contemporary fashion brand and for re-establishing investor confidence in the public markets, taking the share price from low single digit to high teens over a three-year period.
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About MADE, Outfittery, Push Doctor, Tritax Big Box: Outfittery provides an online personal shopping service for men.
Mark Sebba
Chairman of Flowerbx
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About Flowerbx: Flowerbx is an online, wholesale, flower-delivery service.
Vikrant Bhargava
Co-founder and Chairman of KF Beauty
Vikrant Bhargava serves as Managing Partner of Veddis Ventures. Mr. Bhargava founded the firm. Previously, till 2006 he served as the Group Marketing Director of PartyGaming Plc. Mr. Bhargava headed the marketing team during PartyPOker’s explosive growth from a start-up site to one with revenues of almost a billion dollars in 2005. He left PartyGaming in early 2006 to set up Veddis Ventures. Mr. Bhargava served as a Group Marketing Director and Director at iGlobalMedia Entertainment Limited. His experience included positions as a Credit Officer at the Bank of America, responsible for managing credit exposure and revenue for a portfolio of corporate clients and a Business Analyst at British Gas in the business development division. He served as a non-executive Director at SocialGO PLC (formerly Bright Things plc) from January 12, 2010 to February 08, 2012. Mr. Bhargava attended Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (1994) and Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (1996).
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About KF Beauty, LetzChange, Veddis: We identify, develop and market innovative products in the Health & Beauty sector.
Vikrant Bhargava
Co-founder and Chairman of KF Beauty
Vikrant Bhargava serves as Managing Partner of Veddis Ventures. Mr. Bhargava founded the firm. Previously, till 2006 he served as the Group Marketing Director of PartyGaming Plc. Mr. Bhargava headed the marketing team during PartyPOker’s explosive growth from a start-up site to one with revenues of almost a billion dollars in 2005. He left PartyGaming in early 2006 to set up Veddis Ventures. Mr. Bhargava served as a Group Marketing Director and Director at iGlobalMedia Entertainment Limited. His experience included positions as a Credit Officer at the Bank of America, responsible for managing credit exposure and revenue for a portfolio of corporate clients and a Business Analyst at British Gas in the business development division. He served as a non-executive Director at SocialGO PLC (formerly Bright Things plc) from January 12, 2010 to February 08, 2012. Mr. Bhargava attended Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (1994) and Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (1996).
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About KF Beauty, LetzChange, Veddis: We identify, develop and market innovative products in the Health & Beauty sector.
David Heslop
Chairman and Co -founder of China Ventures
Co-founder and Chairman, David has extensive experiences in corporate finance and leadership management, has been working across many industries including automotive, financial services, confectionery, healthcare and advertising, etc. As investor, David holds various portfolio of interests including renewables, security, the music industry, housing and transport, etc. Prior to joining in China Ventures, David served as Chairman of MCL Finance and Chairman of AGL Finance, also held positions of Chief Executive of KIA (UK), Chairman of Mazda Cars (UK). David earned his MBA from London Business School in 1978.
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About China Ventures: China’s global deal marketplace and a leading China-centric investment community on the globe.
Alistair Wickens
Chairman of Health Hub
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About Health Hub: Innovative online sales platform that allows users to purchase drugs with real-time price solutions and transparent pricing
Guy Hipwell
Chairman of Frowse.Fashion
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About Frowse.Fashion: We search the shops, so you don’t have to
Kevin Gaskell
Chairman of Traderoot Technologies
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About Traderoot Technologies: Traderoot Technologies enable the routing of secure, authenticated commerce transactions for physical and virtual communities.
Scott Law
Executive Chairman of Deko
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About Deko: Deko is the best way for merchants to help customers finance the important things in life.
Jean Haynes
Chairman of Haynes Group
Jean Haynes is Chairman at Haynes.
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About : Haynes Group Provides online sales of car manuals and automotive related sites.
Jean Haynes
Chairman of Haynes Group
Jean Haynes is Chairman at Haynes.
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About : Haynes Group Provides online sales of car manuals and automotive related sites.
David Mason
Founder & Chairman of BuyHappy
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About BuyHappy, Cornerstone FS: Our FREE browser extension finds you the BEST PRICE when you’re shopping online, so you don’t have to! Download Today: bit.
Andrew Burke
Chairman of ShopSee
Andrew has been Chairman of Crisp Thinking for the last 9 years. He also is currently Chairman of Paywizard, Tellybean and Shopsee. Previously, he was CEO Amino Technologies plc – a global IPTV innovator listed on the London Stock Exchange. Before that, Andrew was CEO BT Entertainment where he devised and ran the company’s TV-over-Broadband initiative (BT TV), chaired their Premium Rate Services activity and pioneered their Digital Media Services. Prior, Andrew was BT’s Director Online Services and was responsible for all value-added services – including VoIP, security and payment services. Before joining BT, Andrew was founder & CEO of eVerger, a $100m eMarketing focussed venture fund backed by Aegis Group and Warburg Pincus. He was COO of eVentures, the Internet incubator owned by News Corporation and Softbank and he founded and was CEO of LineOne (latterly Tiscali UK), and established News International’s initial Internet presence back in 1994.
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About : ShopSee adds social shopping functionality to retailers’ existing shopping applications.
Brian Phillips
Chairman of Preoday
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About : B2B pre-ordering platform for integrated e-commerce solutions for businesses serving food and beverages
