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 CEO’ operating in the Developer Platform space. If you think a CEO’ 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 Gouge
CEO and Co-founder of Playdemic
Paul is responible for setting Playdemic’s strategy and driving the vision. He also signs the cheques!
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About Playdemic: Playdemic is a gaming company that develops social games for mass market audiences.
Alex Mifsud
Chief Executive Officer of Weavr
Before founding Ixaris Alex worked as a senior consultant in the Cambridge-based tech practice of Arthur D. Little, a global management consultancy providing technology and innovation to blue chip clients. Alex holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Malta – where he later headed the computer science departments – as well as MSc and PhD degrees in computer science from the University of Edinburgh.
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About Weavr: Weavr is an online platform that creates, integrates, deploys, and runs digital payment flows.
James Hadley
CEO of Immersive Labs
James Hadley i the CEO of Immersive Labs.
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About Immersive Labs: Immersive Labs develops a platform that measures and improves cybersecurity skills across businesses.
Karan Shanmugarajah
CEO of WealthKernel
Karan is the CEO of WealthKernel, a regulated cloud-based provider of modular APIs and solutions to enable businesses to offer savings and investments services. Prior to co-founding WealthKernel, Karan was a portfolio manager at Barclay. He is a CFA® charter holder and holds an MSc in Accounting and Finance from CASS Business School in London.
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About WealthKernel: WealthKernel is a supplier of infrastructure for companies looking to offer digital investment services.
Danny Goh
CEO of Nexus FrontierTech
Danny is a serial entrepreneur and an early stage investor. He is the Co Founder and CEO of Nexus Frontier Tech, an AI research firm to make AI easy to work with organisations by using natural language processing to transform idle information into structured data, enabling them to run better, leaner, and faster. He has also co-founded Innovatube Frontier Labs (IFL), which later merged with Nexus. IFL is a technology group that operates an R&D lab in software and AI developments, invests in early-stage start-ups with 20+ portfolios, and acts as an incubator to foster the local start-up community in South East Asia. IFL has a team of researchers and engineers to develop cutting-edge deep technology to help start-ups and enterprises bolster their operational capabilities. Danny currently serves as an Entrepreneurship Expert at the Said Business School, University of Oxford and he is also an appointed Fellow at the Center for Policy and Competitiveness at the École des Ponts Business School, Paris Tech. He is an advisor and judge to several technology start-ups and accelerators including Microsoft Accelerator, Startupbootcamp IoT, and LBS Launchpad. Danny serves as a visiting lecturer at various Universities in Europe and he is a speaker at various conferences including TEDx and Fintech events.
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About Cambridge Judge Business School, Innovatube, Nexus FrontierTech, Said Business School, University of Oxford: We integrate AI solutions into existing systems, helping save time & money by employing solutions tackling inefficiency & data waste.
Baran Korkmaz
Founder, CEO of ARWAY
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About ARWAY: ARWAY is a spatial mapping platform critical to building the Metaverse.
Guillaume-Henri Huon
Co-founder and CEO of Dataform
Guillaume-Henri Huon is a Co-founder and CEO at dataform.co.
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About Dataform: Dataform manages data pipelines in data warehouse.
Paddy Burns
CEO of 4J Studios
Paddy graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Edinburgh University in 1991. Upon graduation, he worked for NCR as a software developer and was involved in the development of Interactive Video Terminals and Digital Video Software. He then joined VIS Entertainment Ltd in 1994, and was instrumental in growing the company from 3 employees to over a hundred, holding the roles of Technical Director, Head of Software and Studio Manager before becoming Director of Development. He has been closely involved in the development of the Computer Games Course at The University of Abertay and has been an external examiner at the University of Teeside for five years. Paddy is widely recognised in the games industry for his creative and technological talents. He was named Scotland’s IT Director of the Year in 2001.
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About 4J Studios: 4J Studios is a game development company based in Scotland .
Ran Aroussi
Founder & CEO of Tradologics
Ran Aroussi is entrepreneur, software developer, and the founder of Tradologics – a cloud platform for trading.
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About Tradologics: Cloud platform for programmatic trading
Sven Al Hamad
Co-Founder and CEO of Webiny
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About Webiny: Easiest way to adopt serverless.
Philip M. Toleikis
President & CEO of Sernova
Dr. Toleikis is President and Chief Executive Officer of Sernova Corp since April 2009. From 2006 until 2009, Dr. Toleikis consulted for multiple device, combination product and pharmaceutical companies. From 1996 to 2006 he held multiple roles at Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. including Vice President, Research and Development – Pharmacology and Drug Screening where he built a product development team of over 50 scientists and was responsible for multiple corporate and academic product development collaborations. While at Sernova, Dr. Toleikis has secured over $60 million in various forms of financings, including equity raises and multiple non-dilutive grants and has been responsible for negotiating a worldwide exclusive license with UHN and University of Miami for its stem cell derived technologies as well as developing business relationships and or collaborations with multiple pharmaceutical and academic institutions involving its Cell Pouch™ device and cell technologies. Dr. Toleikis is an author of over 100 patent applications ande issued patents, and multiple scientific publications involving transplantation, metabolic, cardiovascular, oncology, and autoimmune disease. He obtained his Ph.D. in Medicine, Pharmacology and Therapeutics from the University of British Columbia, his M.Sc. at the University of Michigan and B.A. at the University of Vermont.
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About Sernova: Sernova develops regenerative medicine therapeutic technologies for treatment of chronic metabolic diseases.
Asim Aslam
CEO of M3O
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About M3O: Next Generation Cloud Platform
Rohan Freeman
CEO of Sine Wave Entertainment Ltd
Mr. Rohan Freeman serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Sine Wave Entertainment Limited. Mr. Freeman serves as the Chief Domain Consultant of Virtual Worlds & Interactions at Customer Centria Enterprise Solutions Private Limited. Mr. Freeman was a Director of Europe’s largest media investment company, Ingenious Media Plc. He also sits on the Reform Club Science & Technology Committee and he has written and spoken extensively on media, technology and investment, for The Financial Times, Deloitte Consulting, Forrester Research, PricewaterhouseCoopers and numerous journals and magazines. He has also worked as a technology strategy consultant for JP Morgan, The Cabinet Office and Hewlett Packard. Mr. Freeman is a University of Connecticut alumni.
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About Sine Wave Entertainment Ltd: Sine Wave Entertainment is a virtual space for MMO developers and creators to interact with each other.
Daniel Gill
Founder and CEO of Augnet
With wide industry knowledge and insight, both as an Angel investor and as a Telco industry insider, Daniel Gill started Augnet with an ambitious plan to disrupt and revolutionise the SMS sector. Since founding the company, he has raised investment from a range of seasoned investors, including lead investor the venture capital firm Triple Point. His leadership of Augnet follows a decade with Skype and Microsoft, where he led a high-performance team and spearheaded a number of ground-breaking business development initiatives in the telecoms space. With his leadership Augnet is on track to revolutionise the way things are done in the SMS space.
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About Augnet: Augnet is a London-based technology start-up set to revolutionise the SMS and messaging space.
James Crombie
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Odyssey Resources
Mr. Crombie graduated from the Royal School of Mines, London, in 1980 with a B.Sc. (Hons) in mining Engineering, where he was the recipient of an Anglo American scholarship. Mr. Crombie held various positions with DeBeers Consolidated Mines and the Anglo American Corporation in South Africa and Angola between 1980 and 1986. He spent the next thirteen years as a mining analyst and investment banker with Shepards, Merrill Lynch, James Capel & Co. and Yorkton Securities. Mr. Crombie was vice president, corporate development of Hope Bay Gold Corporation from February 1999 through May 2002 and president and CEO of Ariane Gold Corp. from August 2002 to November 2003. Mr. Crombie was president, CEO and a director of Palmarejo Silver and Gold Corporation until the merger with Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation in December 2007. He was a director of Sherwood Copper Corporation until its business combination with Capstone Mining Corp. in November 2008. Mr. Crombie is also currently an officer or director or both of a number of publicly-traded resource companies.
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About Odyssey Resources: Odyssey Resources Limited Odyssey Resources Limited is a Canadian-based junior exploration company.
Rupert Sellers
CEO & founder of Barometa Talent
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About Barometa Talent: Barometa Talent is a pre-screened talent platform designed for people in hospitality.
Julian Evans
CEO of AppSecTest
Julian has over 10 years experience in application security testing in both the mobile and Windows desktop industry. He specialises in mobile and Windows application and device security auditing. He also works in the online digital advertising (mobile & Windows desktop) ad blocking and anti-virus industries on testing, research and improving advertiser Lifetime Value (LTV).
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About AppSecTest, ID Theft Protect: AppSecTest has developed the ASAnalyzer technology
Zhuoran Wang
Co-founder & CEO of Tricorn
Zhuoran Wang is Co-founder & CEO at trio.ai.
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About Tricorn: Tricorn is an AI startup focused on developing a conversational platform that enables people to interact with smart device.
Alina Rakhimova
CEO & Co-founder of EnzBond
Alina holds a PhD in Biochemistry from Oxford University. She has more than 9 years of research experience in the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology. Prior to PhD Alina was a member of the management team of one of the top tech start-ups in Russia.
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About EnzBond: In-silico development of enzymes for pharma
Fred de Haro
CEO & Co-Founder of Pycom
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About Pycom: The world’s most integrated IoT Platform
William Dawes
Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder & Executive Director of Mkango Resources
William Dawes is a graduate of Bristol University (BSc Geology) and Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London (MSc Mineral Exploration with distinction). Having trained as a geologist in South Africa, he worked as a mining analyst based in London and then for Rio Tinto’s exploration division. Subsequently, he gained significant global mining transaction experience in the metals and mining team of Robert Fleming & Co, Chase Manhattan Bank and JPMorgan. Mr Dawes was a founding director of Mkango’s major shareholder, Leo Mining and Exploration (Leominex) and since 2004 has been involved in the exploration and evaluation of a variety of projects throughout Central Asia, Middle East and Africa. He has 12 years’ experience in exploration and business development and 9 years in mining finance, mergers and acquisitions. He is a Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
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About Mkango Resources: Mkango Resources Ltd. is a mineral exploration and development company.
Ivan Kavalerov
CEO of Neo AI
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About Neo AI: Neo AI develops a technology that makes using machine learning cheaper and faster, enabling new applications around different industries.
Matthew McGrory
CEO & Co-Founder of Assimity
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About Assimity: Assimity develops software and online tools using artificial intelligence.
Sagit Weiss
Founder and CEO of Crowdacure
Sagit Weiss is the founder and CEO of Crowdacure. She used to be a clinical fellow at National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery. She earned her degree at Free University of Brussels.
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About Crowdacure: Crowdacure is a donation-based crowdfunding platform for life-saving.
Adam Vahed
Owner / CEO of Apache
Adam Vahed is a Founder at Apache.
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About Apache: We craft compelling interactive experiences. You get meaningful brand engagement.
