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 mHealth 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.
Furquan Kidwai
Founder & CEO of Dawaai
Furquan Kidwai is an entrepreneur building a pharmacy for emerging Asia. Prior to this journey, Kidwai was an investment banker for over eight years in London where, in his last role, he was the Head of CEEMEA Financing as well as a Senior Vice President in the Fixed Income business at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Before joining RBS, Mr. Kidwai worked at Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers in their London and New York offices. Mr. Kidwai has a Master’s degree in International Relations from Cambridge University. He also holds an MSc in Financial Engineering & Risk Management from Imperial College London and BEng (Hons) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Bristol.
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About Dawaai: Dawaai operates as a digital health platform with an online network of pharmacies and generic medicine.
Peter Ward
CEO and Co-Founder of Humanity
Peter Ward is a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Humanity.
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About Humanity: Humanity is a healthcare company that aims to extend the healthspan of humanity.
Matteo Berlucchi
CEO & Co-Founder of Healthily by Your.MD
Matteo’s digital career spans 20 years, during which he has conceived, built and launched several successful companies and services both online and on mobile. Most recently, Matteo was Chief Digital Officer at Northern & Shell, the largest independent media company in the UK,where he grew traffic and revenues 4-fold in just 12 months. Matteo was also the founder and CEO of aNobii, the ebook platform funded by Penguin Random House, HarperCollins which was acquired by Sainsbury’s in 2012. Matteo founded Livestation, the leading service for live TV news online and the first company in the world to stream live TV on iPhones. Livestation is also the winner of the Guardian Digital Innovation Award 2008. Prior to this, Matteo was CEO and co-founder of Skinkers, a software company, which defined the market for desktop widgets and the winner of several international innovation awards in the digital space. Matteo started his career by launching the first online property system in Europe in 1995.
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About Healthily by Your.MD, Vini Italiani: Healthily is the world’s first medically approved self-care app designed around you.
Mark Livingstone
Chief Executive Officer of Pharmacy2U
Mark became Pharmacy2U’s CEO following a merger with ChemistDirect.co.uk in July 2016. An entrepreneurial business leader who has held many senior positions across retail and technology. Roles include co-founder and CEO of LOVEFiLM, worldwide Managing Director of Lego Interactive and one of the people behind the startup, Graze.com. With a passion for understanding how things work, Mark is a keen engineer who has rebuilt three 1950s Austin-Healeys.
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About ChemistDirect, Pharmacy2U: Pharmacy2U are the UK’s leading NHS approved online pharmacy and also provide a confidential private online doctor service.
Chris Edson
Co-founder & CEO of Second Nature
Christopher Edson CEO & Founder of EU Top 50 Startup, Forbes 30 Under 30
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About Second Nature: Second Nature is a digital programme that helps people lead healthier lives
Dan Vahdat
Co-founder & CEO of Huma Therapeutics
Dan Vahdat is Co-founder & CEO of Medopad, a British healthcare technology company enabling connected care, headquartered in London, UK. Dan is an award winning innovator in the fields of science and technology. His professional career spans from IT to medical technology including several years at Johns Hopkins in the US. Dan studied Engineering and Mathematics, after which he pursued his PhD in at Johns Hopkins including 2 years of abroad study at Oxford University. Before finishing his degree, he left to focus on his business.
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About Huma Therapeutics: Huma provides a digital health platform used for predictive care and research.
Nick Taylor
Co-Founder and CEO of Unmind
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About Unmind: Unmind is a B2B mental health platform providing clinically-backed tools and training.
Ali Parsa
Founder and CEO of Babylon
Ali is an entrepreneur and engineer. He built Circle to become Europe’s largest partnership of clinicians, achieving around £200M in annual revenue, 3000 employees and a successful IPO, all during an economic recession. He was named by The Times as among the 100 global people to watch, and was the recipient of the Royal Award for young entrepreneurs for founding V&G earlier in his career. Ali is a UK Cabinet Office Ambassador and has a PhD in engineering Physics.
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About Babylon: Babylon is a world leading, digital-first, value-based care company.
Barney Gilbert
Founder, Co-CEO of Pando
Barney Gilbert worked in the NHS as a doctor before founding Pando, a healthtech company working to connect everyone working in healthcare. Listed in the UK’s Disruption50 Index for 2019. Forbes 30 Under 30 alum.
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About NHS England, Pando: Forward is now Pando! Pando is an essential tool for teamwork and secure collaboration in health and social care.
David Meinertz
CEO of Zava
David Meinertz (born 1974) is CEO of Europe’s largest online doctor Zava (previously DrEd). He founded Zava with Amit Khutti in 2010. Since the start of service in 2011 Zava has treated over three million patients across six European countries. Before Zava, the entrepreneur was responsible for the international expansion of a leading telemedicine company in the UK, and held a senior position in a European investor focused on small to mid-sized companies in the field of healthcare, technology and distribution. Meinertz is a lawyer and graduated with an MBA from HEC Paris. Together with his wife and three sons he lives in London.
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About Zava: Zava is an online medical service provider and offers consultations, diagnostics and medication without the need for a face-to-face visit.
Jarrett Bauer
Founder & CEO of Health Recovery Solutions
Jarrett Bauer joined Health Recovery Solutions as CEO and Co-Founder in 2012.
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About Health Recovery Solutions: Health Recovery Solutions develops a cloud-based warning system to help users reduce readmissions for hospitals and ACOs.
Elena Mustatea
CEO of Bold Health
Elena is an Associate at Atomico. As part of our London team, she focuses on sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities, as well as supporting Atomico and its portfolio companies on operational projects and research. Before joining Atomico, Elena worked in investment banking at J.P. Morgan in London, where she advised various EMEA internet, telecoms, media and technology companies in financing and M&A processes. Elena started her career as a management consultant with Oliver Wyman in Dubai covering Middle Eastern telecoms and public sector companies, with a focus on strategy, business planning and risk management projects. Elena holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Dartmouth College in the US, and studied abroad in Germany, France, and Italy.
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About Bold Health: Bold Health is a specialty telemedicine company that offers best-in-class integrative care for Gastrointestinal (GI) conditions.
Dominic Blakemore
Group Chief Executive Officer of Compass Group
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About Compass Group: Compass Group is a food and support services company that provides a wide range of innovative dining solutions.
Tim Antos
Founder & CEO of Kokoon Technology
A former stressed management consultant and finance professional Tim founded Kokoon in 2013 after struggling with mild insomnia. After successful treatment at a sleep clinic he founded Kokoon to make the knowledge and technology of the sleep clinic more accessible to all. Tim is an award-winning mechanical engineer who previous to working in consulting and finance had a short career developing medical products in Cambridge.
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About Kokoon Technology: Kokoon Technology is a digital health platform applying data to provide a personalized path to better sleep and mental health
Cameron Graham
Co-Founder & CEO of Storii
Cameron Graham is a Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer at StoriiCare.
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About Entrepreneurial Scotland, Storii, University of Strathclyde: Software for Senior Care
Wais Shaifta
Chief Executive Officer of Push Doctor
Wais Shaifta is the chief executive officer of Push Doctor.
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About Push Doctor: Push Doctor is creating the future of healthcare.
Grace Gimson
CEO of Holly Health
A business leader with 10+ years experience in operations, strategy and expansion. Has led teams, projects and operations in some of the highest growth companies in Europe. (Corporate: Microsoft, Facebook, Aldi. Startup: Deliveroo, Scape Technologies). **Building Holly Health to increase opportunities and quality of life for millions around the world**
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About Holly Health: Digital coach for population scale chronic disease prevention
Ronan Cunningham
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BrainWaveBank
Ronan has more than 20 years of experience in advanced engineering and product development. He was one of the founding members of ATA Engineering, an award-winning San Diego-based engineering company specializing in development of innovative hardware and software technologies for the aerospace and defence industries. His roles have included Director of Business Development and Director of New Technology Development. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with the Northern Ireland Science Park. His expertise is in early stage technology development, innovation strategy, and technology commercialisation. He holds an MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT.
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About BrainWaveBank, Cumulus Neuroscience: BrainWaveBank makes it possible to measure and track brain activity and cognitive performance for anyone, anytime, anywhere.
Silja Litvin
Founder & CEO of PsycApps
I am a London based Psychologist, CEO and Founder of the Mental Health platform PsycApps. The mental health platform is also part of my PhD thesis in clinical psychology at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich with help of Oxford University College. • In 2013 I finished my Masters in Psychology from LMU majoring in Family and Clinical Psychology. • As aforementioned I am currently completing my postgraduate education as a PhD student of the LMU with help of University College, Oxford. To help raise awareness for both mental well-being in general and our products, I speak at conferences and mental health panels. Being half German, half American, I speak fluent English and German. My French is decent and I understand Italian quite well. Because of my modelling career I am well-traveled, culturally diverse and I am by nature an extroverted people person. Media (1)This position has 1 media
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About PsycApps, PsycApps, UCL, Wonder Women Tech: Digital Mental Health Games
Neil Daly
CEO of Skin Analytics
Neil is the CEO and Skin Analytics is his baby. Well not his actual baby, that’s Indiana, but she is another story.
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About Skin Analytics: Skin Analytics uses artificial intelligence to screen for melanoma skin cancer.
Paul Varga
Co-Founder & CEO of Playbrush
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About Playbrush, University of Cambridge: Playbrush is a technology company that digitalises oral care for children.
Matt Wilson
CEO of Umedeor
Matt Wilson serves as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at uMed.
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About Ampersand & Ampersand, Umedeor: uMed enables healthcare providers to run patient research more efficiently through automating the clinical studies process
Ifty Ahmed
Founder & CEO of Healthbit
Ifty Ahmed CEO & Founder Over 16 years experience driving digital strategy, integrated marketing and cutting-edge user-experience across the breadth of digital environments and platforms. Proven enterprise level project vision and delivery for renowned brands, including; Vodafone, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Microsoft, Manchester United, IBM, Visa, Reuters and GE. Co-founded award-winning, top 20 UK independent agency in 1997, acknowledged as the most efficient independent agency (New Media Age) for 5 consecutive years. Pioneered the ‘Seeker-Centric Design Process’ to promote competitive advantage for clients. Highly knowledgeable in customer engagement, advanced search-marketing, social media strategy and key web marketing and optimisation platforms and technologies.
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About Healthbit: Healthbit is a service designed to give families, carers and patients more control over their long-term health.
James Hickman
CEO of Lexikin
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About Lexikin: Estate planning platform: records assets, wishes, memories and legacies, in case of fire, theft or death + fee based professional services
Dan Pitulia
CEO of Coala Life
Dan Pitulia is the CEO at Coala Life.
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About Coala Life: Developed a digital service where a small wireless heart monitor reading of the heart’s ECG and heart sounds
