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 Founder operating in the Sensor space. If you think a Founder 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.
Atif Syed
Founder, Chairman and CEO of Wootzano
I am the Founder, Chairman & CEO of Wootzano Ltd where we are making robots feel and sense like humans do by using our unique electronic skin and robotic systems which can save an average fruit and vegetable packaging facility around £2.5 million at minimum a year. Ask me how we do it! Along with a PhD in Electronics and Nanotechnology Engineering from University of Edinburgh, I have extensive experience in Robotics and AI. I am also a Member of the Executive Committee for Robotics and Mechatronics at the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET). I am also an Enterprise Fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng). Since early age, I have had a crazy obsession with electronics and was fascinated by software development as it required not much need for any sophisticated lab. When I am not working on the business, you can find me working with machine learning algorithms, advocating why computer programming should be taught at schools from an early age and travelling.
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About Wootzano: Wootzano manufactures robots which can sense and feel like humans do using a unique electronic skin, machine learning, and electronics.
Ohad Folman
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Practi
Founder & CEO at Practi.
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About Just Eat, Practi: Practi develops cloud based software solutions to manage retail businesses.
Carina Cunha
Co-Founder & CEO of Be Nosy
Carina is a business strategist and inventor of Nosy with passion for science, sales and marketing. In her former role as MD and Launcher of Crimson Education Europe, she created sales, marketing and service delivery teams from scratch, achieving millions in ARR and 150%+ YoY growth. Prior to working with startups Carina was corporate strategist at JPMorgan, Strategy Consultant at Accenture, Investment Banker at Credit Suisse, and a fashion model with Elite. Carina is also an innovation and commercial consultant through Meta Strategy and Founders Intelligence where she helps startups and scale-ups find product-market fit and corporates build new revenue lines. She has a B.A. from Columbia University and PgD. from the University of Edinburgh.
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About Be Nosy: Nosy is a MedTech startup developing wearable air filter and air pollution tracking network.
Mark Papworth
Co-Founder, Director and Chief Executive Officer of Proxisense
Mark H. Papworth served as the Group Chief Executive Officer of Chemring Group plc from November 5, 2012 to June 24, 2014. Mark Papworth served as the Chief Executive Officer of Woods Group Gas Turbine Services and Group Director of Woods Group Gas Turbine Services at John Wood Group Plc and served as its Chief Executive of the Gas Turbines Division since December 2005. He joined Wood Group a year ago from Rolls-Royce Energy. His career has covered high technology, service and manufacturing companies serving aerospace, energy and infrastructure markets. During his tenure at Wood Group, Mark Papworth implemented and delivered a strategic review which resulted in a successful turnaround, improved manufacturing capabilities and substantial improvements in profitability. Prior to his time at Wood Group plc, he spent two years as an Executive Vice President of Rolls-Royce Energy based in the United States of America, and thirteen years with Alstom Power in various roles, finally as Managing Director of the Industrial Gas Turbines division. He served as a Director of Chemring Group plc from November 5, 2012 to June 24, 2014. Mark Papworth served as a Director of John Wood Group Plc since January 16, 2006 until June 29, 2012.
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About CCP, Proxisense, Reach South Academy Trust, Reliance Precision: Proxisense has developed extreme environment proximity sensors and fluid contamination systems.
Paul Vickery
Founder of Proxisense
Paul Vickery is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at Silicon Microgravity since September 2014. Paul is an experienced Board Director with a background in private equity / venture capital and as an entrepreneur. Paul is the Founder of four university spin outs from Oxford University, Cambridge University, Imperial College and Surrey University; acting as Chairman in three companies and raising a total of £25m over multiple investment rounds. Paul has invested in the oil and gas sector and has extensive experience of serving as a Director in early stage, energy-related companies. As an Investor Paul was a Member of the Board of Directors of 3i plc and led 3i’s activities in Japan as Senior Managing Director. Paul has a B.Sc. in Production Engineering from University of Strathclyde and a Diploma in Japanese Business Studies.
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About Proxisense, Silicon MicroGravity: Proxisense has developed extreme environment proximity sensors and fluid contamination systems.
Alan Finlay
Chief Executive, Founder of Salunda
Alan has spent the past 15 years’ commercialising technology, including as co-founder and CEO at Microsaic Systems plc, where he conceived and launched the world’s first chip-based mass spectrometer products plus led a successful IPO exit. Alan has a MEngSc in Engineering from University College, Dublin.
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About Salunda: Salunda develops robust, contactless sensors for use in very harsh environments.
Adam Durant
Founder & CEO of SATAVIA
Adam Durant is CEO and Founder of Satavia. Prior to founding SATAVIA, Dr. Durant worked as a professional scientist and held posts at the University of Cambridge and Norwegian Institute for Air Research. Dr. Durant has grown Satavia to achieve global recognition in the Tällt Ventures Disrupt 100 list in 2017 and was selected to participate in the 2017 SVC2UK CEO Summit held at Buckingham Palace. In addition, he has taken SATAVIA to the finals of Pitch@Palace 6.0; Mass Challenge 2016; and Copernicus Masters 2016. He has also won over £1.5m grant funding since 2015 from Innovate UK, Aerospace Technology Institute, and the European Space Agency for Satavia.
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About SATAVIA: SATAVIA simplifies decision-making for smarter, greener aviation
Afroditi Maria Konidari
CEO and Co-Founder of Tendertec
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About Tendertec: Building the next generation of AI powered safety, security & personalised care technologies for the post COVID-19 era.
Rui Zhang
Co-Founder of Tendertec
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About Tendertec: Building the next generation of AI powered safety, security & personalised care technologies for the post COVID-19 era.
Ben Jensen
Founder and CTO of Surrey NanoSystems
Ben’s background is in the development of novel reactors used in Nanomaterials growth. Prior to founding SNS he was responsible for developing new technologies used in the hard disk drive industry and in sputter processing. He leads technical development of Vantablack coatings, and is involved with commercial engagement in new technology sectors from defence to luxury goods. Personally, I’m an explorer, creative thinker and solver of problems at the nano and commercial scale. Someone with serious commercial sense and a great ability to develop new business and close deals, especially in a start-up environment where competition and gaining traction are tough.
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About Surrey NanoSystems: Surrey NanoSystems manufactures nanoscale materials for use in engineering and product applications.
Philip McAleese
Co Founder & CEO of See.Sense
Philip is a commuter cyclist with over 20 years experience in electronic and software engineering. After designing air traffic control simulators for National Air Traffic Services, he went on to design, build and maintain trading systems for several multinational investment banks. After inventing See.Sense to help make his cycle commuting journey safer, Philip left his corporate career to focus exclusively on See.Sense.
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About See.Sense: See.Sense creates award-winning products to improve rider safety, and technology that generates data needed by cities to improve mobility.
Chenghuan Zhong
CTO & Founder of Inductosense
Bamboo is leading the technical development of the embedded sensor technology which he developed over the course of his PhD and post-doctoral research.
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About Inductosense: Inductosense is developing wireless, battery-free, sensors that can be permanently fixed.
Tim Lukins
Co-Founder & CTO of Machines With Vision
A software professional with a background in AI and computer vision focused on combining engineering and research excellence to create amazing technology.
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About Machines With Vision: Transforming the maintenance of linear infrastructure using millimetre-accurate mapping.
Chris Watts
CTO / Co-Founder of NumberEight
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About NumberEight: On-device AI software to predict user context using mobile sensors
Abhishek Sen
CEO / Co-Founder of NumberEight
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About NumberEight: On-device AI software to predict user context using mobile sensors
Mark Pedley
Founder of SmartLife
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About SmartLife: SmartLife is a specialist in smart garment technology.
Andrew Flewitt
Director and Co-Founder of Sorex Sensors
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About Sorex Sensors, University of Cambridge, University of Cambridge: Sorex Sensors manufactures high sensitivity MEMS mass sensors to transform industrial and consumer products.
Douglas Higgins
Founder & Director of Mujo Mechanics
Douglas Higgins is the Founder & Director at Mujo Mechanics.
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About Mujo Mechanics: Mujo Mechanics provides smart devices and intelligent cloud platform for a data-driven approach to musculoskeletal health.
Andrea De Luca
Co-Founder & CEO of Flusso
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About Flusso: Flusso is in stealth mode, while developing the world’s smallest flow sensor.
Jag Minhas
Founder of Sensing Feeling
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About Sensing Feeling: Advanced human behaviour sensing products for business.
Hadeel Ayoub
Founder of BrightSign
Hadeel Ayoub is a Saudi designer who spent 8 years teaching digital design courses to girls in higher education in Saudi Arabia. She then moved to the UK to pursue postgraduate studies. She obtained a Masters of Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London in Computational Arts where she stayed on to do her PhD in Arts & Computational Technology. Hadeel’s research is focused on developing assistive technology pieces to disrupt the healthcare innovation industry. Her studies engage speech disabled participants and children with non-verbal autism. Her goal is to design multiple wearable technology assistive tools to help sign language users with their daily communication. Hadeel’s BrightSign Glove innovation gained global awards in Innovation and Artificial Intelligence. Her slogan is ‘One day I hope to give a voice to those who can’t speak’.
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About BrightSign: BrightSign is a data glove wired with sensors to translate sign language hand gestures to text and speech.
Mert Ergeneci
Chief Technology Officer & Founder of Neurocess
Mert Ergeneci is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Neurocess.
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About Neurocess: Neurocess offers services as a wearable technology product that increases the training performance and reduces the risk of injury.
Bruno Zamborlin
CEO & Founder of Mogees
My research focuses on new methods for gestural interaction with everyday objects and their applications in the creation of new interfaces for musical expression.
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About Hypersurfaces, Mogees: Mogees is Pioneering AI in sensor tech we transform any surface into a data-enabled one.
Erik Smyth
Founder and Director of Insignia Technologies
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About Insignia Technologies: Insignia Technologies develops smart pigments and ink-based sensing technologies for the food packaging industry.
Barry Gillibrand
Chairman/Founder of Low Power Radio Solutions
Barry founded LPRS in 1985 having worked in electronic component distribution for many years. Barry brings with him a wealth of knowledge of electronics and wireless communications.
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About Low Power Radio Solutions: LPRS is a global leader in low power RF solutions for OEMs.
Nadimul Faisal
Founder & Director of d.FL
Surface Engineering and Contact Mechanics has been an important part of my professional life since I started my career in 2001. I am a Founder of d-Finger Ltd, and Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK. Experience includes leading research & commercial projects funded by Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Oil & Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC), Centre of Excellence for Sensor and Imaging Systems (CENSIS), The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). I am a professional Member of IMechE, IMMM and CEng, Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA), and EPSRC Full College member. Specialities includes mechanical, materials engineering and sensor based condition monitoring, with focus on ‘Micromechanics‘.
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About d.FL: Digitising process handling
