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 Innovation Management 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.
Nick Hynes
CEO & Founder of Somo
A true business visionary, Nick has established some of the most successful fast-growth digital companies of the last two decades. In recognition of his contribution to the digital industry, he was recently shortlisted as one of the top 20 most influential and inspirational Britons in the BIMA Digital Hall of Fame. Nick founded Somo in 2009 with Carl Uminski to help companies make sense of the huge opportunities and the disruptive potential of mobile technology. In his role as CEO, Nick defines the overall strategy, has recruited the team, and shaped the culture of Somo, establishing corporate-scale governance in this rapid-growth business. Nick was formerly CEO and owner of The IMW Group, comprising search marketing agency, The Search Works, and digital tech business, The Technology Works. He launched operations across Asia, with offices in Tokyo and Seoul, and established The Search Works as Europe’s largest search agency, before the group was acquired by TradeDoubler AB in 2007 for $112 million. Before that, Nick was founder, CEO and President of Overture Europe. Here he launched the paid search industry in Europe, building Overture from a start up to an established billion dollar business across 16 countries, in just 30 months. Acquiring AltaVista FAST Technology Search along the way, Overture secured exclusive, multi-year distribution deals with every premium portal and ISP in Europe. The company was sold for $1.63 billion to Yahoo! in 2003 and became Yahoo! Search Marketing. In his early career, Nick created the electronic points system for Air Miles, transforming a struggling paper voucher business into a $62 million per annum profitable business in four years. Nick developed and implemented Air Miles loyalty schemes across NatWest, BT and Vodafone (building their first customer database). He also introduced the world’s first national Smart Card programme for Shell, and the ‘Reward’ loyalty scheme for Sainsbury’s. Nick’s career began as a fast-track graduate at British Airways, where he led a number of global initiatives. Appointed as BA’s youngest senior manager at the age of 29, he was sponsored by the airline to complete an MBA at the University of Bath in 1992.
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About : Somo, part of the CI&T family (NYSE: CINT), is a leading digital product agency, delivering digital ambitions at pace and scale.
Faisal Butt
Founder, CEO & Chairman of Pi Labs
Faisal is CEO, Founder and Chairman of Pi Labs Ltd. Faisal founded Pi Labs Ltd in 2015, after leading the first round of investments in PropTech start-ups Hubble and Trussle as an individual investor. Faisal and his team have built a portfolio of 50 PropTech companies across UK and Europe, making Pi Labs one of the most active investors in PropTech start-ups globally.
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About Pi Labs, Spire Ventures: Europe’s first and most active VC firm investing in early-stage proptech entrepreneurs.
Jerre Stead
Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Clarivate Analytics
Jerre L. Stead joined the PCN Technology, Inc. Board of Directors in October of 2008. From 1996 until his June 1, 2000 retirement, Mr. Stead was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ingram Micro Inc., a leading distributor of computers and peripherals. Mr. Stead has also held the position of Chief Executive Officer at Square D Co., which was acquired by Schneider Electric, S.A. He also served as CEO of AT&T Global Information Solutions (NCR Corporation) and Legent Corporation. Since 2006, Mr. Stead has served as Chairman of the Board and CEO for IHS, one of the leading global providers of critical technical information, decision-support tools, and related services to customers in the energy, defense, aerospace, construction, electronics, and automotive industries. Mr. Stead is currently also a Director of Armstrong Holdings, Inc., Conexant Systems, Mobility Electronics, Inc., Brightpoint, Inc. and TBG Group. He has also held numerous positions during a 21-year career at Honeywell. He is a well-known Author of Executive books including Flight of the Buffalo and is the Chairman of the Board for the Center of Ethics and Values at Garret Seminary at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
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About Clarivate Analytics: Clarivate Analytics accelerates the pace of innovation by providing trusted insights and analytics.
Simon Hill
CEO & Founder of Wazoku
Simon Hill is the CEO of Wazoku.
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About InnoCentive, INSEAD, The Future Shaping Media Company Limited, Wazoku: An Enterprise Innovation Platform comprising: Idea Management, Open Innovation Marketplace, Innovation Consulting, Portfolio Management
Mark Perera
Founder & CEO of Vizibl
CEO of Old St Labs / Founder of Procurement Leaders
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About Procurement Leaders, Sigaria, Vizibl: Vizibl is a global cloud platform that enables enterprise companies to manage their innovation lifecycle.
Jeremy Basset
CEO of CO:CUBED
Jeremy has built his career by helping large corporates define and build their future organisation. Through CO:CUBED, he works with some of the worlds largest businesses to re-think their organisational approach to innovation and helping them build and execute their collaborative innovation capabilieis. Prior to launching CO:CUBED, Jeremy spent 13 years at Unilever where he was responsible for launching and then leading the Unilever Foundry, Unilever’s platform to engage with startups and innovative companies who can help Unilever pioneer the future. Through the Foundry, over 1500 of Unilever marketers have worked with over 150 startups, brining innovative technology and an entrepreneurial culture to Unilever. Originally Australian, Jeremy’s career has taken him from Australia to New Zealand, Singapore he now resides in the UK. Jeremy has a marketing and commercial background, with a degree in Accounting & Marketing, he’s CPA qualified and has an MBA from London Business School.
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About CO:CUBED: CO:CUBED helps FTSE100 companies to embrace the startup revolution, by defining and executing their collaborative innovation capabilities.
Barry Shrier
Co-Founder & CEO of The Health-Tech Innovation LABS
Barry Shrier is Founder and CEO of Health-tech Innovation LABS, Barry is a serial entrepreneur with a history of successful exits .
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About GIANT Health Events, The Health-Tech Innovation LABS: The Health-Tech Innovation LABS (HTI-LABS) are a group of businesses that improve the healthcare sector.
David Harkin
CEO of 8billionideas
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About 8billionideas: 8billionideas is an early-stage online education firm that teaches what children don’t learn in school.
Kaan Akın
Founder, CEO of Hackquarters
Tech investor, startup mentor and founder of Hackquarters Startup Accelerator. He is involved with corporate accelerator programs.
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About Hackquarters: Hackquarters accelerated 150+ startups and helped 40+ corporates to innovate with startup collaboration
Mark Simmers
CEO of Celtic Renewables
Mark is an entrepreneur and commercialisation specialist with over 20 years of international experience in sales, marketing and business development. In 2011 Mark graduated from the highly prestigious Saltire Foundation Global Entrepreneurial Fellowship Programme, which included a fast-track MBA programme at Babson College, Boston USA. Mark helped to co-found Celtic Renewables in late 2011, and has been the company’s CEO since its inception leading the rapid growth of the company, which has seen its technology proven at pilot commercial scale leading to establishing it at industrial scale by 2017. Mark has won numerous investment pitching and business presentation awards on behalf of Celtic Renewables, and has built a strong and dynamic team at the company. Mark graduated from Bristol University in Economics and Accounting and started out his career with the International Management Group in London working with a team commercialising and managing the global golf assets of IMG. Mark founded and managed his own events and promotions company in Scotland from 2001-07. Mark is married with three children, and is a keen sportsman in his spare time.
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About Celtic Renewables: Celtic Renewables is a biofuel startup focused on the renewable energy and whisky sector.
Colleen Wong
Founder & CEO of Techsixtyfour
Techsixtyfour was founded in September 2015 by Colleen Wong, an investment banker turned entrepreneur. As a new mum on a day out with her children she witnessed a parent’s panic when their child when missing and was inspired to develop something that would help children and their parents stay better connected but without tying them to a smart phone, which comes with so many unnecessary distractions. Techsixtyfour’s first product, the Gator watch, is a wearable mobile phone and tracker made for young kids and now available to purchase at John Lewis, Amazon and at Bentalls Kingston.
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About Techsixtyfour: The UK’s coolest wearable mobile phone and tracker made just for kids.
Antoine Baschiera
CEO and Co-Founder of Early Metrics
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About Early Metrics: Early Metrics is the first startup rating agency.
Mat Hunter
Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Plus X
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About Plus X: Plus X creates workspaces that unlock potential, business growth and innovation, community collaboration, and positive social impact.
Nigel Perry
Chief Executive Officer of Centre for Process Innovation
Nigel is a Chartered Engineer with 30 years of experience in the global Process Industry. He spent over 20 years with ICI, enjoying an international career in engineering, operations, technology management, and project and business management, gaining experience in Asia, Europe and the US. From ICI he joined PwC Consulting focusing on the development, consolidation and evolution of the European High Technology Sector including the adoption and emergence of new technologies, and new business models and new entrants. He was appointed a Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Process Innovation in 2003. He has taken the company from start-up, to today where it employs over 240 high calibre scientists and engineers and is recognised internationally as a world-class resource supporting the Process Industry in sustainable processing, industrial biotechnology and printable electronics. The company is widely viewed as an exemplar of the public and private sectors working together to establish innovation supply chains in new technologies, a vital competence much needed in the UK which has been recognised by CPI becoming part of the Governments first elite High Value Manufacturing Catapult. He is a Fellow and past Technical Vice President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and is also a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. He has an MA in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford, and is an alumnus of the Accelerated Development Programme at London Business School and the Entrepreneurship Development Program at MIT. He is a Visiting Professor at Newcastle University. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2010.
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About Centre for Process Innovation: The CPI is a technology innovation center helps its clients develop, prove, prototype, and commercialize products and processes.
Michael Dewhirst
CEO | Founder of Evolve Dynamics
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About Evolve Dynamics, Match2One: UAV innovations company, working on computer vision, AI autopilot systems, long flight solutions and rapid ready-to-fly/deploy platforms.
Paul Atherton
CEO & Co-Founder of Wayv Technologies Ltd
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About Wayv Technologies Ltd: WAYV products provide up to 30 minutes of instant and constant heat, whenever and wherever you may need it.
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
Mark Truman
Founder and CEO of ArcVehicle
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About ArcVehicle: ArcVehicle an electric motorcycle startup.
Young Kwon
Chief Executive Officer of Powerlase Photonics
CEO at Powerlase Photonics
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About Powerlase Photonics: Powerlase Photonics Ltd is an innovative, independent, high power laser company.
Dominik Peus
Founder & CEO of Antaco
Dominik Peus is a Founder & CEO at Antaco.
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About Antaco: Antaco’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to a circular economy.
Dean Boyle
Founder and CEO of Ekkosense
A born leader, Dean’s skills include extensive ‘networking’ sessions on the golf course and in coffee shops.
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About Ekkosense: Ekkosense specialises in developing and delivering expert software analytics, low cost innovative sensors.
Leo de Montaignac
CEO of Weedingtech
Leo de Montaignac joined Weeding Technologies as CEO in 2014.
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About Weedingtech: Weedingtech is a British company that designs and manufactures innovative weed control technologies for the amenity and utility markets.
Terry Donegan
CEO of Elumini
Terry Donegan is the CEO of Elumini. He used to be the chairman of ChatCloud. He earned his bachelor’s degree at The University of Stirling.
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About Elumini: Elumini analyses emotional intensity in near real-time to provide unprecedented access to hearts and minds.
David Simoes-Brown
CEO of 100%Open
Recovering ad-man and ex-punk rocker David is CEO and Lead Strategist of 100%Open. When not creating new open strategies for clients, inventing new open innovation tools or making sure 100%Open is 100% ahead of the curve he consistently fails to write a book on human emotions. Other so-called hobbies that get little attention are flying remote control planes, restoring old cars or making sourdough.
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About 100%Open, 100%Open: 100%Open is a specialist open innovation agency that helps large organisations create value by innovating with others.
Gavin Poole
CEO of Here East
Gavin is the CEO of Here East, a 1.2m sq ft campus for digital and creative companies located on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Gavin is responsible for curating the overall development of Here East to ensure the right mix of big and small companies, universities and creative organizations come together, share ideas and collaborate. Gavin is by profession an aeronautical engineer and was a military officer for over two decades before running a political think tank. He has led the Here East team since early 2012 taking the company from an idea through to delivery. Gavin is a London Tech Ambassador often traveling overseas to support London and Partners, and as an active Tech London Advocate sitting on the Advisory Board of TLA.
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About Here East: Here East is London’s home for making.
Neill Ricketts
Chief Executive Officer of Versarien
Neill Ricketts joined Versarien as CEO in 2011.
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About Versarien: Versarien is an engineering materials company, provides engineering solutions for various industry sectors.
Mike Simcock
CEO and CIO of ClearMacro
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About ClearMacro: ClearMacro helps institutional investors integrate actionable insights from data into their portfolios to enable smarter decision-making.
Chris Skitch
Founder & CEO of Didgeroo
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About Didgeroo: DIDGEROO HELPS CREATIVE AGENCIES BUILD INNOVATIVE WEBSITES.
George Liarikos
Founder, CEO of OOf
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About OOf: Innovative furniture empowering mobile work
Elliott Grant
Founder & CEO of HOOF
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About HOOF: HOOF is an innovative travel and location app which allows users to store, share and log their travels and experiences.