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 Director operating in the Real Estate Investment space. If you think a Director 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.
Phil Cowans
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer and Director of Nested
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About Nested: Nested operates as a data-driven estate agency enabling customers to be chain-free buyers.
Luke Barrett
Managing Director, Global External Affairs of TPG
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About TPG, TPG: TPG is a private investment firm that manages capital across a family of funds.
Alistair Barclay
Director of YOPA
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About YOPA: YOPA provides real estate agency services that assist clients in selling their properties.
Tim Muir
Chief Operating Officer and Director Field Engagement of YOPA
Tim Muir is Chief Operating Officer and Product Director at YOPA. Prior to this, he was a freelance product management consultant. Tim bears a degree in Marketing.
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About YOPA: YOPA provides real estate agency services that assist clients in selling their properties.
Claudia Arney
Non-Executive Director of Derwent London
Claudia is a Non-Executive Director of Aviva plc, Derwent London plc and the Premier League. Claudia was previously Chairman of The Public Data Group, Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of TelecityGroup, and a Board Member of the Shareholder Executive. In her executive career, Claudia was Group Managing Director, Digital at EMAP, Director of the Enterprise and Growth Unit at HM Treasury and Managing Director of TheStreet.co.uk. Claudia has also worked at Goldman Sachs, FT.Com and Mckinsey. Claudia brings extensive experience of building digital businesses, strategy formulation and business transformation.
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About : Derwent London is a real estate company for property investment and development business.
David Toplas
Founder and Director of Vesta Property
David has a long track record of innovation in investments which balance social and commercial returns. He has created, built and invested in businesses and run institutional funds as well as established a charity and social enterprise. David enjoys his work, cars and playing hockey.
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About Mill Group, Vesta Property: Vesta (www.vestaproperty.com) is a data-driven marketplace for buying and selling residential investment property.
Gregory Dewerpe
Managing Director of A/O PropTech
Gregory is a seasoned real estate and technology investor with over 15 years of experience across I-Banking, real estate and venture, a multi-billion deal-making history, and a deep understanding of the financial markets, real estate and venture capital eco-systems. A/O Proptech has emerged from AMD Capital, a dedicated real estate investment company ( direct real assets, public real estate markets, and venture) also founded by Gregory after he left I-Banking where he started his career a decade earlier, at Credit Suisse and Citigroup, looking after investments, structuring and financing for Sovereign wealth funds and other large institutions. Gregory sits on the board/advisory board of a variety of companies in the tech and Real estate space including amongst others Placemake.io, Plentific, Wildstone, Fornova, Residently, Livelike and Tiger Media. Gregory is a Swiss national, fluent in English, French and Italian; he attended HEC Lausanne University, London School of Economics (Masters) and Harvard Business School. Gregory is passionate about sports, travelling, nutrition/food-tech, cancer research and fighting the destructive long-lasting impact of bullying amongst children and younger generations. Gregory currently lives between London and Berlin.
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About A/O PropTech: Europe’s largest Proptech VC firm investing in technology companies transforming the real estate industry.
John Haines
Director of Software of JUST DEVELOP iT
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About JUST DEVELOP iT: Just Develop It (JDi) is a Hampshire based investment company that specialises in early stage and growth capital across.
Jay Francis
Director of Technology of JUST DEVELOP iT
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About JUST DEVELOP iT: Just Develop It (JDi) is a Hampshire based investment company that specialises in early stage and growth capital across.
Ben Rolison
Director of Sales of JUST DEVELOP iT
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About JUST DEVELOP iT: Just Develop It (JDi) is a Hampshire based investment company that specialises in early stage and growth capital across.
Sophy MacDonald
Director of Operations of JUST DEVELOP iT
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About JUST DEVELOP iT: Just Develop It (JDi) is a Hampshire based investment company that specialises in early stage and growth capital across.
Dan Short
Director of Support of JUST DEVELOP iT
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About JUST DEVELOP iT: Just Develop It (JDi) is a Hampshire based investment company that specialises in early stage and growth capital across.
Mark Croston
Founder & Managing Director of Propeasy
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About Propeasy: Propeasy provides assistance to people interested in property investments.
Kevin Roche
Director of Private Debt & CLO’s of Hermes Investment Management
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About Hermes Investment Management: Hermes Investment Management is an asset manager with a difference.
Mani Khiroya
Co-Founder & Investment Director of Propio
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About Propio: Propio is a crowdfunding platform that brings together investors property firms seeking funding for development.
Tom Buttress
Co-Founder & Managing Director of Propio
Tom is Propio’s day-to-day lead and is involved in all strategic and operational aspects of the business. An expert in building, improving and re-orientating regulated financial services firms, Tom previously worked as a management consultant advising household names such as Barclays, Bank of England, Aviva, FCA and T. Rowe Price. He holds a BA from Oxford University.
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About Propio: Propio is a crowdfunding platform that brings together investors property firms seeking funding for development.
Shahil Kotecha
Co-Founder & Investment Director of Propio
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About Propio: Propio is a crowdfunding platform that brings together investors property firms seeking funding for development.
Parul Scampion
Co-Founder & Investment Director of Propio
Parul Scampion (MSc Public Policy and Administration 1992) is part owner and Chief Operating Officer of Fruition Properties, a London based SME property developer. Having supported the Annual Fund since 2015, Parul recently donated to the Department of Geography and the Environment to support research into the causal impact of the UK government’s Help to Buy policy on residential construction.
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About Propio: Propio is a crowdfunding platform that brings together investors property firms seeking funding for development.
Eric Tomaszewski
Founder / Managing Director of Itoma Lux
Eric Tomaszewski is the Founder & Managing Director of Itoma Lux. He founded Itoma Lux in 2017 after 10 years of corporate experience with companies like Ocado, Magna Exteriors and Magna Interiors, Ishida Europe Ltd, and Kimberly-Clark.
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About Itoma Lux: We enable PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT with FINANCE and then de-risk it and increase chances of commercial success with MARKETING & SALES solutions.
Hugh Barker
Director of HABHouse
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About HABHouse: HABHouse renovates old properties into new investments property.
Maher Lababedi
Managing Director of Sterling Bros
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About Apply.Property, Sterling Bros: Sterling Bros provides assistance and consultation services for real estate investment.
Manfredi Mattei
Executive Director of Partecipazione.AM
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About Partecipazione.AM: Partecipazione.AM provides consultation services on financial and investment management.
Abdullah Iqbal
Director of Igloo Crowd
A young entrepreneur and Innovation is critical in his approach. Realised that the traditional property investment method restricted the majority to reap the benefits of this market. Found a solution within crowdfunding, but yet there was another restriction and that was to the communities that wanted interest-free investment opportunities. Property Crowdfunding allows anyone to own a share of a property without any loans, mortgages, and interest its a Shariah-compliant investment. Our mission is to allow individuals to access below-market deals and developments. Our dedicated team has over 125 years collective experience in Central London and UK property.
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About : Equity crowdfunding platform for UK property, now everyone can be an investor online from £100. Ethical/Shariah-compliant.
David Sandeman
Director of Property Information Products
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About Essential Information Group, Property Information Products: Pip offers the PIP Vault, a digital data room where property records can be gathered, stored, and shown.
Mark Aspinall
Founder and Director of Goodholm Finance
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About Goodholm Finance: Goodholm Finance offers an innovative second-charge mortgage solution for first-time buyers in the residential housing market.
Michael Kenney
Managing Director of Deutsche Pfandbriefbank
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About Deutsche Pfandbriefbank: Deutsche Pfandbriefbank is a European specialist bank that focuses on real estate financing and public investment finance.
Joe Kim
Managing Director/Partner of UPIN Fund Management
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About UPIN Fund Management, XnTree: UPIN is an investment and management consulting firm that helps to optimize its clients’ business solutions and meet its goals.
Simon Devonshire
Non-Executive Director of Local Data Company
Passionate about the success of entrepreneurs he is the co-founder of several businesses – he is an active stakeholder in several ventures and an enthusiastic ambassador of the business community. Simon ran the SME division of O2 UK for five years , a £750m P&L – doubling the number of business customers in that time. Appointed to the position of Director Wayra Europe in 2012 – his dream job. He has previously worked on a diverse range of brands.
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About Coding Cupboard, Local Data Company, O2: Local Data Company is the UK’s most accurate retail and leisure location data business.
Barnaby Oswald
Managing Director of Local Data Company
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About : Local Data Company is the UK’s most accurate retail and leisure location data business.
Cat Dawson
Sales Director of Local Data Company
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About : Local Data Company is the UK’s most accurate retail and leisure location data business.
Michael Cole
Managing Director of RightSite
Since founding RightSite in January of 2008, Michael has taken primary responsibility for making it the leading online property exchange in Asia, and an important platform for all members of the industrial property community. Before establishing RightSite, Michael played an integral role in launching major media projects in more than five different Asian markets since 1992. Michael also previously served as General Manager for Advertising Operations with Global Sources (GSOL) and assisted that firm in going public on the NASDAQ exchange in the year 2000. Originally from the United States, Michael holds a Bachelor’s Degree from St Olaf College, as well as a Master’s Degree from the University of Minnesota. Besides achieving advanced level qualifications in Vietnamese language at the University of Hanoi in 1991, Michael also speaks French, Thai and Mandarin Chinese. You can follow Michael’s experiences in launching and managing RightSite through his blog at www.mingtiandi.com.
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About RightSite: Industrial Property Site for Asia
Davin Poonwassie
Co-Founder and Operations Director of Simple Crowdfunding
Davin was first introduced to crowdfunding in early 2013 and he spotted the opportunity that crowdfunding brings. At the end of 2013, Simple Backing, their first property crowdfunding platform focused on Peer to Peer Lending was born. After speaking to their customers, Davin soon realised that there was also a need to provide an Equity option, thus Simple Equity was formed. With a background in data, databases and information technology, Davin is well suited to this marketplace. Outside of crowdfunding, Davin is a business and property coach, helping others achieve their goals and aspirations. Davin is also a keen property investor, investing in parts of the UK and France.
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About Simple Crowdfunding: Simple Crowdfunding is a regulated peer to peer lending and crowdfunding platform, offering property finance.
Atuksha Poonwassie
Managing Director and Co-Founder of Simple Crowdfunding
Atuksha has been involved in Peer to Peer Lending and Crowdfunding since 2013. She is a Director of the UK Crowdfunding Association, and regularly engages with policymakers and Government to advance this marketplace for all sectors in the UK. Atuksha is also the 2017 national Venus ‘Influential Woman of the Year’ award winner and is recognised in the P2P Finance News’ 2020 and 2021 Power 50, making the top 10 cut. This list highlights the 50 most influential people in P2P. Being a firm believer in building a strong community and customer base, Atuksha uses her expertise to help property professionals raise finance, build a crowd, and stand out in the market, whilst providing better access to the UK property market to everyone.
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About Simple Crowdfunding: Simple Crowdfunding is a regulated peer to peer lending and crowdfunding platform, offering property finance.
