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 Personal Finance 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.
Matthew Crummack
Group Chief Executive Officer of Gocompare.com
Matthew Crummack is currently Chief Executive Officer of Gocompare.com Holdings Limited, a financial services price comparison website, forming part of esure Group plc. Previously, Matthew Crummack served as CEO of lastminute.com, the online travel and leisure retailer, from 2011 until March 2015 when the business was acquired by Bravofly Rumbo Group (subsequently renamed lastminute.com Group). He served as Deputy CEO and Chief Integration Officer until December 2015, following which he served as a member of its Strategic Advisory Committee. In addition, Matthew Crummack was formerly a Senior Vice President of Lodging at Expedia in Europe and the US, has previously worked for Nestle UK, and spent eight years at Procter & Gamble in a variety of roles. Matthew Crummack is also a Director of his own UK-based company, Interventus Limited.
Follow Matthew Crummack:
About Gocompare.com: Gocompare.com is a British financial services comparison website provides comparison details for vehicle, home and pet insurance.
Victor Lugger
Co-founder and CEO of Sundayapp
Victor Lugger is the Co-founder and CEO of Sundayapp.
Follow Victor Lugger:
About Sundayapp: Sundayapp is a fully integrated solution built for restaurants, bars, pubs, cafés, and hotels customers to pay for their food via a QR code.
Crawford Taylor
Co-Founder & CEO of Nude
Crawford is the CEO of Nude, a savings account and financial friend for first-time home buyers. He was previously a senior owning partner at Hymans Robertson LLP, one of the largest independent pension consultants in the UK. After spending decades helping older people save for retirement, he is now helping the younger generation buy their first home. He wants to make the home buying experience easier, faster and fairer for young people across the UK. He started Nude to change an outdated, complex and unfair home buying experience that has ultimately resulted in Generation Rent and a growing financial gap between home owners and renters. Nude is the first to guide home buyers all the way, from saving their first £5 through to paying off their mortgage. His ultimate vision is to help people tick off every major financial milestone – there’s children’s accounts, retirements savings and plenty more to fix. Whatever the goal, the focus is always to make it easier, faster and fairer for people to save for it.
Follow Crawford Taylor:
About Nude: The new way to save for and purchase your first home.
Mutaz Qubbaj
Chief Executive Officer of Squirrel
Mutaz graduated from MIT with a degree in Computer Science in 2000 and spent several years working at MIT’s Media Lab and an internet strategy consulting start-up (ZEFER). Subsequently, Mutaz has had a financial career that spans more than a decade at Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and PIMCO as a trader, strategist and marketer. With an LBS Masters in Finance degree in hand, Mutaz has co-founded Squirrel, a financial wellbeing platform that directly plugs into an employers’ payroll designed to empower low-income employees to regain control of their financial lives. Mutaz was nominated by WIRED & Talent International as one of the ’15 To Look Out For in 2015.’ Mutaz recently won the WIRED Startup Pitch Competition presenting Squirrel to HRH the Duke of York and audience of 400+ WIRED2014 attendees.
Follow Mutaz Qubbaj:
About Citi, Squirrel: Squirrel is an award-winning smart banking app that empowers people to take control of their money.
Charles Hayter
CEO and Co-Founder of CryptoCompare.com
Follow Charles Hayter:
About CryptoCompare.com: We bring you all the data in the world of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Blockchain in an easily digestible value added format.
Virraj Jatania
Founder & CEO of Pockit
Co-founder of Pockit, a leading prepaid card provider in the UK. Second generation of leading personal care and cosmetics business Lornamead that was sold to Li & Fung in December 2012. Interested in investing into businesses as well as operating early stage tech businesses.
Follow Virraj Jatania:
About Pockit: Pockit is a financial technology company that provides a digital banking app for the underbanked masses.
Romina Savova
Founder and CEO of PensionBee
Romina Savova is Chief Executive Officer of PensionBee, the leading online pension manager she founded to simplify pension savings in the UK, following a harrowing pension transfer experience of her own. Romi began her career at Goldman Sachs at the height of the 2007 global financial crisis in the Credit Risk Management and Advisory Division, working in New York and London. In 2012 she joined Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division to advise major banks, insurance companies and pension providers. In 2014 Romi followed her entrepreneurial spirit to become employee number four and Head of Corporate Development at Credit Benchmark, which has subsequently grown to be one of the world’s most successful B2B data start-ups. Fascinated by the emerging world of financial technology, Romi incorporated PensionBee shortly thereafter. Romi earned an MBA from Harvard Business School as a George F. Baker scholar and graduated summa cum laude from Emory University. In 2017, she was named Entrepreneur of the Year at computing.co.uk’s Women in IT Excellence awards.
Follow Romina Savova:
About PensionBee: PensionBee: the clever way to find and combine all your old pension plans in one good-value, online plan Capital at risk.
J.D. Rainey
Founder and CEO of Finmo
Follow J.D. Rainey:
About Finmo: Finmo is a financial management tool for self employed workers with a focus on improving financial health and filing taxes.
Marc Goldberg
Commercial CEO of Together Money
Marc Goldberg is the Commercial CEO of Together Money.
Follow Marc Goldberg:
About Together Money: Together is a specialist lender, offering short-term finance, auction finance, personal, commercial.
Gerald Grimes
Group CEO of Together Money
Gerald Grimes is the Group CEO of Together Money.
Follow Gerald Grimes:
About Together Money: Together is a specialist lender, offering short-term finance, auction finance, personal, commercial.
Richard Ambrose
CEO of Azimo
Follow Richard Ambrose:
About Azimo: Azimo is an online money transfer company that provides a fast, secure, and low-cost alternative to legacy high street remittance services.
Alexandros Christodoulakis
Co-founder & CEO of Wealthyhood
Alexandros Christodoulakis is the Co-founder & CEO of Wealthyhood. Previously, Alex worked as a Fixed Income Trading Strategist at Morgan Stanley and has coded multiple optimisation models and algorithms for portfolio allocation. He holds an MSc in Investment & Wealth Management from Imperial, an MSc in Health Economics from LSE and a Diploma in Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens.
Follow Alexandros Christodoulakis:
About Wealthyhood: The first DIY wealth-building app for long-term investors.
Alex Mollart
CEO & Co-Founder of Oplo
Alex Mollart is the Chief Executive Officer of Oplo.
Follow Alex Mollart:
About Oplo: Oplo is a direct lender platform that offers car finance, personal loans, and secured loan products.
Adam Dodds
Founder & CEO of Freetrade
Follow Adam Dodds:
About Freetrade: Freetrade is a challenger stockbroker that offers free share trading in mobile phones.
Thomas Olszewski
Founder & CEO of Koyo
Thomas Olszewski is the Founder and CEO of Koyo.
Follow Thomas Olszewski:
About Koyo: Koyo uses machine learning to serve customers with competitively priced credit
Edoardo Moreni
Founder & CEO of Emma
Follow Edoardo Moreni:
About Emma: Emma is a financial app advocate that helps users avoid overdrafts, find wasteful subscriptions, and allows users control of their finances.
Brett Shanley
CEO & Founder of Knoma
Brett is the Founder and CEO of Knoma, the Knowledge Market, offering a payment solution and marketplace for lifelong learning. He passionate about equipping people for the future of work and providing sound financial options.
Follow Brett Shanley:
About Knoma: Knoma offers a payment solution and marketplace for lifelong learning.
Evangelos Pappas
CEO of Ocyan
CEO/Founder of Ocyan. Tech & Blockchain Advisor. More than 10 years of experience in Startups. Strong Technical Background in Software & Platforms Engineering.
Follow Evangelos Pappas:
About Ocyan: Financial marketplace for European Expats
Kerim Derhalli
Founder and CEO of invstr of Invstr
Follow Kerim Derhalli:
About Invstr: Invstr is a fintech app empowering investors to invest with commission-free investing and banking.
Gerald Chappell
CEO and Co-Founder of Fintern
Gerald Chappell is the CEO and Co-Founder at Fintern. Prior to starting Fintern, Gerald was a partner at McKinsey where he lead the digital lending and credit analytics practices globally.
Follow Gerald Chappell:
About Fintern: Fintern is a lending startup looking to offer an AI-driven alternative to costly payday loans.
Charlie Richardson
Co-Founder and CEO of Lumio Technologies
Charlie Richardson is the Co-Founder and CEO at Lumio Technologies.
Follow Charlie Richardson:
About Lumio Technologies: Lumio is you Intelligent wealth mentor. With the simple aim to maximize your money around your lifestyle
Uday Nimmakayala
Founder & CEO of WealthObjects
Follow Uday Nimmakayala:
About WealthObjects: WealthObjects helps firms launch a bespoke fully automated robo-advisor or hybrid advisory digital wealth platform.
Jordan Mayo
Chief Executive Officer of Profile Pensions
Follow Jordan Mayo:
About Financial Services Skills Commission, Profile Pensions: Our pension experts track down your pensions and tell you how we can make you better off in retirement.
Karen Barrett
Founder & CEO of Unbiased.co.uk
Follow Karen Barrett:
About Unbiased.co.uk: Platform connecting consumers to professional advisers
Robert Pasco
Co-Founder & CEO of Plend
Follow Robert Pasco:
About Plend: Building a better way to borrow, where people are no longer held back by their credit history
Richard Jelbert
Founder and CEO of Inzura
Richard is an industry expert on the use telematics and mobile Apps in motor insurance. Richard has been working closely with a range of broker, direct insurers and other technology providers to build next generation mobile centric Apps that support whole lifecycle customer journeys. Working closely with Autoline, Richard and Inzura have developed the ChilliDrive Young Driver insurance App and social platform. Previously Richard was the Founder and CTO of MyDrive Solutions, a telematics service provider, and CEO of Vzzual Ltd the app-based photo analysis business for insurers.
Follow Richard Jelbert:
About Inzura: Inzura’s customer engagement Apps and cloud-based services cover the major personal insurance lines.
Steve Tigar
CEO of Money Dashboard
Follow Steve Tigar:
About Money Dashboard: Money Dashboard is an online personal financial management service allowing users to view their online financial accounts.
David Sheridan
Co-founder and CEO of Onedox
Follow David Sheridan:
About Onedox: Onedox is a free, secure service that enables UK consumers to take control of their household bills
Manu Peleteiro
CEO of Inbest.ai
Follow Manu Peleteiro:
About Inbest.ai: Inbest.ai is a data analytics platform that aims to democratise the access to wealth management.
Lee Hartley
Chief Executive Officer of Fairstone
Lee is an engineering graduate of Northumbria University and his career to date has seen him focus on implementing technology leveraged processes to ensure that customers consistently receive the highest quality outcomes in a cost-effective manner. His driving aim is for Fairstone to be recognised as the number one ‘new model’ financial services organisation that puts clients at the centre of everything that it does. Lee launched an integrated media business in 1998 which operated as a combined e-commerce and digital marketing agency. He built a corporate client base which included a number of retail banks and building societies together with the likes of Zurich, London & European Insurance, ONE North East and Business Link before selling the company to a trade acquirer after a period of 7 years. During 1999 Lee was nominated the North East Young Entrepreneur of the year in the Shell Enterprise programme and this was followed a year later with a subsequent award in the North of England Major Growth category. Lee was also a regional finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in 2014.
Follow Lee Hartley:
About Fairstone: Fairstone Financial Management Ltd is one of the UK’s largest Chartered Financial Planning firms.
Amandeep Singh
Founder & CEO of Comparism
Follow Amandeep Singh:
About Comparism, Comparism, EquiTipz: Comparism is an online portal to help you with personal finance and money saving tips.
Marvyn Halfon
Co-Founder and CEO of Folio App
Follow Marvyn Halfon:
About Folio App: Folio is a mobile app providing users with the ability to create intelligent savings projects and collaborate with others.
Andy Cooper
Founder | CEO of Bill Hut
Andy is currently working as co-founder on a pre-launch service named Bill Hut. Website : www.billhut.com Blog: www.blog.billhut.com
Follow Andy Cooper:
About Bill Hut: Bill Hut is an online platform that makes managing bills in house shares easy and transparent from one applciation.
Paul Williams
CEO of Yes2Credit.com
Follow Paul Williams:
About Yes2Credit.com: Yes2Credit.com is a UK site focused on credit education and dedicated to offering ethical lending solutions
