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 Shopping 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.
Nickyl Raithatha
CEO of Moonpig.com
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About Moonpig.com: Moonpig is a website where people can design their own greeting cards to send to others.
Chris Morton
Co-Founder & CEO of Lyst
Chris Morton is the CEO and cofounder of Lyst (www.lyst.com), a social curation platform for online fashion. Prior to founding Lyst, Chris was an investor at Balderton Capital and Benchmark Capital, focussing on consumer internet; specifically ecommerce, music and games. Chris was also Business Development Manager of the Energy and Materials division at QinetiQ, one of Europe’s leading technology R&D organisations. Chris earned his M.A. in Natural Sciences (Physics and Philosophy) from Cambridge University, 2003, and he is a DERA Scholar.
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About Lyst: Lyst is a global fashion search platform that allows users to browse through thousands of online fashion stores.
Alison Horner
CEO, Asia of Tesco
Alison joined the Executive Committee on 1 March 2011. Alison is responsible for Tesco’s businesses in Thailand and Malaysia. Alison also leads our developing business partnerships across the region. Alison joined Tesco in 1999 and worked in a variety of operational leadership roles running stores and leading change programmes, prior to being appointed Chief People Officer in 2011. She was appointed to her current role on 1 June 2018. Alison is a member of the Manchester Business School Advisory Board.
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About Tesco: Tesco PLC is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England.
Matt Simister
Chief Executive Officer Central Europe of Tesco
Matt joined the Executive Committee on 1 April 2017. Matt is responsible for all of Tesco’s businesses in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Matt joined Tesco in 1996 as a marketer. He built on his UK experience with three years as Commercial Director for our Czech and Slovak businesses. Following which, he returned to the UK to set up our Group Food capability, managing our regional fresh food and Tesco Brand sourcing, buying and inbound supply chains for the UK, ROI, Central Europe and Asia. In April 2017, Matt was appointed to his current role of CEO, Central Europe.
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About Tesco: Tesco PLC is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England.
Christoph Barchewitz
co-CEO of Global Fashion Group
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About Global Fashion Group, Kinnevik AB: Global Fashion Group designs a shopping platform that brings fashion online across 27 countries.
Mary Turner
CEO of Koovs
Mary was Chief Executive of AlertMe.com, a pioneer in the “internet of things” technology which powers the UK’s leading smart homes solution, Hive Active Heating, acquired by British Gas in May 2015. Previously she was Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tiscali UK Limited from 2001 to 2009 and was a non-executive director of ASOS plc between 2009 and 2013. Prior to joining Tiscali, Mary was Chief Executive Officer of BTLineOne, the joint venture between BT and United News Media, and Senior Vice President Marketing (Europe) at CompuServe Information Services. She has also held the position of product & merchandising at Innovation Group and prior to that, worked in sales and marketing at Avon Cosmetics and Elizabeth Arden. Mary joined the board in July 2014 as a Non-executive Director and was appointed CEO in October 2015.
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About Koovs: KOOVS is the one-stop online fashion destination for all your fashion needs.
Hasna Kourda
Co-Founder & CEO of Save Your Wardrobe
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About Save Your Wardrobe: FashionTech startup using AI to make Fashion more digital and sustainable
Lex Deak
Co-founder and CEO of Basket
Lex Deak is the Co-founder and CEO at Basket.
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About Basket: Basket aims to revolutionize the online shopping experience by informing customers of price drops or any discounts available on their items.
Karin Cabili
Founder & CEO of Dropit Shopping
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About Dropit Shopping: Dropit provides a digital handsfree shopping solution for malls and central shopping districts, delivering bags from store to door.
Patryk Pawlikowski
Founder and CEO of Shoplo
Patryk Pawlikowski is VP e-commerce at SumUp.
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About Shoplo, SumUp: Shoplo is an e-commerce platform that helps small businesses sell throughout the globe.
Andy Owen-Jones
Co-Founder and CEO of bd4travel
Andy is bd4travel’s CEO and co-Founder. He oversees business development and the overall growth strategy. Before founding bd4travel, Andy was the CEO at leading German leisure specialist TravelTainment, which he joined after 10 years at Amadeus. Prior to that, Andy held positions at several international businesses such as British Airways, Deloitte Consulting, and Virgin Atlantic.
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About bd4travel: Bd4travel provides IT solutions to assist firms in targeting and segmenting their customer base.
Marcus Greenwood
Co-founder & CEO of Ubio
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About Ubio: Ubio provide direct booking capabilities for travel metasearch websites and apps.
Colin Stephens
CEO and Founder of Better Bathrooms
Colin Stevens, Founder & Leader, BetterBathrooms.com on a boost in confidence There is a big difference, there is a big difference because you walk in a room now and people know of you. Before, you’d walk in a room and people would like… they might know you, they might not know you but only through introductions.
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About Better Bathrooms: Bathroom retailer based in the United Kingdom
Bonnie Takhar
Lead Founder and CEO of LetsBab
Bonnie Takhar is the founder and CEO of LetsBab, a digital mall that is disrupting the way you shop and digitalising word of mouth. Takhar, a seasoned fashion executive with over 20 years experience, has held a number of high ranking positions.
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About LetsBab: LetsBab is a digital mall revolutionizing the way you shop and share products with others.
Andrew Hart
Co-Founder and CEO of Dent Reality
Working on AR for indoor spaces at Dent Reality. Creator of ARKit + CoreLocation, and some other things.
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About Dent Reality: Dent Reality develops an augmented reality platform that helps users find their favorite products on the market.
Rob Feldmann
CEO of BRANDALLEY
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About BRANDALLEY: BRANDALLEY is an online retair of fashion, home and beauty products
Nick Brackenbury
Co-Founder & CEO of NearSt
Nick Brackenbury is a technology entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of NearSt; a retail technology start-up getting people back into high street shops. His tech company is revolutionizing the idea of shopping locally rather than ordering it online. Nick was formerly one of Ogilvy’s youngest ever Account Directors, working on pioneering teams in the agency’s analytics and digital platforms teams across brands spanning Land Rover, Nestle, BP, Ford, Diageo and IBM. He is fascinated by behavioural economics and the incredible potential currently hidden away in high street shops.
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About NearSt: NearSt is a retail technology company building the world’s source of real-time local inventory.
Marc Worth
Co-Founder & CEO of Stylus Media
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About Stylus Media: Stylus is a trends intelligence service. We deliver insights that businesses need to make transformative business decisions.
Jenny Tsai
Founder & CEO of Wearisma
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About Wearisma: Wearisma is a premium influencer marketing solution for brands, agencies & influencers.
Polly Barnfield OBE
Founder and CEO of Maybe*
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About Maybe*: Maybe*. The platform that connects the online, offline and social retail journey.
Marjorie Leonidas
CEO of Taggstar
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About GlobalReach Technology Ltd, Taggstar: Real-time social proof message expert for enterprise eCommerce | Conversion uplift by up to 12% | Shop Direct, N Brown, TUI, Missguided use.
Robert Hedberg
Co-Founder & CEO of GLIMR
Robert Hedberg is Co-Founder & CEO at GLIMR.
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About GLIMR: GLIMR connects the offline and the online world and allow retailers and brands to retarget their shoppers after they have left the store.
Oliver Bridge
Founder & CEO of Cornerstone
Oliver Bridge is a Founder at Cornerstone.
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About Cornerstone: Cornerstone is a subscription service for men’s toiletries.
Amanda Cook
Founder & CEO of iLOVE SNACKS
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About iLOVE SNACKS: iLOVE SNACKS, is a snack brand selling deliciously tasty snacks made wit great quality ingredients. Snacks made with love and done well!
Amit Kumar Deswal
Founder and CEO of Curtis and Hayes
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About Curtis and Hayes: Curtis and Hayes bring forth the exclusively designed furniture that combines luxury with affordability.
Sarah Beckett
Co-Founder and CEO of Birdsong
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About Birdsong: Birdsong is an ethical womenswear brand aiming to revolutionise the way they shop.
Lev Grybov
CEO & Co-founder of Shopdrobe
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About Shopdrobe: A social-networking platform, where you and your friends can democratise fashion, resolving these daily “What should I wear” dilemmas.
John Robertson
Founder & CEO of Drinkly
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About Drinkly: Drinkly offers an on-demand service of alcoholic drinks to its customers in Edinburgh, UK.
Alexander Reed
Co-Founder and CEO of Moonsift
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About Moonsift: Moonsift is a universal wishlist designed to power the next generation of personalization for online shoppers.
John-Pierre Clark
Founding CEO of Stimply
Founder, investor and chatbot nuthead! 2016: Founder at TOPFINANCE 2014: Launched the data crunching platform Stimply.com 2013: Sold ArgentMag.com (french financial comparison site) to Marketshot SAS 2006: Sold a leading UK foreign currency comparison site
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About Kohdao Ltd., Stimply, Top 10 Ventures Ltd.: Stimply is a personal shopping assistant for home appliance and electrical products.
Paul Rice
Founder & CEO of Taggr
BIMA Hot 100 – 2015. Credited No1 paid app UK app store Oct 2014. Founder / Owner of Rice Media with global retail clients including Superdry and ATS Euromaster. User-focused and creative.
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About Taggr: Taggr is a shopping social network with a retargeting platform that links cross-device and browser activity with retailers.
Justin Hodnett
CEO & Founder of Buuy
Entrepreneur
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About Buuy: Buuy is a global marketplace allowing sellers from across the world to easily join and list items to sell.
Daniel Rees
Co-Founder and CEO of Ruroc
Daniel Rees is the Co-Founder and CEO at Ruroc.
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About Ruroc: Trailblazing action sports protection brand based in Gloucester.
Ajit Gupta
Founder & CEO of ShopnSocial
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About ShopnSocial: ShopnSocial’s mission is to make online shopping fun, intuitive and efficient. ShopnSocial is a mobile social browsing platform.
