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 Agriculture 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.
Benjamin Belldegrun
Founder & Managing Partner of Pontifax AgTech
Benjamin Belldegrun is co-founder and managing partner at Pontifax AgTech.
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About Pontifax AgTech: Pontifax AgTech is a pioneering growth capital investor in food and agriculture technology.
Clement Champion
Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of MoA Technology Ltd
Clément graduated from the French Grandes Écoles with an Engineer’s degree in Agronomy before moving to Oxford in 2012. He was awarded a Clarendon scholarship to work on the genetic control of plant growth in Prof. Dolan’s research group. After completing his D. Phil, Clément contributed to the conception of MoA Technology’s discovery platforms and has since been leading the biology research group.
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About MoA Technology Ltd: MoA Technology Ltd has developed an innovative approach for the discovery of agricultural technologies.
Liam Dolan
Co-Founder of MoA Technology Ltd
Liam came to the University of Oxford as Sherardian Professor of Botany in 2009, from the John Innes Centre (JIC), and was head of the Dept. of Plant Sciences 2012-2017. He studied at University College, Dublin and at the University of Pennsylvania before a post-doc at JIC. Liam is a trustee at The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and on the board of Oxford University Innovation.
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About MoA Technology Ltd: MoA Technology Ltd has developed an innovative approach for the discovery of agricultural technologies.
Keiran Olivares Whitaker
Founder & CEO of Entocycle
Environmental engineer, YC alumni, five years expertise in rearing insects, passionate environmentalist, deep sea diver.
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About Entocycle: Entocycle’s automated insect farm produces environmentally friendly insect protein to feed farmed animals.
Kizito Okelue
CEO & Founder of KODGAV
Kizito is the Founder of KODGAV. Before structuring KODGAV as limited liability company in October 2019, he worked as a sole proprietor developing business strategies. Beyond being an Entrepreneur he’s a fitness avid and creative.
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About KODGAV, KODGAV UK: Agtech platform creating new data driven food systems by integrating African smallholder farmers into a global supply chain.
John Matcham
Founder – International Business Development Director of Greengage Lighting
John Matcham is the Technical Director and Product Development at Light Science Technologies. Science and Food Technology Development
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About Greengage Lighting, Light Science Technologies: Agri-Tech company providing LED lighting induction systems.
Ben Scott-Robinson
Co-Founder and CEO of The Small Robot Company
Ben is the founder of The Small Robot Company. We have a mission to help farmers feed the world while regenerating the planet. We call this the Fourth Agricultural Revolution. Our service of robots, are called Tom Dick and Harry, and the brains of the operation, Wilma. Previously he ran Ordnance Survey’s internal agency creating beautiful products and campaigns with the world’s best maps. Before that, Ben started many startups, and worked as Creative and Experience Director at Top 10 digital agencies such as Digitas and Sapient.
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About The Small Robot Company: The Small Robot Company is delivering per plant farming for the world’s largest crops.
Sam Watson Jones
Co-Founder and President of The Small Robot Company
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About The Small Robot Company: The Small Robot Company is delivering per plant farming for the world’s largest crops.
Matija Zulj
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AGRIVI
Matija is the founder and CEO of Agrivi. Matija believes that if we provide knowledge and technology to all food producers, we can provide enough food for everyone and keep agriculture sustainable. He holds an MSc in computer science and an MBA. Agrivi is an agri-tech startup that is creating the global agricultural eco-system with vision to change the way food is produced. With an intelligent cloud farm management solution, we help farmers to increase their productivity and find buyers for produced food. Agrivi is the winner of World Startup Competition 2014
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About AGRIVI: AGRIVI is a global agritech company with the market leading farm management software
Richard Ballard
Co-Founder & COO of Zero Carbon Farms
Richard Ballard is the Co-Founder and COO at Zero Carbon Farms.
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About Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Growing Underground, University College London (UCL), Zero Carbon Farms: Shaping the future of the growing industry to accelerate the world’s transition to carbon negative farming.
Tim Chambers
Co-Founder & Director of InspiraFarms
Tim Chambers is the Co-Founder and Director at InspiraFarms.
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About Carbon13, InspiraFarms, Offgrid Finance, Value for Women: InspiraFarms™ supplies modular, FOOD-SAFE certification ready modular processing and cold storage technology.
Ian Wheal
Founder and CEO of Breedr
Ian Wheal is the Founder and CEO of Breedr.
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About Breedr: Breedr is a productivity and marketing platform that’s transforming the livestock supply-chain.
Andrew Huxham
Founder of Hectare Agritech
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About Hectare Agritech: Hectare is an agritech company focused on exploiting current inefficiencies and deficiencies in the farming industry supply chains.
Charlie Guy
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LettUs Grow
Charlie Guy is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at LettUs Grow.
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About LettUs Grow: LettUs Grow design aeroponic irrigation and control technology for vertical farms.
Ben Crowther
Co-Founder & CTO of LettUs Grow
Ben Crowther is the Chief Technical Officer and Founder at LettUs Grow.
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About LettUs Grow: LettUs Grow design aeroponic irrigation and control technology for vertical farms.
Jack Farmer
Chief Scientific Officer and Founder of LettUs Grow
Jack Farmer is the Chief Scientific Officer and Founder at LettUs Grow.
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About LettUs Grow: LettUs Grow design aeroponic irrigation and control technology for vertical farms.
Anders Gundersen
CEO & Founder of Sensonomic
Anders has experience from C-level strategy consulting, academia and the finance industry. He has been project lead on multiple projects in Scandinavia, UK and East Africa. Realising that land management issues are inherently complex, and that decisions affecting people, nature and businesses are often made with too little information, he founded Sensonomic to provide better data for decision making and risk management. Anders holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and an MPhil in Economics from the University of Bergen.
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About Sensonomic: Sensonomic creates computer simulations of agricultural systems to optimise yield, improve operations and increase resilience.
Tashia Tucker
Co-Founder & CEO of Olombria
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About Olombria: Olombria is an agricultural technology that curates fly behaviour, to increase pollination and ensure greater crop yields.
Alex Fisher
Founder & CEO of Saturn Bioponics
Alex has driven the Saturn Grower technology from initial experiments through to market ready product over the last 7 years. He has significant experience in all aspects of the technology and its application in the commercial growing market place. He is working with some of the UK’s leading horticultural crop growers, processors, industry figures and researchers, as well as with commercial partners in international markets. Alex has overall responsibility for the direction of the company but remains involved with all customers at both sales and support levels.
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About Saturn Bioponics: Saturn Bioponics provides crop production systems to improve profitability by increasing yields and reducing labour and resource costs.
Jack Wrangham
Founder and Director of Drone Ag
Jack Wrangham is the founder and director of Drone AG.
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About Drone Ag: Practical, hassle-free drone automation and AI for Agriculture
Ella Mills
Founder and Brand Director of Deliciously Ella
Ella Mills is the Founder and Brand Director of Deliciously Ella.
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About Deliciously Ella: Deliciously Ella is a food company based in London.
Ben Goldsmith
Founder of Weedingtech
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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.
Ben Goldsmith
Founder of Weedingtech
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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.
Louise Campbell
Founder of Foodnation
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About Craft Nation, Foodnation: Discover your food community
Sam Friskey
Co-Founder of Fit Delis
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About Fit Delis: Plant-Powered Nutrition
Thomas Forster
Co-Founder of Fit Delis
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About Fit Delis: Plant-Powered Nutrition
Andy Gardiner
Co-Founder of Sundew
Andy Gardiner currently works as the Co-Founder for Sundew ApS.
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About Sundew: Sundew is a biotechnology company that provides biological services for the treatment of aquatic pests and diseases.
Luke Parkin
COO & Co-Founder of Phytoponics
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About Phytoponics: Phytoponics designs and manufactures Deep Water Culture (DWC) hydroponic growing systems for supply to commercial produce growers.
Adam Dixon
CEO & Co-Founder of Phytoponics
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About Human Alchemy, Phytoponics: Phytoponics designs and manufactures Deep Water Culture (DWC) hydroponic growing systems for supply to commercial produce growers.
Olly Hiscocks
Director & Founder of Olly’s Olives
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About Olly’s Olives: Olly’s Olives is the world’s first 100% natural, unpasteurised snack pouch of olives with no artificial additives.
Glynis Murray
Co-Founder of Good Hemp Food
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About Good Hemp Food: Good Hemp Food Provide Natural hemp seed,milk,oil.
Minshad Ansari
Founder and CEO of Bionema
Minshad is founder and Managing Director of Bionema Ltd and has over 20 years in bio-pesticide development with a proven track record of delivering of IPM strategy in agricultural, horticultural and forestry sectors. He has more than 70 research publications and is a regular invited speaker at biopesticide conferences. He has extensive experience in strategic R&D planning, operational management, business and technology development. Minshad completed his PhD at Ghent University, Belgium and is a qualified BASIS advisor in Crop Protection (Commercial Horticulture). He is responsible for strategic and operational management of the company.
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About Bionema: Bionema creates chemical-free pest management solutions for horticulture, turf & landscape, & forestry sectors.
Harsh Dahiya
Founder / Director of Harvesto
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About Harvesto: Harvesto is a new age technology company focused on developing products for agriculture, healthcare, energy and electronics sector.
Oliver Hilbourne
Founder and Director of Outfield
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About Outfield: Bringing the future to fruit farming
James Mansfield
Founder of field&flower
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About field&flower: A UK-based company that delivers grass fed, free range meat boxes.
Richard Hobson
CEO and Founder of Herdsy
Richard Hobson holds a B.A. in Finance & DBS(IT) from the Michael Smurfit School of Business. He has a diverse skillset as he is both a Software Developer and an Accountant who has worked in these roles for IBM and Aviva. Under Richard’s leadership, Herdsy has grown from a kitchen table business to one that has won international awards and was a finalist in 2018 for Cambridge Agtech Company of the year.
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About Herdsy: Herdsy automates and analyses farm animal data and converts it into valuable profit decisions for farmers.
Andrew Weeber
Founder and Chairman of Gusbourne
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About Gusbourne: Gusbourne is England’s most prestigious boutique wine producer.
William Joyce
Co-Founder of BioNet Agriculture
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About BioNet Agriculture: BioNet Agriculture developes an edible biopolymer to wrap hay, straw and silage bales.
Paul Lederer
Founder of TAPPED Birch Water
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About TAPPED Birch Water: healthy drinks from birch water, the rejuvenating liquid which flows inside birch trees.
Thomas Gilpin
Founder of Gilfresh Produce
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About Gilfresh Produce: Gilfresh Produce is a company that grows and manages the growing of over 2,500 acres of field vegetables and salad crops.
Thomas Gilpin
Founder of Gilfresh Produce
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About Gilfresh Produce: Gilfresh Produce is a company that grows and manages the growing of over 2,500 acres of field vegetables and salad crops.
Ferhan Cook
Co-Founder of m-Spark
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About m-Spark: m-Spark designs and develops mobile projects that makes social impact in education, health, agriculture, and disability.
Lara Kazeem
Owner & Founder of LightBySolar Global
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About LightBySolar Global: LightBySolar is a Solar Energy Consultancy, Solar OEM Development, Supply & Manufacturing Company
