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 Small and Medium Businesses 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.
Andrew Xeni
CEO, Co-Founder of Fabacus
A highly driven and experienced CEO with a diverse portfolio of business interests. Andrew’s primary focus has till recently been in the family garment manufacturing business, Europride Ltd., founded with his brother. Having supplied most of the UKs largest fashion retailers for over a decade, Andrew understands their supply chain needs. The businesses boast a combined annual turnover in excess of $150m, with over 2,000 employees globally and including vested interests in the full supply chain: Factories in the UK, Eastern Europe, Morocco and Sri Lanka, a UK dye house, a UK knitting plant, fabric import business, and UK printing facilities. Andrew also has two ecommerce brands, Baaclothing.Com and NobodysChild.Com, that compliment his fully integrated vertical manufacturing service. Fabacus is the brainchild of all this supply chain, retail and ecommerce experience. Understanding exactly what is needed to improve each process and make businesses faster and more cost efficient, Andrew alongside his co-founder Ray Noppé, were able to build a suite of solutions. Fabacus delivers optimal efficiency for greater profit through customisable software for business intelligence, data management, relationship management and e-commerce marketing optimisation. To date Fabacus has successfully integrated its solution with the likes of Charlotte Tilbury, Salesforce and Revel. In addition to Fabacus and Europride Ltd, Andrew continues to invest in technology alongside New Look founder, Tom Singh, as well as property development and music interests: Launching his own music label, supporting and developing new talents.
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About Fabacus: Fabacus is a technology business that transforms brand licensing through the power of data.
Thomas Hoegh
Founder of Growth Street
Thomas is the founder of Arts Alliance, an investment organisation that builds and supports innovative and high growth technology companies in Europe, US and the Middle East. Arts Alliance has been behind 45 start ups including Lastminute, LoveFilm, Arts Alliance Media, Spinner, Launch, Atom Shockwave, Smartjog and Shazam. Thomas sits on the boards of City Screen, Kenshoo, Kiala, the Metropolitan Film School, Kebony and Plan UK. He is a visiting professor of Kanazawa Institute of Technology.
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About Arts Alliance, Growth Street, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Met Film: Growth Street is fast, flexible overdrafts for growing businesses.
Amber Ghaddar
Founder of AllianceBlock
Amber Ghaddar is one of the three founders of AllianceBlock. The DeFi startup building the world’s first globally compliant decentralized capital market. Prior to this, Amber held various leadership positions at JP Morgan, in sales, structuring and trading where she spearheaded the macro systematic trading strategies team. She holds 3 masters and a PhD and is a graduate of McGill Canada and HEC France. Amber is a thought leader on participative capitalism and the creator of calibrocracy which she discussed in various events (WEF, TEDx, UNWomen, BBC, Bloomberg…).
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About AllianceBlock: AllianceBlock leverages proprietary AI-technology to rate both corporates and investors.
Ola Oyetayo
Co-Founder & CEO of Verto
Ola Oyetayo is the Co-Founder & CEO of VertoFX.
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About Verto: We power cross‑border payments for the world’s fastest‑growing startups and enterprises.
Andrea Bonomi
Founder and Managing Principal of InvestIndustrial Holdings
Andrea C. Bonomi founded Investindustrial in 1990 and serves as its Chairman of the Industrial Advisory Board and Managing Principal. Previously, he was Principal Partner, Senior Partner, and Senior Principal at the firm. Andrea Bonomi previously also served as the President and Head at the firm. He served as the Chairman of Management Board of Banca Popolare di Milano Scarl since 2011. Previously, Andrea Bonomi was responsible for the monitoring of the Saffa Industrial Group investments in Europe and the United States, which included acquisitions, divestments, disposals, and fund raising. Prior to that, he served at Kleinwort Benson, where he was responsible for Spain and Italy, and at Lazard Frères & Co. Andrea Bonomi taught Economics at the University of Pavia. He serves as a Director of a number of companies including 21 Investimenti S.p.A. and 21 Centrale Partners. Andrea Bonomi served as a Director of Ing. Castaldi SpA. He served as a Non-Executive Director of Inversiones Ibersuizas and Permasteelisa SPA. Andrea Bonomi speaks English, French, Italian, and Spanish. He received a B.Sc. in Business Administration from New York University in 1985.
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About InvestIndustrial Holdings: InvestIndustrial Holdings is an investment firm focused on funding Southern European medium-sized companies.
Federico Travella
Founder & CEO of Novicap
Federico Travella is the CEO and co-founder of [Novicap](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/novicap), an online invoice marketplace. He also acts as an advisor to the European Commission. Early in his career, Travella took up project manager roles at both Zanui.com.au and The Iconic before moving on to be the managing director of Rocket Internet in 2012. After leaving Lazada as its EVP, he founded the company Kaymu. Travella holds a master’s degree in marine geology from Ghent University, while he also studied business at the University of Navarra.
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About Novicap: NoviCap is an online platform that allows businesses to receive early payments for outstanding invoices.
Rob O’Donovan
Co-Founder & Chairman of Charlie
Rob O’Donovan works as Chairman and Co-founder for The Eleven.
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About Charlie, The Eleven: Charlie is the HR software for small teams with big ideas.
Ben Gateley
COO & Co-Founder of Charlie
Ben Gateley works as Co-founder for The Eleven.
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About Charlie, The Eleven: Charlie is the HR software for small teams with big ideas.
Dave Ettle
Co-Founder & CTO of Zynstra
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About Zynstra: Zynstra is transforming edge computing at the retail edge.
Nick East
Co-Founder & CEO of Zynstra
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About Zynstra: Zynstra is transforming edge computing at the retail edge.
Patrick Petitti
Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Catalant
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About Catalant: Catalant is a software company that provides global enterprises with software solutions to access business expertise on demand.
Chris McCullough
Co-Founder & CEO of Rotageek
Chris used to be an A&E doctor for 16 years, and that’s what inspired him to improve scheduling. He’s a relentless problem solver, who believes passionately in the power of great teams and experimenting. Chris has previously co-founded two other ventures, one of which is now Europe’s largest social network for health. He loves Formula 1 (and has kissed a few racetracks).
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About Rotageek: Using data-driven technology to meet demand, engage teams, and drive efficiency.
Tim Fouracre
Founder & CEO of Countingup
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About Countingup: The one that does your books. Countingup is the UK’s #1 banking & accounting app. Dead easy. Super fast. Self sorting.
Mike Moate
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer of Countingup
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About Countingup: The one that does your books. Countingup is the UK’s #1 banking & accounting app. Dead easy. Super fast. Self sorting.
Chris Wallis
Founder of Intruder
Chris Wallis is the Founder at Intruder
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About Intruder: Intruder is a cloud-based vulnerability scanner that finds cyber security weaknesses in your external infrastructure.
Louis Schena
Co-Founder & CEO of Swipii
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About Swipii: Customer loyalty, card-linking, automated marketing, open banking, digital, SMB, local businesses
Siim Maivel
Founder & CEO of Investly
CEO, co-founder at Investly.CIO at €0.5M hedge fund investing into P2P loans, previously BA/Product Developer @ UBS WM Fixed Income
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About Investly: Investly is provide an invoice finance platform that lets you easily upload invoices.
Ruth Chamberlain
Co-Founder and Marketing Director of Investly
Co-founder and MD at Investly.Recent successful exit from OnTrees, previously business planning @ dmg media & Bauer Media Group
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About Investly: Investly is provide an invoice finance platform that lets you easily upload invoices.
Antoine Baschiera
CEO and Co-Founder of Early Metrics
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About Early Metrics: Early Metrics is the first startup rating agency.
Sebastien Paillet
President and Co-Founder of Early Metrics
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About Early Metrics: Early Metrics is the first startup rating agency.
Matthew Beatty
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Spacehop
Founder of Spacehop
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About Spacehop: An online platform for people to list and book cheap, flexible office space at the days and hours of their choosing in London and the UK.
Joe Grimes
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer of Spacehop
Co-Founder of Spacehop
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About Spacehop: An online platform for people to list and book cheap, flexible office space at the days and hours of their choosing in London and the UK.
Oliver Gleave
Founder of Monii
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About Monii: A sales & finance productivity platform for small businesses
Thomas Palmer
Co-Founder & CEO of Zenstores
Thomas R. Palmer is Executive Chairman and co-founder of iModules Software. Tom’s experience includes being a Managing Director and General Partner with two venture capital firms, AH Ventures and Kansas City Equity Partners. In these capacities, he led investments in the areas of information technology and communications, serving on company boards and through to successful exits including IPO and acquistions. Tom was also a Kauffman Fellow with the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, with KCEP as his resident firm. He also served as a Manager of Business Analysis at Trans National Group, where he performed strategic planning, international expansion, investments, and divestitures. As a Lecturer at the University of Missouri, Tom taught Venture Capital Finance for six years. He holds a MBA in Entrepreneurial Finance and Marketing from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree in Economics and Computer Science from Dartmouth College.
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About AH Ventures, iModules Software, Zenstores: Zenstores is a platform to propel online sellers to ecommerce greatness.
Ben Reynhart
Co-Founder & Product Developer of Zenstores
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About Zenstores: Zenstores is a platform to propel online sellers to ecommerce greatness.
Robert Ashcroft
Co-Founder & CTO of Zenstores
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About Zenstores: Zenstores is a platform to propel online sellers to ecommerce greatness.
Stefan Wissenbach
Founder and Chief Engagement Officer of Engagement Multiplier
A serial entrepreneur, Stefan is passionate about the transformational impact engagement has on organisations and the people that own them and work within them. His vision and focus is on helping 100 million people to become more engaged. His books, businesses and speaking engagements provide education and inspiration to enable businesses and individuals to fulfill their potential and bridge the gap between aspiration and achievement. His unique approach is to simplify the complex and provide a framework for people to take action, distilling a lifetime of learning into simple success strategies that anyone can master. For over 20 years he has been a leading adviser to successful entrepreneurs on engagement through his private consulting firm Wissenbach Private Clients. He is the founder of EngagementMultiplier.com, a digital platform that enables businesses and individuals all over the world to simply and efficiently measure and improve engagement levels every 90 days. He is a best selling author. His latest book, The Engaged Organisation, explains how business owners can build the business they dream about. His first book, Slaying Dragons & Moving Mountains focuses on simple ways for individuals to become more engaged and achieve personal success. He is also the co-author of Change Agents with Brian Tracy and Think & Grow Rich Today. He is the creator of The Magic Number® and the Founder of MagicFuture.com and the co-founder of The Magic Future Foundation, which has built four schools in Africa. His ‘uncommon’ common sense approach has enabled hundreds of companies to raise engagement levels, improve profits and reduce waste – whilst becoming happier places to work. Stefan is married with three children, and lives in Warwickshire, England.
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About Engagement Multiplier, Strategic Coach: Engagement Multiplier is an online program that gives companies the power to measure and improve employee engagement.
Charlie de Rusett
CEO & Founder of Idea Drop
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About Idea Drop, Yellowball: Idea Drop helps organisations capture, curate and action the best ideas from their people.
Marcin Grodzicki
Founder of BOOM
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About BOOM, iTech Media, Mind the Product: Content Promotion and Content Marketing Software
Leo Bassam
Founder of Plutio
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About Plutio: Plutio gives you everything you need to manage your business, collaborate with your teams and work closer with clients, all from one place.
Olubusayo Longe
Co-Founder and Product Manager of Formplus
Olubusayo is co-founder and product manager at Form+.
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About Formplus: Formplus is a cloud-based, enterprise-focused data collection SaaS.
Rose Luckin
Founder and CEO of EDUCATE Ventures Research
Rose is Professor of Learner Centred Design at UCL Knowledge Lab. Rose’s research involves the design and evaluation of educational technology using theories from the learning sciences and techniques from artificial intelligence. She works closely with the education technology industry, in particular Start-ups and SMEs, to enable them to integrate research evidence and methods into their products. Rose has advised research councils in various countries and has written widely about educational technologies. She has taught in schools, FE and HE, and she is a Governor and Trustee at St Paul’s school in London and the Self Managed Learning College in Brighton.
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About EDUCATE Ventures Research, UCL Institute of Education: Educate serves as a catalyst for the development of EdTech products and services that are supported by facts.
Pier Paolo Mucelli
CEO and Founder of eOffice
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About eOffice: eOffice is provides workspace and meeting facilities for businesses and professionals.
Leah Hutcheon
Founder & CEO of Appointedd
Leah Hutcheon is the founder and CEO of Appointedd, an Edinburgh-based startup revolutionising the way small businesses sell their timeslot appointments online. From personal trainers to massage therapists, serviced offices to large corporations, Appointedd enables online booking on any device in any timezone. Appointedd offers businesses access to CRM, marketing and business management tools, and fits seamlessly with 25+ two-way integrations. Appointedd has launched the world’s first truly multi-timezone online booking system, enabling people to take bookings across different timezones seamlessly. Leah is a proud Ambassador for Women’s Enterprise Scotland, Director of Future Leaders for Entrepreneurial Scotland and #ScotEDGE Award winner. An Entrepreneurial Spark supported company, Appointedd was featured in BBC documentary, The Entrepreneurs. – See more at: https://leah.appointedd.com/#sthash.9u1vWztJ.dpuf
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About Appointedd: Appointedd is a cutting-edge online booking and scheduling solution that makes it easier for you to connect with your customers.
Tony Greaves
Founder of Core Communication Group
Tony has over 25 years experience in the fixed and mobile telecoms industry, and he has held a number of executive positions including Board Member for O2, BTCellnet and Airwave, and CEO of Dolphin Telecommunications. Tony founded Core Communications in 2003; since inception Core has grown at a rapid rate, as recognised by inclusion in the Sunday Times/Microsoft TechTrack 100 of the UK’s fastest growing technology companies. Tony led Core’s purchase of ADComms in 2011.
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About ADComms, Core Communication Group: Core Communication Group is a supplier of pre-paid SIMs and mobile accessories.
Martin Baker
CEO & Founder of Commissionly
Martin has 25 years experience running business’s and advising SME’s. He has experience in building successful startups and as a senior manager in bluechip organisations. He holds an MBA from the Open Business School.
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About Commissionly: Commissionly is the cloud based sales commission software focused solely on the small to medium business sector.
Simon Launay
Founder of Arlians
Founder of Arlians.
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About Arlians: Arlians is a Free B2B marketplace for small and medium businesses of any industries across the world. Find suppliers, customers and partners
Yazan Al Alami
Co-Founder of Creative AI
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About Creative AI: Creative AI gives every business, big or small, the power of a dedicated marketing team.
Lukas Dirzys
Founder and CTO of Creative AI
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About Creative AI: Creative AI gives every business, big or small, the power of a dedicated marketing team.
Mike Saville
Founder of Gydeline
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About Gydeline: Sustainability and Social Responsibility Consulting
Jake Li
Co-Founder, COO & Data Scientist of Kuan Intelligence
Jake Li, PhD is Co-Founder, COO & Data Scientist at Kuan Intelligence.
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About Kuan Intelligence: Kuan Intelligence is a cross-border payment platform for E-Commerce backed by Blockchain Technology.
Yan Zhang
Co-Founder and CTO of Kuan Intelligence
Yan Zhang is Co-Founder and CTO at Kuan Intelligence.
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About Kuan Intelligence: Kuan Intelligence is a cross-border payment platform for E-Commerce backed by Blockchain Technology.
Hugh Scantlebury
Founder & Director of Aqilla
From roots firmly established in the IT revolution of the 1980s working for Kewill Systems plc, Hugh Scantlebury went on to join Systems Union in 1992. As EMEA Channel Sales Director he led a team managing a £30 million market which generated in excess of £11 million pounds worth of net revenue from channels selling integrated financial and business solutions in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. At Sage, working as General Manager for the Corporate and European Division, he launched two new business initiatives focusing on OLAP and e-Business development services. In 2002 Hugh took up the role of managing director for a 3i-backed business, Foundation Systems, which specialised in the supply, implementation and support of integrated financial and business management. This business became a wholly owned subsidiary of Systems Union Group in December 2003, which in turn was subsequently acquired by Infor, a US$2.1 billion corporation backed by Golden Gate Capital in 2006.
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About Aqilla: Aqilla is the developer of web-based accounting solutions designed for medium-sized businesses and organisations.
Kosta Mavroulakis
Founder and CEO of Empact Ventures
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About Empact Ventures: Empact Ventures co-designs some of the leading startup, tech and non-profit initiatives for large private or public sector organisations
Gordon Hamilton
Founder of Alpha Helix Corporate Finance
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About Alpha Helix Corporate Finance, Roseway Labs: Alpha Helix Corporate Finance provides investment advice to SMEs in the healthcare and education sector to achieve strategic goals.
Guy Shelton
Founder, CEO of MAILPROFILER Technology Solutions UK
Entrepreneur & Investor. 20yrs tech & digital. Growing SaaS companies in EMEA, APAC & NA building start-ups & establishing companies overseas expansion often as their 1st man on the ground.
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About MAILPROFILER Technology Solutions UK: Consultancy
Pierre Coombes
Founder / UK Managing Director of Big Wolf Marketing
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About Big Wolf Marketing, Big Wolf Marketing, Callgro: B2B Telemarketing Agency
Marco Callegari
Founder of UKTN (formerly Tech City News)
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About UKTN (formerly Tech City News): UKTN (formerly Tech City News) is the leading resource of news, information and events for tech innovators in the UK.
Adrian Twibill
Founder of JetXchange
Founder of JetXchange.
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About JetXchange: JetXchange offers the private jet industry with a technology model that enables its clients to access aircraft companies and aircrafts.
Aravind Sopinti
Founder of 9tree.co.uk
Founder at 9tree
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About 9tree.co.uk, 9tree.co.uk: 9tree provides IT consulting, digitalization, and managed services.
Nassar Abyat
Founder of Best Choice Removals
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About Best Choice Removals: Best Choice Removals provides fully insured moving services that cater for any size removals.
Howard Jackson
Head of Education & Founder of HCSS Education of HCSS Education
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About HCSS Education: HCSS Education, part of the Access Group, provides practical and effective solutions to the business of education.
Seb Lyall
CEO / Founder of Locappy
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About Locappy: Locappy helps small local businesses reach out to their local community.
AJ Morits
Founder of MarketingX
Founder at MX
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About MarketingX, MF Laboratories: One-spot self-serve marketing automation.
Harry Cox
Founder of MarketingX
Founder at MX
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About MarketingX: One-spot self-serve marketing automation.
Steve Kevin
Founder of Fortune Infotech
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About Fortune Infotech: Fortune Infotech is a tech company offering web hosting solutions.
