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 Gaming 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.
Herman Narula
CEO and Co-Founder of Improbable
Herman Narula is the cofounder and CEO of Improbable, a London-based technology startup born out of Cambridge University. Improbable is creating SpatialOS, a distributed, cloud-based platform for game development that integrates with and augments existing workflows, engines, and tools. SpatialOS empowers developers to build, run and operate previously impossible online games, with unprecedented levels of scale, complexity and persistence. Improbable has investment from some of the world’s most admired venture capitalists. Improbable currently has a team of over 200 people in offices in London and San Francisco, including top software engineering talent from world-renowned academic institutions and companies such as Google, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Microsoft. Founded in 2012, Improbable received $20m in Series A funding from Andreessen Horowitz in March 2015, with a $30m follow-on led by Horizons Ventures in July 2015. In May 2017 Improbable announced a $502m Series B funding round, led by SoftBank and including Andreessen Horowitz and Horizons Ventures. Herman holds a computer science degree from Cambridge, and is interested in the potential impact that powerful, virtual worlds will have on how they think, play and make decisions.
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About Improbable: Improbable is a UK-based games technology company that is dedicated to building powerful technology designed to help problems.
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Richard Arnold
CEO of Manchester United Football Club Limited
Group Managing Director at Manchester United Football Club Limited.
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About Manchester United Football Club Limited, Manchester United Football Club Limited, St. George’s House: Manchester United is one of the most popular and successful sports teams in the world, playing one of the most popular spectator sports.
Jamie Burke
CEO & Founder of Outlier Ventures
Jamie Burke is the chief executive officer of Outlier Ventures.
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About Outlier Ventures: The World’s Leading Open Metaverse Accelerator
Peter Jackson
Group CEO of Flutter Entertainment
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About Flutter Entertainment, Paddy Power Betfair: Flutter Entertainment is the world’s leading online sports betting and gaming operator.
Frank Sagnier
CEO of Codemasters
Frank has been in the games industry for over 20 years. He started at Acclaim Entertainment as Head of European Marketing. He then moved to Electronic Arts Limited where he successfully managed the European marketing and Third-Party Publishing teams. Frank was also part of the global leadership team that drove the company into the online and mobile era. After many years in the corporate world Frank spent several years running a number of game development studios backed by venture capital firms and focused solely on digital free-to-play business models. Frank joined Codemasters in 2014, when he was recruited as Chief Executive Officer to implement the Group’s strategy. Frank is also an Ambassador for BAFTA Games and a Vice President of ‘SpecialEffect’, a UK based charity which uses video games and technology to enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities.
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About Codemasters: Codemasters is a developer and publisher of interactive entertainment products for a global audience across multiple gaming platforms.
Niccolo Maisto
Co-Founder & CEO of FaceIT
Niccolo is the co-founder and CEO at FACEIT. He drives the company’s vision, strategy and growth as he assures that the future and the present of the product come together. Under Niccolo’s leadership, FACEIT has expanded to over 5,000,000 users and 12,000,000 game sessions per month on 7 different games, becoming the most active competitive gaming platform in the world. He has a NYU Stern MBA degree and worked in Investment Banking and Private Equity before co-founding FACEIT.
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About FaceIT: FaceIT is the gaming platform for professional competitions within online multiplayer video games.
Wil Stephens
Founder, CEO of Fusebox Games
Wil is a Welsh entrepreneur with extensive experience of building transformational businesses in media and interactive entertainment. Wil is currently CEO of Fusebox Games, an interactive entertainment company he co-founded in 2016 that develops and publishes mobile games based on hit TV shows. Wil founded his first business aged 23 and as CEO of Cube TV, led the company to win BAFTAs and Broadcast Digital Awards for their ground-breaking interactive and TV formats. After growing Cube TV to offices in Cardiff and London, he joined the leadership team at New York based video streaming company Boxee to build out their international business, later acquired by Samsung. Wil is an investor in the media and interactive entertainment industry through his holding company, Closs Holdings.
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About Cube Interactive, Fusebox Games: Live the stories you love with Fusebox Games.
Paul Gouge
CEO and Co-founder of Playdemic
Paul is responible for setting Playdemic’s strategy and driving the vision. He also signs the cheques!
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About Playdemic: Playdemic is a gaming company that develops social games for mass market audiences.
Jez San
CEO & founder of FunFair Technologies
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About FunFair Technologies, Ninja Theory: FunFair provides blockchain powered solutions to the online gaming industry.
Sekip Can Gokalp
CEO & Co-Founder of Coda Platform
Şekip Can Gökalp is the founding partner of Mobilike, a mobile advertisement network. Gokalp’s previous experience includes his time as a regional business development manager of Netlog and a part-time interactive marketing lecturer. He also contributes regularly to publications related to his field.
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About Coda Platform: Coda Platform is a publishing platform to enable free-to-play and casual mobile games to go to market.
Sam Cole
Co-Founder and CEO of FitXR
Sam draws on his experience from consulting and private equity to drive FitXR forward into the uncharted lands of fit tech. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Sam was always enchanted by the prospect of building a company. Meeting Sameer at business school kick-started that dream. A lover of all things fitness, Sam is excited to develop a product that will help people access professional workouts, and build healthier communities around the world.
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About FitXR: FitXR, the leading developer of VR/AR fitness apps, is passionately dedicated to making fitness more fun and accessible for everyone.
Matthew Warneford
Founder & CEO of Dubit
Matthew Warneford is the CEO and Founder of Dubit.
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About Dubit, WEARVR: Dubit is a game studio that specializes in games for the metaverse.
Reece Chowdhry
Founder & CEO of RLC Ventures
Reece is the Founder & CEO of RLC Ventures – an early-stage SEIS/EIS VC fund investing in technology companies primarily focused on Fintech, Enterprise and Gaming. He was awarded “Top 5 Asian Tech Investors” 2018 (KPMG & Diversity UK) and is the youngest-ever investor to profiled by The Sunday Times. Reece is a frequent keynote and panel speaker at prominent industry events such as StartupGrind Europe and Fintech Live. Reece holds a BA in International Business from Durham University and is a Chartered Management Consultant (ACMA, CGMA) having started his career as a Management Consultant at EY. Reece invests personally in all of RLC Ventures’ investments.
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About RLC Ventures: RLC Ventures is an award-winning VC which continues to back founders building global tech companies, from idea to exit.
Thomas Fairey
Founder & CEO of Stakester
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About Stakester: Stakester is a mobile first skill-based competition platform that enables competitors to compete with each other for prizes.
Fausto Zanetton
Co-Founder & CEO of Tifosy
Fausto Zanetton is an Italian raised in Belgium, has spent his career in the finance Industry, where he worked with many media, sports & internet companies globally, most recently at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Seeing sports clubs struggle to get traditional funding, and the growing tech, social and crowdfunding revolution, sparked the idea of Tifosy in his mind. Fausto has an MBA from London Business School and is a qualified accountant (CPA). He is fluent in several European languages and is a huge fan of Inter Milan.
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About Tifosy: Tifosy helps sports clubs raise funds online by connecting them with a global fan and investor base
Ming Kong
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of TG0
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About TG0: TG0 is an R&D start-up creating novel 3D controls.
Jon Rissik
Chief Executive Officer of Dovetail Games
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About Dovetail Games: Dovetail Games creates digital hobbies enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of passionate enthusiasts across the globe.
Dmitri Lipnitsky
CEO & Co-Founder of Gismart
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About GeoZilla, Gismart, Intellectsoft, SE Ranking: A leading developer and publisher of entertainment-focused apps and games.
Noor Alkhadra
Founder & CEO of WeGeek
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About WeGeek: We are passionate geeks who take great pleasure in bringing gamers together by creating AWESOME gaming events.
Daniel Holden
Chief Executive Officer of Trust Payments
Daniel is responsible for all financial and commercial aspects of the UC Group. He previously held senior positions at Deloitte and Capita, and was involved in a number of venture capital-backed companies.
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About Emerging Payments Association, Trust Payments: Trust Payments is a global unified payments group for global pay-in, pay-out and customer journey technologies.
Paddy Burns
CEO of 4J Studios
Paddy graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Edinburgh University in 1991. Upon graduation, he worked for NCR as a software developer and was involved in the development of Interactive Video Terminals and Digital Video Software. He then joined VIS Entertainment Ltd in 1994, and was instrumental in growing the company from 3 employees to over a hundred, holding the roles of Technical Director, Head of Software and Studio Manager before becoming Director of Development. He has been closely involved in the development of the Computer Games Course at The University of Abertay and has been an external examiner at the University of Teeside for five years. Paddy is widely recognised in the games industry for his creative and technological talents. He was named Scotland’s IT Director of the Year in 2001.
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About 4J Studios: 4J Studios is a game development company based in Scotland .
Tomas Utting
Assistant to CEO of Combyne
Tomas Utting is an Analyst of combyne.
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About Combyne: Combyne is a social tool for creating outfits. It’s the fusion of a game, a practical utility and a social network.
Steve Cottam
CEO of AntStream Arcade
Steve Cottam – CEO – Steve, a self confessed technophile and lifelong gamer foresaw the streaming revolution long before most others in the industry had released its potential. Steve envisaged Antstream as the destination for gamers and IP owners alike, creating the ultimate platform for the preservation and enjoyment of classic gaming content that would otherwise have been lost for the vast majority of people. Steve’s vision, determination and passion have allowed him to build an equally committed and talented team that are literally preserving tens of thousands of games from decades past.
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About AntStream Arcade: The de facto retro games platform. With 1000 games ready to play, you can enjoy old console, arcade and computer classics on most devices
Andrew Gore
CEO and Founder of Soccer Manager
Over 17 years’ experience in the games industry, working on numerous successful football titles such as FIFA before co-founding Soccer Manager with his brothers in 2004.
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About Soccer Manager: Soccer Manager, a Preston, UK-based developer of an online football game. Soccer Manager allows players to manage their favourite team.
Shaun Rutland
Co-Founder and CEO of Hutch
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About Hutch: Hutch develops games app for iPhones and ipad.
Jen Lexmond
Founder & CEO of Easy Peasy
Jen Lexmond the founder of EasyPeasy, an app that sends game ideas to parents of pre-school children, to help develop the skills that will prepare them for school, and beyond. She hatched EasyPeasy in 2014 through the Design Council’s Knee High Challenge to come up with ideas improve the health and wellbeing of children under 5.
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About Easy Peasy: EasyPeasy is an app that sends game ideas to parents of young children, to help develop the skills that will prepare children for school.
John Earner
Co-Founder & CEO of Space Ape
John Earner brings extensive expertise in online gaming to his role as vice president of product management at Playfish, where he oversees the daily service operation of the company’s growing portfolio of live popular social games. Prior to Playfish, John was with Sony Computer Entertainment America where he designed the micro-transaction business model for PlayStation Home, Sony’s free-to-play virtual community, which he also helped launch. John also was a project leader at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a leading strategy consulting firm, where his role focused on online gaming. Before BCG, John was an officer in the United States Navy. John earned a MBA from University of California at Berkeley and holds a Bachelor of Science from Stanford University.
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About Playfish, Space Ape: Space Ape is a mobile gaming company dedicated to creating the highest quality games for players.
Christopher Molozian
Co-Founder & CEO of Heroic Labs
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About Heroic Labs: Heroic Labs builds social infrastructure for games and apps.
Matthew Wiggins
Founder & CEO of Mojiworks
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About Mojiworks: Mojiworks is a video game developer for mobile social platforms
Callum Brighting
CEO of Netspeak Games
Running Netspeak Games. Diversity, Inclusion and Creativity are our pillars. Always looking to talk about games, technology and people. Previous: Improbable, Bloomberg, Kuju, Traveller’s Tales
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About Netspeak Games: Netspeak Games operates as a zero-crunch studio that develops online multiplayer games.
Alex Durrant
Co-Founder and CEO of Jigsaw
Alex Durrant is the Co-Founder and CEO of Jigsaw.
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About Jigsaw: Jigsaw develops a dating app that covers the user’s face in a jigsaw puzzle.
Harvey Elliott
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of PlayStack
Harvey is an industry leader whose 20 year career spans EA, Acclaim Entertainment and Marmalade, where he led two successful capital raises. He recently finished his 4 year tenure as Chair of the BAFTA games committee. Now CEO and Founder at PlayStack, a new and exciting games publisher. Leveraging the team’s experience in games, entertainment and finance to redefine the way in which games are funded, developed, enjoyed and shared. The objective is to actively work with the team to select the games that can be published; tailoring the funding model to support each game and identifying the creative and technical innovations that will drive game adoption, build community and deliver success.
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About PlayStack: PlayStack is a company that helps developers in end-to-end funding, publishing expertise, and technology to develop the next big game.
John Harper
Founder & CEO of Rize
John Harper believes that there is an underlying need in our society for a greater understanding of our own mental well-being. John brings together all the best tools he’s found with support from mental health professionals and institutions. He has reached out to specialists in mental health, smartphone technology, and business development to provide an innovative tool like nothing else out there.
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About Rize: Rize is providing a gamified app that helps users to understand, track and improve their mental well being.
Toby Staveley
CEO of Edplus
CEO co-founder of Edplus; serial entrepreneur
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About Edplus: Making learning easier for everyone
Abhishek Sen
CEO / Co-Founder of NumberEight
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About NumberEight: On-device AI software to predict user context using mobile sensors
Marie Claire Isaaman
CEO of Women in Games
CEO Women in Games (WIGJ) addressing gender imbalance, inequality, diversity and inclusion in the game industries. Consultant & researcher for a wide range of businesses. TIGA Games Industry Diversity Award 2017, Special Conference Award at GameRome 2018. Named in the 2019 GamesIndustry.Biz 100 most influential people in video games.
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About Women in Games: Women in Games is company for women in video, mobile, online games & esports.
Caroline Pires
Founder and CEO of Nerdeo
Caroline Pires has worked in the visual effects industry for seven years as both an artist and supervisor. After her studies at Escape Studios, she went on to work on major blockbuster titles and eventually became part of an Oscar-winning visual effects team for Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo 3D”. She has become a master of VFX for TV and advertising, having worked with Framestore, Saddington Baynes, Mainframe, Vine FX, Pixomondo, Nvizible and Cinesite to name just a few of the facilities listed on her CV. Now the founder of her own business Nerdeo, Caroline has applied her wealth of experience to create an online collaboration platform for professionals within the independent film, TV and gaming industries.
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About Nerdeo: An online platform for professionals within the independent film, TV, commercial and Gaming industry.
Stuart Logan
Founder & CEO of Twine
As the Big Boss, Stuart spends his days in a large leather armchair, staring out over the Manchester skyline while smoking a cigar and plotting world domination. (He doesn’t really). Originally from Salisbury, he studied computer science at Manchester University but was always keen to break into the exciting world of start-ups, and was involved in a number of ventures before finalising his plans for Clowdy. When not wearing his chief executive hat (metaphorically speaking) he enjoys harbouring unrealistic expectations for Manchester United’s future success and live music.
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About Twine: Twine connects companies to diverse creative and digital freelancers
Kirill Mikhailenko
CEO of BITOTEK
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About BITOTEK: Bitotek is an innovative IT agency that specialises in developing systems and apps for start-ups and online businesses.
Jamie Hinton
Chief Executive Officer of Razor
Jamie Hinton is CEO and Co-Founder of Razor. He is first and foremost a ‘techy’, but one who can translate the complex world of software development into language that everyone else can understand. Jamie has a long history in software engineering and a proven track record in translating business opportunities into living, breathing software that delivers real value. He has architected solutions for blue chip companies and large financial institutions including, Alfa Romeo, Co-Operative Bank, HCCi and Dyson. Jamie now applies his development thinking and extensive passion for technology to fuel the growth of Razor.
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About Razor: Razor creates smart, elegant, game‐changing solutions
Benjamin Woolf
Chief Executive Officer of Gameway
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About Gameway: Gameway is the mobile gaming experience of the future.
Peter Phillips
Chief Executive Officer of Amuzo
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About Amuzo: A multi-award winning team of game developers, with experience spanning mobile, web and console production.
Ed Mason
Founder, CEO of GameFace Labs
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About GameFace Labs: Worlds First ‘All In One’ standalone virtual reality headset and DARPA software platform for the next generation of VR gaming.
Alex Cheney
Founder & CEO of Smarter Learn Limited
Alex Cheney is a Founder & CEO at Smarter Learn Limited.
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About Smarter Learn Limited: Smarter Learn is a publisher of educational games and digital content for smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Rick Turner
CEO and Founder of Ditto
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About Ditto: A company at the top of its game in harnessing intelligent systems and emerging technologies.
Justin French
CEO & Creative Director of Dream Harvest
Founder, CEO and Creative and Managing Director of Dream Harvest Games. Previously a Sound Designer, Composer, Game Designer working across AAA and Indie games. Worked at OMUK, one of the UK’s leading Dialogue production studios for the games Industry as well as working previously with their main competitor, Side (Now owned by PitStop Productions) on multiple AAA projects. Also worked extensively with several other small indie game studios in the position of sound designer, composer, game designer and project manager/producer, often all at the same time. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some incredibly talented people on some really fun projects, some released and some that unfortunately never saw the light of day. I like to wear many hats and get involved in all aspects of the game development process. Started Dream Harvest in August 2013 where I undertook the task of hiring a talented team of Developers, Designers and Artists to work on multi-platform titles. I project manage the team, creative directing the projects with the aim of hitting our vision and always trying to get the best out of the team. My ability to communicate ideas in the language understood by each discipline has given the team a strong direction and I have endeavoured to fill in the gaps of knowledge that certain team members, including myself, have by holding training days and spending time with each member on a one to one basis to cultivate their talent. http://press.dreamharvest.co.uk
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About Dream Harvest: Combining narrative storytelling with online competitive gaming.
Simon Fox
Founder & CEO of PlayLab
Simon Fox is a Founder & CEO at PlayLab.
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About PlayLab: PlayLab is a mobile video game studio that produces educational games.
Ben Cooper
Co-Founder & CEO of Gallantcloud Games
Ben Cooper is a Co-Founder & CEO at Gallantcloud Games.
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About Gallantcloud Games: Gallantcloud Games are striving to create new and interesting games and bring fun and reward to the masses.
Jon Hare
CEO of Tower Studios
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About Tower Studios: Tower Studios develops games for android and iOS platforms.
Victor Sanchez Grahm
Co-Founder & CEO of view.it esports
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About view.it esports: esports company set out to grow a better esports industry for everyone
Dean Day
Founder & CEO of Greenlight Games
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About Greenlight Games: An indie game dev studio based in London, UK.
Bob Makin
CEO and Co-Founder of SockMonkey Studios
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About SockMonkey Studios: SockMonkey Studios is a UK game development studios
Elisabeth Heed
CEO of Late panda
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About Late panda: Developing the first true role playing game designed for mobiles.
Arron Bailey
CEO & Manager of Raging Turtles
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About Raging Turtles: Raging Turtles is a Esports Organization thats primarily exceeds with its league of legends team, we will be participating in many events
Betty Adamou
CEO, Founder & Chief ResearchGame™ Designer of Research Through Gaming
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About Research Through Gaming: Makers of games for research, for brands. Using online games to improve research, data collection and increase participant engagement
Jeff Tawney
Co-Founder and CEO of The Great Unwashed
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About The Great Unwashed: An experienced games development team specialising in “High Impact” comedy games.
Ahmed Alimi
CEO of Crembo Color Design
Ahmed Alimi is the company owner of InfoElectric.
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About Crembo Color Design: Crembo Color Design is a platform that develops recyclable cardboard designed products.
