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 Animation 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.
Martin Higginson
Co-founder & CEO of Immotion Group plc
Martin is recognised as a seasoned Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) entrepreneur, and was awarded North West Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002. He has started, sold, and listed numerous businesses. His first business was sold to IPC Magazines in 1982. Following three years with IPC he left to set up his own publishing and telecoms business, this was subsequently sold to Scottish Power plc. During his time with Scottish Power he joined their subsidiary Scottish Telecom, as Managing Director of their Internet and Interactive division, including Internet ISP Demon Internet. Following the flotation of Thus plc (formerly Scottish Telecom) he left to start Monstermob, a company he went on to list on AIM in 2003; growing it to a Top 50 AIM listed business. Monstermob Group plc was sold to Zed Worldwide in 2006. Martin has subsequently founded Cityblock plc, a luxury student accommodation business, and NetPlayTV plc, an interactive TV gaming business where he formed exclusive partnerships with Virgin Media, Channel Five, and ITV. Martin has held Non-Executive Director positions with Legend plc, Cupid plc and CMG Media. Martin is the Founding Partner at M Capital Investment Partners. Formed in 2010, M Capital Investment Partners manages multiple real estate investments across the UK, with a focus on delivering above average returns for investment cash with minimal risk. He also holds the position of Non Executive Director at Digitalbox Group – which was listed in The Sunday Times HISCOX Tech Track 100 in 2015 and 2016, placing it amongst Britain’s top 100 fastest growing private tech companies, and is Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer at Immotion Group Plc – an award-winning animation and multi-directional motion platforms to deliver mind-blowing immersive VR experiences.
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About Crash Media Group, Digitalbox: Immotion combine award-winning content & multi-directional motion platforms to deliver immersive VR solutions for high-traffic destinations.
Solomon Rogers
Co-Founder & CEO of REWIND
Founder and CEO of REWIND, the VR content studio behind international award winning work such as the BBC’s Home: A VR Spacewalk, Björk’s NotGet VR, Red Bull Air Race VR and the acclaimed launch title Project Falcon for the FOVE eye-tracking VR headset. Sol is a BAFTA VR Advisory Group Executive, advisor and board member to globally recognised conferences including Autodesk University, FMX.de, Develop:VR, MIPCOM and MIPTV. He is co-founder of the nonprofit VR Together platform, creating VR for Good, and founder and organiser of the UK’s most popular VR meetup, VRLO. Sol was awarded the first “VR Technology & Innovation” award from UK Government Trade & Investment in 2015 and recognised as one of the digital industry’s brightest stars in the BIMA HOT 100 in 2016. Sol was a University Hertfordshire Senior Lecturer for 15 years in Digital Animation, VFX & Emerging Technology, writing four Degrees, two Masters and supervising PHDs. He is a VR evangelist and prominent international keynote speaker, often quoted in press and appearing on TV. www.REWIND.co
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About REWIND: REWIND is an award winning content production agency, working with bleeding edge technology to create unforgettable brand experiences.
Simon Ponsford
Chief Executive Officer of YellowDog
To Simon, technology related business problems are like a juicy bone to get his teeth into. He has 16 years of experience in high growth start-up environments working in CIO, CTO and Technical Architect roles in the UK, Europe, Middle East and North America, with several cloud computing related patents to his name. He is passionate about delivering ‘green’ technology and is best known for designing the world’s lowest powered Windows PC in 2008. He is also responsible for KumoWatt, the leading training programme for IT professionals interested in reducing the carbon impact of what they do.
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About YellowDog: Helping businesses power their innovations with the most scalable cloud native scheduling and provisioning technology.
Will Cohen
CEO & Executive Producer of Milk VFX
Will is one of the five founding owners of Milk, an independent Academy Award-winning visual effects company with studios in London and Cardiff, Will is Milk’s CEO and Executive Producer. In just four years Milk has created a range of innovative and complex sequences for high end TV and feature films, winning an Oscar for Alex Garland’s feature Ex-Machina, an Emmy Award for Hartswood/BBC’s Sherlock (2016) and three consecutive BAFTA Television Craft Awards for their work on the BBC’s Doctor Who (2014 and 2015) and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2016).
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About Milk VFX: We create innovative and complex sequences for high-end television and feature films.
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
Nizar Romdan
CEO & Co-founder of Virtual Arts Ltd.
Follow Nizar Romdan:
About Virtual Arts Ltd.: We are building a leading state of the art Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality Technology and interactive content company.
