35. Pierce Glennie, 27, chief product officer at iwoca
Name: Pierce Glennie.
Age: 27.
Company: iwoca.
Role: Chief product officer.
iwoca is an online lending platform that gives small businesses quick and affordable access to credit. The company has lent over £400 million since its founding in 2011. Glennie was one of iwoca's first outside hires and just 21 when he joined the business. iwoca CEO Christoph Reiche says Glennie is "the single most valuable hires we've ever made and without him, iwoca wouldn't be what it is today."
34. James Birch, 28, associate director at Hambro Perks/InsurTech Gateway
Name: James Birch
Age: 28
Company: Hambro Perks
Role: Associate director
Birch is developing an "InsurTech" accelerator called InsurTech Gateway for Hambro Perks, a London-based venture builder company that creates startups. Prior to joining Hambro, Birch cofounded his own InsureTech startup — a chatbot called Meet Mia — and was an analyst at Accenture and EY before that. At Accenture, he was named a global "superstar analyst" two years running and at EY he helped set up the consultancy's fintech practice, which compiled the first-ever audit of British fintech for the UK's Treasury. Outside of work, he is a semi-professional race car driver.
33. Matthew Ford, 31, cofounder of Pariti
Name: Matthew Ford
Age: 31
Company: Pariti
Role: Cofounder
Despite being just 31, Matthew Ford has already had a hand in two successful fintech exits. After a stint as a strategy consultant, Ford led user acquisition at personal finance management app OnTrees, which was acquired by MoneySuperMarket in 2015. Ford had in fact already left by the time the acquisition closed and was setting up Pariti, another financial management app aimed at helping people save money and pay off debt. Backed by Index Ventures and JamJar Ventures, Pariti was acquired by startup bank Tandem for an undisclosed fee earlier this year.
32. Phoebe Hugh, 28, CEO and cofounder of Brolly
Name: Phoebe Hugh
Age: 28
Company: Brolly
Role: CEO and cofounder
Hugh got her first job aged 10 (a seven-day a week paper round) and in her teenage years did everything from waitressing on rollerskates to running poker games. After university, she joined Aviva but became frustrated with the slow pace of the large insurer. Hugh enrolled in startup programme Entrepreneur First and went on to cofound Brolly, an AI-powered insurance aggregation tool. The startup raised £1 million last year from backers including Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures.
31. Xen Baynham-Herd, 31, Head of Strategy & Lead Economist at Blockchain
Name: Xen Baynham-Herd
Age: 31
Company: Blockchain
Role: Head of strategy and lead economist
Blockchain is the world's largest provider of cryptocurrency wallets, with 24 million opened around the world. The London-headquartered startup poached Baynham-Herd from UBS last year after he caught their eye authoring research on "A Path to 100% Digital Money" while at the bank. He also spearheaded the Swiss bank's efforts to create its own "utility coin." Baynham-Herd has advised several central banks on digital assets and is helping to position Blockchain as the go-to company for institutions looking to get into crypto or blockchain.
30. Dr Lewis Z. Liu, 32, cofounder and CEO of Eigen Technologies
Name: Dr Lewis Z. Liu
Age: 32
Company: Eigen Technologies
Role: CEO and cofounder
Eigen Technologies is a cutting edge artificial intelligence company that helps clients in the legal, finance, and banking sectors crunch through complex contracts using their computers. Dr Liu cofounded the company in 2014. Dr Liu cut his teeth at McKinsey and Linklaters before starting Eigen. He is a graduate of both Oxford, where he did a doctorate in atomic laser and particle physics, and Harvard, where he studied physics and fine arts.
29. Charles Delingpole, 35, CEO and cofounder of ComplyAdvantage
Name: Charles Delingpole
Age: 35
Company: ComplyAdvantage
Role: CEO and cofounder
Delingpole cofounded fintech startup MarketInvoice before going on to set up ComplyAdvantage, a startup that helps finance companies cope with regulation. The company trawls records from around the world to make sure customers are compliant with anti-money laundering and "know your customer" requirements. The company works with over 200 businesses including Azimo and Earthport and has raised $8.2 million from venture capitalists. Cambridge-graduate Delingpole set up The Student Room when he was just 16. The website is now the biggest student forum in the world.
28. Thishani Nadesan, 29, COO of Cleo
Name: Thishani Nadesan
Age: 29
Company: Cleo
Role: COO and cofounder
Cleo plugs into your bank accounts and uses AI to figure out when you're likely to run into money trouble, then gives advice on how to avoid it. Not only that, but Cleo communicates with you through a chatbot interface on Facebook Messenger. The idea is you can talk to Cleo just as you would a friend. Over 150,000 people are using the startup in the US and UK. Nadesan worked at consultancy Bain before joining Cleo and has a double first in PPE from Oxford and an MA in International Studies from John Hopkins.
27. Aneesh Varma, 34, founder and CEO of Aire
Name: Aneesh Varma
Age: 34
Company: Aire
Role: Founder and CEO
Aire uses techniques like machine learning to do what it calls "context-aware" credit scoring. People applying for things like loans and credit cards can submit their own data to help their scoring process. The startup works with the likes of Toyota Financial Services, peer-to-peer lender Zopa, and fashion retailer NBrown. Varma, who started his career at JPMorgan, set up Aire in 2014. It is his second startup, having previously founded enterprise software business FabriQate in 2005.
26. Marcus Trotter, 28, innovation specialist at Deutsche Bank
Name: Marcus Trotter
Age: 28
Company: Deutsche Bank
Role: Innovation specialist
Trotter has climbed the ladder fast since graduating from UCL in 2012. In his current role, Trotter helps Deutsche Bank find innovative new startups to work with but prior to joining the bank he spent several years at accelerator Wayra UK where he was part of the investment team which backed UK fintechs Yoyo Wallet, Squirrel, Swipii and Albert. Trotter also spent a stint advising the Duke of York on his "Pitch at the Palace" event. A passionate debater, Trotter is a non-executive director of London-based charity Debate Mate and informally advises a number of London fintechs.
25. Romi Savova, 32, CEO and cofounder of PensionBee
Name: Romi Savova
Age: 32
Company: PensionBee
Role: CEO and cofounder
PensionBee helps people manage their pensions digitally and has over 12,000 active accounts and with more than £150 million in fee-earning assets. State Street is the company's biggest investor. Savova founded the company in 2014 after stints at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and fintech company Credit Benchmark. She has an MBA from Harvard and was named Entrepreneur of the Year at Computing.co.uk’s Women in IT Excellence awards.
24. Anil Stocker, 34, CEO and cofounder of MarketInvoice
Name: Anil Stocker
Age: 34
Company: MarketInvoice
Role: CEO and cofounder
MarketInvoice is an online platform that lets businesses borrow against unpaid invoices. The lender isn't MarketInvoice itself but institutional investors and high net worth individuals looking for strong returns. Over £2 billion has been lent over the platform since it was founded in 2011. Stocker cofounded the company after working at Lehman Brothers during the crash. He sits on the UK's government's UK FinTech Delivery Panel.
23. Karen Kerrigan, 32, chief legal officer at Seedrs
Name: Karen Kerrigan
Age: 32
Company: Seedrs
Role: Chief legal officer
Seedrs is one of the UK's first equity crowdfunding platforms, letting ordinary people invest in startup businesses. 600 businesses have raised over £320 million since the platform launched in 2009. Kerrigan overseas all legal aspects of the business and is also a Director of the UK Crowdfunding Association. Prior to Seedrs, Oxford-graduate Kerrigan worked as a solicitor at Simmons & Simmons.
22. Mel Gelderman, 24, cofounder and CEO of TokenCard
Name: Mel Gelderman
Age: 24
Company: TokenCard
Role: CEO and cofounder
Dutch-born Gelderman has had an entrepreneurial streak from a young age. He set up his first business aged 15 selling strains of algae online to biofuel researchers. Gelderman discovered cryptocurrencies at university and became known as the "bitcoin guy" to friends. He eventually dropped out and moved to Taiwan to focus on crypto full-time and set up his own business after ethereum was launched in 2014. TokenCard, which raised $17 million through an initial coin offering in 2017, is building a cryptocurrency-linked debit card.
21. Marta Krupinska, 30, cofounder of Azimo
Name: Marta Krupinska
Age: 30
Company: Azimo/Stealth projects
Role: Cofounder
Krupinska is the cofounder of Azimo, the money remittance app that lets people send small amounts of money cheaply and easily through their smartphones. Until recently she ran Azimo's operations in the UK but has since stepped down to focus on what she tells us are two new "stealth" projects, as well as advising other startups. Krupinska is a vocal advocate of diversity in fintech and tech more broadly.
20. Dr James Smith, 35, cofounder and CEO of Elliptic
Name: Dr James Smith
Age: 35
Company: Elliptic
Role: CEO and cofounder
Elliptic works with everyone from law enforcement to banks to help analyse and identify transactions on the blockchain — the ledger that underpins digital currencies. Dr Smith, who has a Computer Science PhD from Oxford, cofounded the business after a stint as an options trader in the City. Elliptic has raised $12 million in funding to date and revenue is growing at an annual rate of 400%.
19. Michelle Pearce, 28, CIO and cofounder of Wealthify
Name: Michelle Pearce
Age: 28
Company: Wealthify
Role: CIO
Pearce quit medical school to get into investment and worked as a wealth manager for Brooks MacDonald before leaving in 2014 to cofounded Wealthify. The digital investment service has 19,000 registered users and insurance giant Aviva acquired a controlling stake in the business for an undisclosed sum last year.
18. Simon Taylor, 33, cofounder and blockchain practice lead at 11:FS
Name: Simon Taylor
Age: 33
Company: 11:FS
Role: Cofounder and blockchain practice lead
11:FS started life as a fintech consultancy but has morphed into a mini-media empire, with podcasts that are listened to by thousands each week. Taylor is a host of 11:FS' flagship Fintech Insider podcast and its spin-off Blockchain Insider. He also advises governments, regulators, and banks on fintech and blockchain. Prior to joining 11:FS, Taylor worked at Barclays where he led their blockchain practice and helped to set up the bank's fintech accelerator Rise.
17. Simon Miller, 32, UK CEO and cofounder of Scalable Capital
Name: Simon Miller
Age: 32
Company: Scalable Capital
Role: UK CEO and cofounder
Scalable Capital is one of a number of so-called "robo advisors" — online investment advisors and platforms — that have sprung up around the world in recent years. Founded in 2014, Scalable Capital has offices in Germany and the UK. The company already has £600 million in assets under management and has attracted investment from asset management giant BlackRock. Miller worked as a metal trader at Barclays Capital before helping to set up the company.
16. Veronique Barbosa, 28, CEO and cofounder of Flux
Name: Veronique Barbosa
Age: 28
Company: Flux
Role: CEO and cofounder
Barbosa was employee number four at red-hot payment startup Revolut before leaving with employees number one and two to help set up Flux. The startup, which launched in April last year, is developing smart, digital receipts that can be integrated into your banking app, showing not just how much you spent but what items you bought at a retailer. The startup is working with the likes of Barclaycard, EAT, and Monzo to develop the product. Barbosa worked at Morgan Stanley prior to joining Revolut.
15. Max Boonen, 31, director and cofounder of B2C2.
Name: Max Boonen
Age: 31
Company: B2C2
Role: Director and cofounder
B2C2 is a cryptocurrency market maker, facilitating large, over-the-counter trades of crypto between big investors. The London-headquartered company works with hedge funds, asset managers, brokers, and family offices, and $50 million trades are not unusual. Boonen was working as a fixed-income trader at Goldman Sachs before he left to set up B2C2 in 2015.
14. Diana Paredes, 34, CEO and cofounder of Suade
Name: Diana Paredes
Age: 34
Company: Suade
Role: CEO and cofounder
Suade is a "RegTech" firm: it provides software that helps banks and other financial institutions understand and comply with regulations. The Bank of England has praised Suade's solution in the past and the company works with major banks, although it doesn't publicly name its clients. Paredes cofounded Suade after a career in investment banking, working at Barclays and Merrill Lynch.
13. Joe Cross, 33, director of marketing and brand at TransferWise
Name: Joe Cross
Age: 33
Company: TransferWise
Role: Director of marketing and brand
Cross was one of TransferWise's first employees and has seen the international money transfer business grow from a small East London startup to business worth over $1 billion. Cross has helped to shape the company's brand over the six years he's been there, orchestrating eye-catching stunts such as underpants flash mobs in the early days and more sedate poster campaigns these days. Cross also set up TransferWise's New York office and served as US General Manager from 2015 to 2017.
12. Claire Calmejane, 35, risk transformation director at Lloyds
Name: Claire Calmejane
Age: 35
Company: Lloyds
Role: Risk transformation director
Calmejane helped set up Lloyds’ Innovation Labs and the bank's "Digital Academy", which trains staff in new tech trends and skills. In her current role, she oversees the intersections of risk, people, and data as part of Lloyds' £3 billion digital transformations. Outside of the bank, Calmejane lectures on fintech and digital transformation at MIT, CFTE, Oxford, UCL and HEC, and is a prominent advocate for women in tech. She worked for Capgemini Consulting before joining Lloyds in 2012 and has served as a visiting scientist at MIT for a project looking at how large organisations digitise.
11. Ollie Purdue, 24, CEO and founder of Loot
Name: Ollie Purdue
Age: 24
Company: Loot
Role: CEO and cofounder
Purdue struggled with money management apps at university so decided to build his own. Loot is a digital current account targeted as students and young people, and has built-in money management features. He founded the business aged just 21 in 2014. Loot now has 90,000 users and has raised £6 million.
10. Lewis Tuff, 28, engineering lead at Blockchain
Name: Lewis Tuff
Age: 28
Company: Blockchain
Role: Engineering lead
Despite his age, Tuff already has Goldman Sachs, UBS, Revolut, and now Blockchain on his CV. Tuff began his career building trading and risk technology systems at the investment banks before joining fast-growing fintech Revolut as its lead platform engineer. Tuff helped grow the startup to 1.5 million customers in less than 2 years before leaving to join Blockchain, the world's biggest provider of bitcoin wallets. He is now helping blockchain to develop next-generation financial services products based on blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
9. Oli Harris, 29, head of crypto strategy at JPMorgan
Name: Oli Harris
Age: 29
Company: JPMorgan
Role: Head of crypto strategy
After cutting his teeth at Accenture, the World Economic Forum, and Tony Blair Associates, Harris landed at JPMorgan in 2014. He spent three years as the head of the bank's fintech "In Residence" programme, identifying fintech startups for JPMorgan to work with, and he was recently named as the bank's first ever head of crypto strategy. In this role, he will identify promising blockchain and crypto projects for the bank to work on.
8. Hiroki Takeuchi, 31, CEO and cofounder of GoCardless.
Name: Hiroki Takeuchi
Age: 31
Company: GoCardless
Role: CEO and cofounder
Takeuchi cofounded direct debit processing startup GoCardless in 2011 with his friends from Oxford University Tom Blomfield (now CEO at Monzo) and Matt Robinson (now running home sale startup Nested). Takeuchi has grown GoCardless into a business processing more than £4 billion each year for over 35,000 businesses. Takeuchi suffered a life-changing bike accident in September 2016 that left his legs paralysed but he returned to work after just six months.
7. Ed Maslaveckas, 28, CEO and cofounder of Bud.
Name: Ed Maslaveckas
Age: 28
Company: Bud
Role: CEO and cofounder
Bud is developing a backend platform to help banks launch next-generation apps. Maslaveckas and his cofounder George Dunning have managed to talk their way into HSBC, which is developing an app with Bud, Spanish bank Sabadell, which has invested in the company, and Investec, another investor. Maslaveckas had the idea for Bud while working at Salesforce in 2014 and decided to make a go of it with his childhood friend Dunning.
6. Megan Caywood, 29, chief platform officer at Starling Bank
Name: Megan Caywood
Age: 29
Company: Starling Bank
Role: Chief platform officer
Caywood cut her teeth working for accountancy software giants Intuit, which owns Quickbooks, and Xero out in San Francisco before winning one of the UK's exceptional talent visas in 2016. She is now chief platform officer at startup, app-only bank Starling, which is trying to make a new kind of bank that functions more like an app store than a traditional lender. Starling's Marketplace has already integrated with the likes of Wealthify and PensionBee under her leadership.
5. Martin Ijaha, 35, CEO and cofounder of Neyber.
Name: Martin Ijaha
Age: 35
Company: Neyber
Role: CEO and cofounder
Neyber works with employers to let staff borrow money then repay through salary deductions. Former Goldman Sachs banker Ijaha got the idea for the business from his mother, who used to use a traditional West African savings club called Sou-Sou. Neyber was founded in 2012 and now works with 160 employers with a combined 1 million staff. Last year Goldman invested £100 million into the platform.
4. Eamon Jubbawy, 27, COO and cofounder of Onfido
Name: Eamon Jubbawy
Age: 27
Company: Onfido
Role: COO and cofounder
Jubbawy and his cofounders set up ID checking software startup Onfido while all three were still studying economics and management at Oxford in 2012. The business helps banks and fintech's comply with so-called "know your customer" regulation. Onfido has raised over $60 million in funding from Microsoft, Salesforce and Idinvest to date and works with over 1,500 businesses globally. Jubbawy heads up business operations at the company and is also the deputy chair of the UK's Fintech Delivery Panel, a sector-wide group set up to lobby for fintech in light of Brexit.
3. Tom Blomfield, 32, CEO and founder of Monzo.
Name: Tom Blomfield
Age: 32
Company: Monzo
Role: CEO and cofounder
Blomfield is behind not one but two of the UK's most exciting fintech startups. The Oxford graduate helped cofound GoCardless before going on to start app-only bank Monzo in 2015. The fully licensed bank now has over 500,000 current account customers who have spent £1 billion on Monzo's iconic hot coral cards. The company has raised over £71 million to date and is valued at £280 million.
2. Samir Desai, 34, CEO and cofounder Funding Circle
Name: Samir Desai
Age: 34
Company: Funding Circle
Role: CEO and cofounder
Desai and his two cofounders were some of the UK's earliest fintech pioneers, setting up peer-to-peer business lender Funding Circle back in 2010. Their platform has now lent over £4 billion to businesses across the UK, Germany, US, and the Netherlands. Desai was awarded a CBE for services to financial services in 2015 and his company is tipped to float on the stock exchange later this year with a price tag of at least £1 billion.
1. Nikolay Storonsky, 34, CEO and cofounder of Revolut
Name: Nikolay Storonsky
Age: 34
Company: Revolut
Role: CEO and cofounder
Revolut began life as a foreign exchange card linked to an app that offered rock-bottom FX prices. The company is less than three years old but the popularity of its product has already seen it hit 2 million customers and a valuation of $1.7 billion. Capitalising on this popularity, Revolut has built out current account features, investment products, and even a travel insurance offering in Revolut's app. Storonsky had the idea for Revolut while he was a currency trader at Credit Suisse. He used to get frustrated with the poor rates he was being given when he travelled abroad.