Meet the 35 most exciting young entrepreneurs, engineers, and advisors in UK fintech

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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%.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Read BI's interview with Paredes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Read BI's interview with Maslaveckas.

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.

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.

Read BI's interview with Ijaha.

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.

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.

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.

Read BI's interview with Desai.

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.

Read BI's interview with Storonsky.