Meet the Scalers: Growing a tech business in 2025

Julian David OBE

CEO, techUK

Julian David is the CEO of techUK, the Digital Technology Trade Association. 

Julian leads techUK's 60 strong team in representing over 800 member companies, comprising global and national champions and more than 500 SMEs. He is a member of the UK Government and Industry Cyber Growth Partnership, the Digital Economy Council and the Department of International Trade’s Strategic Trade Advisory Group. He is also the Vice President for National Trade Associations, on the Executive Board of DIGITALEUROPE, Vice President representing Europe on the board of WITSA the Worldwide IT Association, and a member of the board of the Health innovation Network, the South London Academic Health Science Network. 

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Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Business and Trade

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Business and Trade, and Baroness in Waiting (Government Whip) on 9 July 2024.

Baroness Jones joined the House of Lords in 2006. She has previously served as Shadow Spokesperson for:

Science, Innovation and Technology from 2023 to 2024
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2015 to 2022
Education from 2011 to 2015
Culture, Media and Sport from 2010 to 2014
She was previously a trade union official, including as Director of Policy and Public Affairs for UNISON from 1994 to 2006.

Baroness Jones was previously Chair of Rothamsted Enterprises at the Rothamsted research institute, a Board member at Ombudsman Services, a member of the General Medical Council Fitness to Practice Panel, and Vice chair of Circle Housing Group.

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Sarah Gardiner

UK Network Insights & Strategy Director, British Business Bank

Sarah has been a senior leader in Financial Services for over 25 years. She is a qualified banker and an Associate of the London Institute of Banking and Finance.

Starting at the British Business Bank in December 2021, Sarah is currently the UK Network Insights & Strategy Director. Sarah was previously Head of Investor Relations and Rating Agencies at one of the top 3 UK lenders for more than 17 years, building the team from the beginning, where she was responsible for c2000 global investors and over £60 billion of debt and equity funding and managing the relationships with Standard & Poors, Moodys and Fitch.  She is very experienced in investor pitches and has presented all over the world to investors to attract funding for both debt and equity. She has successfully navigated through 3 different crisis situations, the Financial Crisis in 2007-08, Brexit and more recently the global pandemic, where she raised over £10m of funding for vulnerable families across the UK. She was also one of the final 15 successful applicants in the Government sponsored ‘Inclusive Economy 2021’ focused on ‘building back stronger’.  Earlier in her career Sarah was a senior underwriter approving corporate lending and was also responsible for an SME portfolio.

In her spare time, she is a keen runner and over the last 18 months a keen member of the Peloton tread community.

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Saranyah Douse

B2B Software Investor, Octopus Ventures

Saranyah is part of Octopus Ventures B2B Software team, with a focus on companies that have commercialised their product and are at the scale-up phase in their growth.

Saranyah joined Octopus Ventures in 2020. She previously spent two years in private equity, with a focus on portfolio value creation, and five years carrying out due diligence on M&A transactions.

She is a chartered accountant and holds an economics degree from the University of Cambridge.

Saranyah is passionate about coaching and mentorship and serves as a Trustee for Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, a charity focused on the power of sport in supporting disadvantaged young people realise their full potential.

: https://octopusventures.com/

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Neil Shah

Head of Tech Sector, Primary Markets, London Stock Exchange Group

Neil joined The London Stock Exchange in July 2020 and leads business development for the Tech Sector within Primary Markets. Neil helps privately held UK and international tech and tech-enabled companies and their shareholders evaluate the merits and process of going public in London and helps founders and management teams connect with advisors and the wider ecosystem.

In the last 5 years, Neil has helped over 50 tech and tech-enabled companies go public including companies such as Darktrace, Wise and Raspberry Pi. He also works closely with the LSE's Issuer Services team to help clients get the support they need post IPO.

Neil started his career at Dresdner Kleinwort in the global technology group and co-founded the European technology group at Thomas Weisel Partners (now Stifel). During his 15 years in investment banking, Neil advised on and helped his clients execute M&A, private placements, IPOs and follow-on transactions across several exchanges and markets globally. He also supported several UK-listed tech companies as their corporate broker.

 

Neil graduated from the London School of Economics with a BSc (Hon) degree in Economics.

: https://www.londonstockexchange.com/

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James Uffindell

Founder & CEO, Bright Network

James is a technology entrepreneur and the UK's leading expert on Gen Z talent. James started his first business from his student bedroom in 1999 which he exited to a private investor. James founded Bright Network in 2013, a high-growth technology platform that uses 300M data points and insights to build the workforce of tomorrow. Bright Network employs ~150 people, supports over 1 million graduates and works with 300 of the world's largest employers including Google, Bloomberg Goldman Sachs, Accenture and PwC. In 2022 James launched Bright Network Technology Academy to train young people from diverse backgrounds in software engineering skills. James is a regular media commentator and ''been featured in The Economist, Management Today, The Times, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph as well as on live on BBC (radio and TV), Sky News, Channel 4, CNN and on ITV. In his spare time James invests in other growth businesses and enjoys travelling, chess and endurance sports.

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Harry Coath

Head of Talent & Skills Programmes, London & Partners

As Head of Talent & Skills Programmes, Harry leads London & Partners' work supporting businesses to access the right talent and skills from across the full diversity of London's boroughs and communities.

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Shona Marsh

Vice President, CodeBase

Shona is the VP of Business Acceleration at CodeBase, responsible for designing education and accelerators for individuals and startups to explore the world of tech innovation and successful startup building, including for the Scottish Government, Ministry of Justice, Universities and more. She previously was the first employee at a startup acquired by Airbnb, and then led the growth of the Airbnb Experiences business in Northern Europe for Airbnb post-acquisition. 

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Chris Field

Chief Marketing Officer, Yoti

Chris is the Chief Marketing Officer at Yoti. Chris Field brings experience from previous roles at Nikwax, Yoti Ltd and JustGiving. He lives and breathes the Yoti brand and is passionate about helping build safer online experiences and making it just that little bit easier for anyone to prove who they are.

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Winnie Seow Mei

International Markets Lead, Hawksford

Winnie is the Head of Intermediaries – Asia at Hawksford. Based in Singapore, she is responsible for helping global businesses to expand into Southeast Asia region, while assisting Asian companies with expanding into the UK.

With more than 10 years of experience in international expansion, Winnie has held different roles within the public and private sector, where she assisted multinational corporations and SMEs on their market entry and expansion needs.

Winne has lived and worked in China and Southeast Asia and is fluent in English, Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien. She prides herself on her good understanding of cultural sensitivity and ways of working with clients in Asia.

: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winnie-seow

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Maria Tsarkova

Co-founder, Solid Water Marketing Agency and Head of Growth, Ooredoo Fintech 

Maria Tsarkova is co-founder of Solid Water growth marketing firm and Head of Growth Ooredoo Fintech, subsidiary of Ooredoo Group, headquartered in Doha, Qatar.

: https://https//solidwateragency.com/
: maria-tsarkova

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Matthew Borthwick

Co-Founder and CEO, SCALERR

Matt is the CEO and Co-Founder of Scalerr. Scalerr is a global growth advisory firm and recruitment consultancy which helps scaling tech companies grow both locally and internationally. Scalerr has helped over 550 Tech companies grow and in doing so helped to create 48 unicorns ($1 Billion Valuation while privately owned) and has a truly global reach.

Matt is also on the board of London’s Entrepreneur’s Organisation Chapter which supports founders grow and scale their businesses. In addition to Scalerr’s upcoming g investment fund, he is an LP across a number of investment firms and supports a number of accelerators and growth hubs globally.

: borthwickmatt

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Michael Lovegrove’s

Founder, Snowballn'

Michael is an award winning entrepreneur that has started, scaled and sold his own tech startup. Hailing from New Zealand, he has since worked with over 100 startups ranging from seed - series C where he has helped them to develop effective GTM strategies to enter new markets.

He is the founder of Snowballn’ which provides scale up companies with a GTM blueprint for growing in their current market and expanding into new ones.

: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/michaellovegrove

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Katie Gallagher OBE

Chair, UK Tech Cluster Group

Katie Gallagher OBE is the Managing Director of Manchester Digital and Chair of the UK Tech Cluster Group. She works closely with industry and government to support regional tech ecosystems, skills development, and digital innovation. Katie has led initiatives such as Digital Her, the Manchester Digital apprenticeship programme, and the Startup Activator. She is a member of the Government’s Digital Skills Council and co-founded the North West Cyber Resilience Centre. With over 15 years' experience in ecosystem development and policy engagement, she focuses on creating sustainable growth for the tech sector. Katie was awarded an OBE in 2024 for services to digital and technology in the North West.

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