Alongside San Francisco and New York, London is one of the world's most innovative cities. After all, the Brits did invent the World Wide Web.
There's a celebrated cluster of technology companies in east London, known as Tech City. It is all centered around the Old Street roundabout, giving name to the government's "Silicon Roundabout" initiative.
But the UK's tech industry is not limited to a section of east London. Many of the people on the list are based outside of London. Some have factories and distribution centers to manage; others spend time in universities and labs.
This list features some of the most interesting startup founders, CEOs, and investors in the UK tech industry. Within our ranking, we prioritized startup founders over the UK's PR heads, VCs, and tech consultants. However, there are plenty of people without "CEO" in their job title on this list, too.
50. Nick D'Aloisio
Founder, Summly
Twitter: @nickdaloisio
D'Aloisio is only 18 but already sold his news-summarization app, Summly, to Yahoo for a rumored $30 million, in 2013. The young app developer is now a student at Oxford University, having started undergraduates course in computer science and philosophy in September.
Summly started in 2011 as a simpler version under the name Trimit. It quickly caught the attention of billionaire Li Ka-Shing, who invested $300,000 in the app. After relaunching as Summly, D'Aloisio attracted further investment from Yoko Ono, Ashton Kutcher, and Stephen Fry. Summly was eventually sold to Yahoo, and D'Aloisio worked on the new Yahoo News Digest app. He remains a product manager on the new app, while he studies for his degree.
49. Robyn Exton
CEO and cofounder, Dattch
Twitter: @robynexton
Dattch is a dating app for lesbian and bisexual women that connects users based on location. Exton created the app after realising that existing lesbian dating sites were simply reskinned versions of other sites. Using her experience of working with a dating site at a branding agency, she set about making a dating app specifically created for lesbians.
Unlike many dating sites and apps, Dattch has been praised for its positive approach to LGBTQ dating, and the app has won countless awards, including the Best Design award at the 2013 LAUNCH conference. The business brought its operations to the US in 2014, and plans on expanding to Android in the near future.
48. Emily Brooke
CEO and founder, Blaze
Twitter: @buzzbrooke
The Blaze laser light is a green laser that attaches to the front of a bicycle. The laser then projects the image of the bike several metres in front of the rider. The bright images keeps cyclists safe on the road by helping drivers to see them.
Over 3,000 laser lights have been sold so far, after devices began shipping in early 2014. Blaze has raised £500,000 from Richard Branson's family and Index Ventures.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider