Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech list launched for 2023
Innovators, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and investors honoured at innovation focused launch
Last week saw the launch of the annual Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech list in Central London. The list was launched by equality charity Diversity UK, in association with Eversheds Sutherland and Cambridge-based bio-reagents supplier Biorbyt.
The list aims to showcase diverse talent; from startup founders, technologists, venture capitalists and investors. Now in its ninth year, the list celebrates the outstanding contribution made by British Asians to the UK digital economy.
This year's launch centred on innovation, featuring a panel discussion on AI and Healthtech and a tech showcase.
The list features 20 Asian Tech Pioneers, a smaller list of entrepreneurs launched in 2019 to celebrate five years of the original Top 100.
Many winners are focused on sustainability. Among those honoured were Dr Enass Abo-Hamed, the Co-founder & CEO at H2GO Power Ltd, an award winning spin-out company from the University of Cambridge developing Hydrogen AI and energy storage technologies; Dr Somayeh Taheri, CEO of UrbanChain, a blockchain/AI-based energy exchange system that directly links energy consumers to renewable generators using its trading platform; Dr Amrit Chandan, CEO of Aceleron which has developed the world's first truly circular economy lithium battery based on its patented technology and Furqan Alamgir, CEO of Connexin, a technology company specialising in smart city solutions and IoT (Internet of Things) connectivity.
Other winners came from the Fintech space including Virraj Jatania, Founder and CEO of Pockit, a challenger bank equipping the UK's financially underserved with simple, transparent digital banking and Asesh Sarkar, Global CEO and Co-founder of Salary Finance, a leading employee financial wellness platform.
Lopa Patel MBE, Chair of Diversity UK, creator and curator of the Top 100 Asian Tech Stars list said:
"It is inspiring to see so many Pioneers scale new heights over the past year, succeeding on the merits of their ingenuity in the development of innovative solutions for pressing problems in financial services, healthcare and energy. I am delighted that the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech list has marked its ninth anniversary and that we have been able to honour twenty amazing Asian Tech Pioneers, including for the first time ever ten inspirational women who make up 50% of the Pioneers index this year.
"It is also pleasing to see that newer sectors like AI (4.1%) and Healthtech (3.3%) being represented alongside established industry categories like business (42.1%) and investors (22.3%) among this elite group of inspirational individuals - it is indicative of the maturity of the sector. We were doubly pleased, this year, to have honoured the entrepreneurial ecosystem builders who are so often overlooked."
Honouring those who built for the future
The entrepreneurial ecosystem builders Patel cites include Manoj Ranaweera, Founder & CEO of Manchester's Techcelerate and Kevin Withane, Founder/Investor at Diversity X. Their work and the work of their fellow winners has been critical in building the ecosystem for future tech talent to thrive.
Hanadi Jabado DL, Managing Director at Sana Capital and Chair of the judging panel for this year's list said:
"I am truly honoured to acknowledge and celebrate the exceptional achievements of these ten Asian Tech heroes. I have been inspired over the years to witness first-hand their relentless contribution to the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the UK, their passion and their dedication."
In another first for the list, women bagged all Top 5 slots in the ‘investors' category of the Top 100, and women held 48 of the places overall. Whilst this is a little down on peak female representation in the Top 100 list of 52% in 2021, it is certainly noteworthy when viewed alongside the fact that around 29% of the female tech workforce overall is Asian.
Lopa Patel commented:
"Women's representation in the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech list has risen from 21% in 2015 up to a peak of 52% in 2021 and is at 48% in 2023, despite the fact that nearly 60% of the list are new nominees. But even I was surprised that women took all five spots in our ‘Top 5 Investors' category. Their backgrounds range from angel investors to those investing at pre-seed and seed levels, within corporates, as well as those working at established venture capital firms funding Series A rounds and beyond."
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