It is time to showcase the names and faces of the future who are set to shape and define the technology sector in 2025, and beyond.
In order to cover as many threads of the technology industry as possible, the Top 10 TechStars listed below are destined to become the next titans of tech. From Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Immersive Experiences, Cloud Computing to Cryptocurrency, Social Media to Space, Journalism to SEO, Tech-For-Good to Tech-for-Defence and Big Events to BioTech, we introduce the names and faces of the Top 10 TechStars of 2025.
1. Alex Kearns, Devoteam UK – The AWS Ambassador
Alex Kearns, a Principal Solutions Architect at Devoteam UK and Amazon Web Services Ambassador, is at the forefront of data and Artificial Intelligence implementation in Cloud environments. His expertise in leveraging AWS services for AI and Machine Learning has positioned him as a leader in his field.
Alex’s approach to integrating GenAI technologies into customer solutions has garnered attention across the industry. He regularly shares his insights on AI-driven cloud architectures through speaking engagements and technical blog posts having presented at prestigious events like AWS re:Invent and contributing as a thought leader for Entrepreneur.com.
Alex’s work in optimising AI workloads and developing cost-effective, scalable AI solutions marks him as one of the most promising individuals in the AI implementation landscape, demonstrated by his recent shortlisting as Rising Star of the Year | Digital Revolution Awards which celebrates outstanding talent and potential in individuals who have shown extraordinary growth and made a significant impact in their field over the last 12-18 months.
2. Dr. Chengdiao Fan, Pi Network – The CryptoCurrency Community Builder
Dr. Chengdiao Fan is a Stanford PhD in Anthropological Sciences harnessing social computing to unlock human potential on a global scale.
She has specifically researched how we use technology to positively impact human behavior and societies, and these deep understandings led her to co-found and launch one of the most anticipated web3 projects of 2025 – Pi Network.
Pi Network is a cryptocurrency project and developer platform that allows users to mine Pi coins directly from their smartphones without the need for complex mining rigs or high energy consumption.
Chengdiao’s experience with previous research projects around productivity software, scaled social communications, and online human relationships and interactions have now been transferred and applied to Pi Network. The principles of blockchain and decentralization, as a real instrument to empower people with more accessible and frequent opportunities for collaboration and utility-building, have become the fundamental building blocks to the Pi project.
Chengdiao’s mission for Pi Network is to make it accessible for everyone and mobilize individuals all over the world to participate and be rewarded for their contributions, and establish an inclusive ecosystem for global citizens to unleash and capture their own agency, and in turn create utilities and productions for society and the world. After being founded in 2018, the company formally launched its Open Network in February 2025 with a 60 million strong global community, thus becoming one of the most talked about cryptocurrencies in years.
3. Chris Newlands, Space Aye – The Space Entrepreneur
Chris Newlands, has emerged as a leading figure in the commercialization of space and the innovative integration of space technology into everyday life. He has been named as one of the top ten space entrepreneurs, only surpassed by Richard Branson, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Invited to speak at leading space and technology conferences worldwide, including the European Technology Summit, The Economist Impact Space Economy Summit and the European Space Agency Space-Talks programme.
Chris shares his insights on the future of space, the emerging space economy, and the potential for space to drive innovation in various industries, underpinned by inter-continental patents. Chris continues to shape the future of space technology and global innovation, driven by a commitment to advancing the space economy, fostering global collaboration, and leading with an entrepreneurial spirit that inspires change, worldwide.
His dual focus is on the societal and commercial benefits afforded by space and the positive impacts for all life forms on Earth, powered by Space Aye’s Large Terrestrial Model (LTM) – a real-time data stream, merging data from 19bn IoT devices, 8bn people, captured by thousands of imaging satellites, from space, visualizing the world in context now. The LTM, which was referred to as “the most powerful data set of all time” will form the training data or fuel for the next generation of Artificial Intelligence models, improving accuracy and relevance whilst reducing energy consumption.
4. Ellie Byrne/ Giselle Elsom, Truffle Social – The Social Media Sirens
Ellie Byrne is the founder and CEO of the full service social media agency, Truffle Social, which operates across a host of sectors, including Property, Travel & Hospitality, FMCG, Finance, The Arts, Technology, Beauty and Retail. Truffle works with global brands and companies including Marriott, Coca-Cola, Rolls Royce, Nars Cosmetics, Fidelity Investments, The Accor Group, Convene Workspaces and the British government’s DEFRA.
Launched in the early 2010s when Ellie identified a new rising market – the world of social media – and decided to set up her own agency, Truffle has since grown into an all-female team. Women’s empowerment within business is a passion of Ellie’s and she takes part in a number of community groups where innovation for women in business is a core proposition. Truffle’s HQ is stationed in London and the agency also has offices in New York and will expand into Dubai this year.
As Ellie takes time off in 2025 for maternity leave, at Truffle’s helm will be the Managing Director, Giselle Elsom who has been at the forefront of Truffle’s client success and operational leadership. She oversees a diverse portfolio of high-profile clients to ensure that the agency delivers cutting-edge social media strategies, playing a pivotal role in business development, securing new clients and expanding Truffle’s reach into key markets, including New York and Dubai. Her business acumen has directly contributed to Truffle Social’s financial growth and security, increasing profitability and strengthening the agency’s reputation as a leading independently owned social media agency.
5. Tom Bairstow, NorthHouse – The LIVE Show Visionary
Tom Bairstow is the visionary Founder and Executive Creative Director of NorthHouse, an immersive visual design studio specialising in multimedia-powered visual experiences for the world’s leading artists, brands and destinations.
Founded in 2012, Tom has built an industry-leading team at NorthHouse that has elevated and illuminated some of the biggest global shows, events, experiences and installations through a fusion of artistic vision, design, motion, technology and magic.
NorthHouse’s projections have lit-up Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle for the Queen’s Jubilee and King’s Coronation Concert respectively and been at the centre of Coldplay concerts, Glastonbury performances and a SuperBowl half-time show. Their impressive portfolio of immersive projection experiences have been seen across the globe – at multiple Disney events including a new nighttime spectacular show; Ferrari’s 70th birthday party and a VVIP party in Saudi Arabia.
With a background in live music, art, photography, and film-making, Tom has been immersed in the creative technology industry for more than 20 years. He is globally recognised today for his groundbreaking contributions to video, projection, and visual design for live shows. He has two BAFTA nominations and many awards, nominations, and accolades for the shows NorthHouse has created and participated in.
6. Lee Lin Liew, DogLibre – The Tech-For-Good Advocate
Lee Lin Liew is a seasoned technologist and growth strategist with a strong track record in the blockchain and startup ecosystems. She played a key role in launching two multi-billion dollar Web3 startups and has driven adoption for several blockchain applications, including Decentraland, the first decentralized metaverse unicorn. She also mentors at R3 and Outlier Ventures, supporting founders building at the frontier of emerging technology.
As the founder of DogLibre, Lee Lin is pioneering a tech-for-good ecosystem that integrates blockchain, AI, IoT, and gamification to deliver real-world utility for both stray and pet dogs along with their owners. The project’s mission is to harness the latest technology to support canine care globally – combining compassion with innovation. One of the project’s latest innovations, a smart camera wearable for dogs, is set to launch soon. It’s designed to capture a dog’s daily life and help pet owners better understand and care for their companions through technology.
Lee Lin has personally rescued and raised over 30 abandoned dogs. Her ability to combine cutting-edge innovation with deep compassion makes her a powerful voice in Web3 and a passionate advocate for meaningful, tech-driven impact.
7. Andrew Turner CB CBE, CEO Saibre Capital – The The War Hero & Tech Polymath
Andrew Turner is a combat-proven senior military veteran who is leading the propulsion of emerging technologies into productivity and profit. A stellar military service surviving 19 operational tours and linguistic fencing in the Pentagon, White House, and Whitehall prepared Andrew for investing, advising and leading in space, AI, quantum technologies, additive manufacturing and renewable energy.
Andrew drives companies that can change how the world works. He has formed an investment company to draw in large scale capital to directly propel the next generation of emerging tech winners. Saibre Capital will lift the investment burden from the Government, empower the United Kingdom with transformational capital and enable friendly foreign nations to thrive and prosper.
He is also driving the development of a UK-Ukraine Defence Fund and Industrial Alliance, attracting substantial investment to catalyse new capabilities that will protect Ukraine in the medium to long-term and accelerate innovation in the United Kingdom.
It is rare to find an individual so engaged in delivering national security, operating in the private markets, developing break-through science, and gathering top-class teams to solve the world’s most pressing challenges.
8. Maria Cho – The BioTech Leader
Maria Cho is a scientist, turned BioTech leader who began her career in the laboratory, focusing on neurodegenerative disease research at Thomas Jefferson University.
She has a background in scientific research and has held roles at WuXi AppTec, Phyla and Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies before becoming Co-Founder and COO of Phi Therapeutics, where she led the development of a probiotic skincare line.
Her last position was as CEO of Triplebar, a company that focuses on developing sustainable solutions for food and healthcare. Maria led the company from 2022 and successfully completed the company’s $21m fundraising round in 2023. Under Maria’s guidance, Triplebar developed solutions to remove key bottlenecks in the bioeconomy, using a proprietary screening platform to accelerate food and pharma product discovery. HyperThroughput™ Screening Platform was created to unlock ‘Evolutionary Intelligence’ – foundational models for therapeutic discovery and protein production which links the genome to cellular function. The strategy that Maria deployed combines unmatched data generation capabilities which train generative AI foundational models to create the ChatGPT for biotech.
9. David Soffer, TechRound/ DSR Digital – The Online Content Guru
David Soffer is the founder and editor-in-chief of TechRound, the UK’s largest and fastest growing publication covering all things startups, tech and entrepreneurs.
David also founded and runs DSR Digital, an SEO (search engine optimisation) and online reputation management agency. Born and bred in London and having always had a passion for business and entrepreneurialism, David initially founded DSR Digital in 2015, helping startups, SMEs and large companies dominate Google Search to grow their businesses. TechRound was established in 2016, when David noticed that although London was a powerhouse and hub for startups and entrepreneurs, there was no publication, platform or place where entrepreneurialism, startups and founders had stories told.
TechRound has gone from a small side-hustle type venture, breaking even to a comfortable six-figure venture David continues to run and grow to this day, with a full-time team of five people for TechRound and a team of four for DSR Digital.
TechRound boasts over 100,000 monthly readers, with founders, entrepreneurs, governments, VCs, investors and more reading it regularly as their source of information for technology and entrepreneurialism. TechRound has been built up and scaled organically, with David utilising his knowledge of SEO and online reputation management to practice what he preaches; building TechRound into one of the best-known names in its industry.
10. Gina Clarke, The Fintech Times – The Fintech Phenomena
Gina Clarke is a fintech journalist and event content director. She has worked for both UK and global outlets including TIME Magazine, Forbes and the BBC.
Previously the content director for Money20/20 Europe she now continues writing on industry events for The Fintech Times, and is the content director for Fintech Abu Dhabi, Blockchain Abu Dhabi and the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Finance Forum which all take place under the umbrella of Abu Dhabi Finance Week, held in December.
With a global network and an interest in banking, payments and fintech, Gina also takes pride in her fascination for event technology, and is now a practicing consultant on how to integrate the latest in event technology with an ‘audience first’ approach.
As a continuing key point of contact for industry experts, Royalty, dignitaries and world envoys, Gina is at the fortunate crossroads of being able to understand the purpose and direction behind how and why financial technology is evolving and the implications of what this means for both people and business alike.
Disclaimer: GeekWire newsroom and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content..
