Tech ecosystem heroes honoured as Asian Tech Pioneers 2022
Twenty of Britain’s leading UK Tech ecosystem heroes were honoured as Asian Tech Pioneers 2022 by equality charity Diversity UK, publishers of the annual Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech list. The awards were presented by Ramesh Vala CBE, Chairman of the Judging Panel 2022 and sponsors; Eversheds Sutherland, Ketchum and Wavelength at the launch of the eight edition of the list on 6 July 2022.
Among those recognised with an Asian Tech Pioneers Award 2022 are Herb Kim, best known as the Founder of the Thinking Digital Conference which celebrated its 14th Anniversary in 2022 at the iconic Sage Gateshead Conference Centre; Newcastle-based Sarat Pediredla who is the CEO of Hedgehog Lab, a global product consultancy which focuses on assisting brands and enterprises in achieving their business goals using emerging technologies; Tanya Laird, the Founder of Digital Jam and creator of the the VR Writers Room and the co-organiser for the world’s largest VR & AR meetup group “Augmenting Reality” and Lu Li, the Founder of Blooming Founders, a London-based company that provides female-friendly co-working spaces and events for early stage founders.
Investors recognised with the Asian Tech Pioneers award include Imran Akram, a London based growth capital investor at AXA Venture Partners, the $275M fund investing in enterprise software, fintech, consumer and digital health; Mo Aneese, Investment Director at Livingbridge, a mid-market Private Equity firm investing between £10m-£150m in high growth businesses valued between £20m and £400m; Kevin Chong who is Co-Head at Outward VC which invests at late-seed to series B in entrepreneurs seeking to build category-defining fintech companies and Reece Chowdhry, the Founder and CEO of the Concept Ventures, which has created the largest dedicated pre-seed technology fund in the UK ($62m).
Lopa Patel MBE, list curator and Chair of Diversity UK said: “It is inspiring to see so many Pioneers scale new heights over the past year, helping entrepreneurs to succeed via investment and funding or ecosystem support services that have been sadly hollowed-out since the pandemic. I am delighted that the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech list has marked its eight anniversary and that we have been able to honour twenty amazing Asian Tech Pioneers, including for the first time ever 8 inspirational women who make up 40% of the index this year. The Asian Tech Pioneers index now stands at 91 individuals and it is pleasing to see that newer sectors like AI and healthtech are now being represented well against categories like business (20%) and investors (25%).”
Women Asian Tech Pioneers recognised for championing entrepreneurship include Bristol-based Jaya Chakrabarti MBE who is a passionate advocate for engaging business with the community through technology to improve people's lives; Chelsea Chen, the co-founder of Emotech Ltd, one of the world's first tech companies dedicated to exploring proactivity and multimodality in AI; Pae Natwilai, the Founder and CEO of Gettrik with one of its most well-known software being TRIK, a drone mapping and 3D reporting software for structural inspection. Healthtech heroes include Dr Ishani Patel, a GP and Co-founder of Lantum, which provides software to help NHS practices and surgeries find locum doctors and Sonia Patel, the System CIO at NHS England, leading on the multi-billion pound ministerial priority to ‘level-up’ digital infrastructure and literacy for NHS and care. Women make up 24.2% of the Asian Tech Pioneers list overall.
The official list of the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech 2022 published by Diversity UK aims to highlight the ground-breaking business models, apps, funding and support networks being created by Asian digital entrepreneurs. The list addresses the perceived lack of diversity in the tech sector and showcases the wealth of talent that is currently helping the British tech scene grow exponentially. The Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech list and Diversity UK are the brainchild of the digital entrepreneur Lopa Patel MBE who has long been recognised as an evangelist for STEM and the tech industries in the UK.
Click here to read the full list of the Asian Tech Pioneers 2022
