People's Choice at the North Wales Awards

Semi-finalist | North Wales Awards

Iwan Pritchard

Co-Founder & CEO at Pelly

1 to 5 years experience

Building the future of football technology, from North Wales to clubs around the world.

Aspiring Leader Recognition Award
B2B Thought Leader of the Year Award
Business Innovator of the Year Award
Business of the Year Award
CEO of the Year Award
Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Fast-Growing Firm of the Year Award
Rising Star Leadership Award
Scale-Up Business Owner of the Year Award
Technology Leader of the Year Award

About Iwan

I’m the co-founder and CEO of Pelly, a North Wales technology company building the next generation of software for professional football clubs around the world. Born and raised on Anglesey, I’ve never believed that geography should determine the scale of your ambition. I’m driven by the challenge of building something genuinely world-class, taking on established industries, and turning ambitious ideas into businesses with global significance. At 25, I’m still at the beginning of that journey, but my ambition is clear: to build one of the most important technology companies to come out of Wales, and demonstrate what’s possible when you refuse to think small.

Iwan's video

A video from Iwan is coming soon.

Proudest achievements

Raised £850,000 in pre-seed investment, one of the largest pre-seed funding raises in Welsh history, achieved by one of the youngest co-founding teams in the country.
Co-founded and built Pelly into an international football technology company, securing long-term partnerships with professional clubs including Motherwell FC and SC Cambuur.
Secured a landmark partnership with the Football Association of Wales, making Pelly the Official Innovation Partner of the Cymru Leagues.
Named Global Startup of the Year at the 2025 Wales StartUp Awards.
Became an Official Innovation Partner of the 2026 UEFA European Under-19 Championship.
Built a talented, ambitious team creating technology for a global industry, with its roots firmly in Wales.
Turned a journey that began with a football magazine into a growing international business, demonstrating what's possible for young entrepreneurs with big ambitions.

People's Choice

Voting is open now

Aspiring Leader Recognition Award

B2B Thought Leader of the Year Award

Business Innovator of the Year Award

Business of the Year Award

CEO of the Year Award

Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Fast-Growing Firm of the Year Award

Rising Star Leadership Award

Scale-Up Business Owner of the Year Award

Technology Leader of the Year Award

It takes a few seconds and counts straight away.

Find Iwan online

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About Pelly

Pelly is a North Wales technology company on a mission to transform how professional football clubs operate. Football is a global, multi-billion-pound industry, yet many clubs still rely on fragmented systems, outdated processes and disconnected information to make some of their most important decisions. We're changing that. Pelly brings scouting, recruitment, performance analysis and wider football operations together into one intelligent platform, helping clubs make better decisions, work more efficiently and gain a competitive advantage. What makes us different is our ambition to go beyond simply providing software. We're building the technological infrastructure for a new era of football, where data, human expertise and artificial intelligence work together. Built on Anglesey, we're already working with professional clubs internationally, demonstrating that a company from North Wales can compete on a global stage.

About Iwan's team

We're a small, exceptionally talented team of people who share an ambition to build something extraordinary. Our team brings together expertise across technology, product development, football, design and commercial strategy. Everyone plays a meaningful role in shaping the business, and we're united by a genuine belief in what we're building. We've created a culture built on trust, ownership and openness, where good ideas matter more than job titles, people are encouraged to challenge one another, and everyone has the freedom to do their best work. We're ambitious, move incredibly quickly and hold ourselves to high standards. Above all, we're a group of people who genuinely enjoy working together and take enormous pride in what we're achieving.

The journey

My journey started long before Pelly. It began with a football magazine, which eventually led me into The Scouted Hub, and ultimately to co-founding Pelly alongside Tomos Owen and Stephen Hickinbotham. What started as a passion for football gradually became an ambition to build something much bigger. Each chapter taught me something different, from creating something people genuinely cared about to understanding an industry, building relationships and recognising opportunities to do things differently. The journey hasn't been a straight line. There have been plenty of difficult decisions, setbacks and moments of uncertainty, particularly when you're building something ambitious with limited resources. But each experience has shaped the entrepreneur I've become. Today, we've raised investment, built an incredible team and taken Pelly into professional football clubs internationally. I'm enormously proud of that progress, especially at 25, but I still feel like we're only just getting started.

Why your vote matters

A vote for me would mean an enormous amount, not just personally, but to everyone who's played a part in our journey. We've taken some big risks, made plenty of sacrifices and put everything we have into building something we believe in. To have that recognised by the people and business community of North Wales would be incredibly special. I'm proud to be from Anglesey, and I want our story to encourage other young people with big ambitions to pursue them, wherever they're from and whatever their circumstances. More than anything, your vote would be a recognition of the brilliant people around me who work tirelessly to turn our ambitions into reality. We're still at the beginning of our journey, and having that support behind us would mean a great deal.

Help Iwan win

The People's Choice goes to the nominee with the most votes. Voted already? Send this page to three people who know Iwan: that is how nominees win.

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People's Choice

Voting is open now

Aspiring Leader Recognition Award

B2B Thought Leader of the Year Award

Business Innovator of the Year Award

Business of the Year Award

CEO of the Year Award

Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Fast-Growing Firm of the Year Award

Rising Star Leadership Award

Scale-Up Business Owner of the Year Award

Technology Leader of the Year Award

It takes a few seconds and counts straight away.

People's Choice

Voting is open now

Aspiring Leader Recognition Award

B2B Thought Leader of the Year Award

Business Innovator of the Year Award

Business of the Year Award

CEO of the Year Award

Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Fast-Growing Firm of the Year Award

Rising Star Leadership Award

Scale-Up Business Owner of the Year Award

Technology Leader of the Year Award

It takes a few seconds and counts straight away.

Iwan's road to the ceremony

Nominated
Nominated on 2 September 2026
People's Choice voteYou are here
Voting is open now
Semi-finalists announced
Iwan is a semi-finalist; the finalists are announced next
The awards ceremony
Thursday, 29 October 2026 at Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff CF11 8AZ, United Kingdom

Every vote now carries Iwan one step closer to that stage.

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