The 82 entries have together set up businesses with a combined value of more than £2.3 billion and between them created 1,250 jobs.

This year’s UK list features well-known business leaders such as Olivia Jenkins, the founder of the jewellery brand D. Louise, and Levi and Teddie Levenfiche, brothers who landed investment for their health drinks brand PerfectTed after appearing on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, as well as less well-known entrepreneurs who have already created ventures worth at least $10 million. 

Mati Staniszewski, a co-founder of ElevenLabs, is the young business leader to have created the most valuable company covered in this year’s research. His AI-powered synthetic voice developer has secured unicorn status with a valuation of more than $1 billion.

Plantmade’s Ama Amo-Agyei and the siblings behind the Sister and Seekers, Alice and Maisie Jones, are among 21 women featured. Amo-Agyei set up her haircare brand after being made redundant at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic while the Jones sisters launched their fashion label with £2,000 saved from selling vintage clothes on eBay.

Two sectors, biotech and food & beverages, each have fourteen representatives in this year’s list – more than any other. Biotech founders named include Sioned Jones, Lydia Mapstone, and Tara O’Driscoll, the trio behind infant nutrition biotech BoobyBiome.

Eleven of those listed in Hurun’s UK Under30s have grown ventures in the apparels & accessories sector. These include Archie Hewlett, the founder of footwear brand Duke + Dexter. David Beckham and Rihanna are among the celebrities to have worn Hewlett’s shoes.  

The research also showcases pioneering entrepreneurs building environmentally friendly ventures creating innovative new low-carbon products. These include the founders behind FlexSea, the developer of a biodegradable packaging film, and Natural Building Systems, a maker of cladding and construction materials made from hemp and other natural substances.  

For the first time Hurun’s UK Under30s list features founders as well as “next generation” business leaders delivering strong growth in their family’s businesses. Entries in this category this year include Eleanor Thatcher of Thatchers Cider and William Langley of the industrial group Langley Holdings.

Thatcher is now a full board member of the Somerset-based drinks brand with a brief to reduce the business’ footprint and recently led the launch of Juicy Apple, a cider created entirely using renewable energy. In just five years Langley has tripled profits at Reader Cement Products, a subsidiary of his father’s diverse industrial group. He is also now on the board at the conglomerate’s parent company. Four of this year’s 82 Under30s are classed as “next generation”.

Alumni from previous generations of Hurun UK Under30s have created business worth more than $1 billion. Unicorn founders Ben Francis and Lewis Morgan, the entrepreneurs who set up athleisure label Gymshark, and the pair behind payments firm Paddle, Christian Owens and Harrison Rose, appeared in previous years.

Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher, said: “These inspiring young entrepreneurs are the future of the British economy. Our country rightly celebrates the achievements of young musicians and young sportsmen. It’s vital business founders of the same age also get the credit and recognition they deserve.

“Some of these young pioneers are helping address some of the world’s most pressing medical and environmental challenges. We all benefit from their passion and hard work. Their ventures create products and services we want and need while generating thousands of jobs and millions of pounds for the public finances.

“It will be fascinating to watch how their businesses progress in the years and decades ahead. Some of these fresh ventures will before long develop into multi-billion pound operations. Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have vowed to ‘kickstart economic growth’. These are the people who can help the new Labour government do exactly that and they need to be supported – not stifled.”

Fifty-four (65.9%) of the entrepreneurs featured in this year’s Hurun UK Under30s research have ventures in London. There are 5 in the East of England, 5 in the South East, 4 in the East Midlands and 4 in the South West.

There is also a strong showing for young business leaders who have come to the UK from overseas. Beren Kayali, who set up life-saving water tank manufacturer Deploy Tech hails from Turkey. Jai Kanwar, the founder of the logistics platform Zeus Labs, moved to the UK from Hungary. At least a quarter of this year’s entries are thought to have started their lives in another country - a far higher proportion than in Hurun Under30s research in China and India.

Hoogewerf added: “Britain benefits from being an attractive place for entrepreneurs to launch and grow their ventures. Top class universities attract many of the world’s bright young people and after they graduate they have a strong pool of potential investors often ready and willing to back their startup.”

Nine of the 82 business leaders featured attended Imperial College London for either undergraduate or post-graduate study, more than any other university. Oxford came second with 8 alumni in this year’s Hurun U30s list - three more than last year. There were also strong showings for Cambridge (7), University College London (6) and the London School of Economics (5).

Significantly, 9 (11%) of those who appeared did not attend university - compared with 17% of the 2022 list and 13% of 2023’s research.

The average age of the Hurun Under30s entrepreneurs featured is 28 years old. The youngest at 22 years old is Piers Millar, one of the founders of Kaikaku – a robot developer using AI to transform food preparation in restaurants. The second and third youngest of the group are Ivan Tregear, Kaikaku's chief executive aged 23, and James Dacombe, of the neurotechnology firm CoMind aged 24.

Many of the business leaders cut their entrepreneurial teeth while still in their teens. Khurram Asif was just 11 years old when he started the YouTube channel that would evolve into TechSimulater. Annual profits at his tech firm have climbed to around £4.5 million.

Substantial seed capital is not always necessary to launch a successful business. Joe Seddon used the last £200 of his student loan to launch Zero Gravity. His online service helps people from poorer backgrounds access British universities and now employs 25 people.

Some of the Hurun UK Under30s entries have already sold their companies for large sums. Michael Ginzo was one of the founders of Hofy. The home-office assembly service was launched when the pandemic began and has now been sold for around £100 million.

For a founder to appear in one of Hurun’s Under30s lists a person would usually need to have either founded or co-founded a company considered to be worth at least $10 million – a standard benchmark across the world. “Next generation” entries are usually required to manage investments or revenues of $20 million to qualify.

The 2024 Hurun UK Under 30s are part of a family of more than 3,000 young entrepreneurs from 5 countries, including China, India, US and Canada.

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