Global research group The Hurun Research Institute has released its UK Under 30s 2024 list today, showcasing outstanding young entrepreneurs who are driving growth and job creation in the United Kingdom.
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 and 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 apparel and accessories sector. These include Archie Hewlett, the founder of the footwear brand Duke + Dexter. David Beckham and Rihanna are among the celebrities who have worn Hewlett’s shoes.
The research also showcases pioneering entrepreneurs who are building environmentally friendly ventures and 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 who deliver 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.
Langley has tripled profits in just five years 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 Under 30s have created businesses worth more than $1 billion. In previous years, 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.
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. Five are in the East of England, five in the South East, four in the East Midlands, and four 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 Under 30s 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 start-up.”
Nine of the 82 business leaders featured attended Imperial College London for either undergraduate or postgraduate study, more than any other university. Oxford came second with eight 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 Under 30s entrepreneurs featured is 28. Piers Millar, the youngest at 22, is one of the founders of Kaikaku, a robot developer using artificial intelligence to transform restaurant food preparation. 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 £4.5m.
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 Under 30s 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 £100m.
For a founder to appear in one of Hurun’s Under 30s lists, a person would usually need to have either founded or co-founded a company worth at least US$10 million – a standard benchmark worldwide. “Next generation” entries are usually required to manage investments or revenues of US$20 million to qualify.
The 2024 Hurun UK Under 30s is part of a family of over 3,000 young entrepreneurs from five countries, including China, India, the US, and Canada.
About Hurun Inc.
Established in the UK in 1999, Hurun is a research, media, and investment group that promotes entrepreneurship through its lists and research.
Best known today for the Hurun Rich List, which tells the stories of the world’s successful entrepreneurs in China, India, and the world, Hurun’s other main series are the Hurun Unicorn and Uth series. Hurun generated 8 billion views on the Hurun brand last year, mainly in China and India.
Hurun is the world’s largest classifier of unicorns and future unicorns. The Hurun Unicorns series includes 3000 unicorns and Future Unicorns in 2024. Of the 1453 unicorns from around the world, the UK has 53, and of 1500 future unicorns in the world, classified as Gazelles (most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within three years) and Cheetahs (to ‘go unicorn’ within five years), the UK has 84, ranking fourth in the world after the US, China and India.
The Hurun Uth series is about promoting young entrepreneurs to investors, local government and strategic partners, who can help them think big and grow faster and bigger. The Uth series starts with the Under 25s (to qualify, you have to be a founder of a business worth over US$1mn), Under 30s (over US$10mn), Under 35s (over US$50mn) and Under 40s (over US$100mn). 2024 is the third year of the Hurun UK Under 30s, the second year of the UK Under 35s and the first year of the UK Under 40s.
In the last few years, Hurun has hosted high-profile events in China and India, as well as London, Paris, New York, LA, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, Luxembourg, Istanbul, Dubai, and Singapore.
More information on the entrepreneurs can be found here: https://www.hurun.co.uk/uk-under30s-report-2024.