Hurun UK Under 30s 2022
The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun UK Under 30s 2022, a list of the 100 leading young entrepreneurs aged 30 or under in the UK.
Hurun UK Under 30s 2022
Celebrating the UK’s outstanding young entrepreneurs
100 young British entrepreneurs make inaugural Hurun UK Under 30s
The Hurun Research Institute today reveals outstanding young entrepreneurs shaping the future of the UK economy
· Gymshark’s Ben Francis, Steven Bartlett of Catena Capital and Social Chain, and Grace Beverley, TALA founder, among the best of Britain’s under-30 entrepreneurs
· UK has ‘one of the best start-up ecosystems in the world’
· Fashion ‘steals the show’ with the highest proportion of represented entrepreneurs, followed by the Food and Drink sector
· Founder of religious app Glorify, youngest British entrepreneur included, at just 23 years old
· London is home to the highest number of entrepreneurs in the Hurun UK Under 30s, followed by the Midlands
· Hurun UK Under 30s marks first time top 100 British entrepreneurs under the age of 30 have been identified
[17 October 2022, London]: The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun UK Under 30s 2022, a list of the 100 leading young entrepreneurs aged 30 or under in the UK.
The inaugural UK list includes high-profile business founders such as Gymshark’s Ben Francis and tech billionaire Johnny Boufarhat of Hopin, as well as less well-known entrepreneurs already generating annual sales of more than £1m or raising substantial investment.
The fashion sector has the highest proportion of represented entrepreneurs in the UK Under 30s, followed by the food and drink sector.
29 women make the list. There is also a strong showing for young business leaders from ethnic minority backgrounds, reflecting Britain’s increasingly diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The average age of the 100 entrepreneurs featured is 28 years and six months. Edward Beccle, the co-founder of the religious app Glorify, is the youngest at just 23 years old.
Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher, said: “The Hurun UK Under 30s is a celebration of the most successful young entrepreneurs in the country, the most likely to build the homegrown billion-dollar businesses of the future. I hope the Hurun UK Under 30s can inspire the next generation of ambitious entrepreneurs.
“The Hurun UK Under 30s have built businesses worth an average of £100mn, remarkable for such young entrepreneurs. Although this is distorted by the likes of Hopin, Gymshark and Marshmallow, there are probably a dozen or more with valuations of over £100mn. If they can build a business this big by the age of 30, imagine how big they could get when they get to the age of Jeff Bezos, James Dyson or Warren Buffett. You can safely say they are the most likely billionaires of the future, especially as founder teams and investors are becoming more experienced at knowing how to focus on value creation over sales.”
Oxford University’s alumni produced the most Hurun UK Under 30s, followed by the universities of Bath and Warwick. World-class universities are of critical importance to a successful start-up ecosystem.
The UK has one of the best start-up ecosystems in the world, coming in fourth after the US, China and India, with 46 known unicorns (billion-dollar start-ups from the 2000s not yet publicly traded) and 30 gazelles (US$500mn dollar start-ups from the 2000s, not yet publicly traded and most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within three years).
Rupert Hoogewerf continued, “A successful start-up ecosystem requires role models, both individuals, such as those from the Hurun Rich Lists, and companies, such as those from the Hurun 500 most valuable companies series. If a city or country can attract the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and companies to set up shop there, that will have a roll-on effect. Entrepreneurship is infectious and cities with lots of role models are likely to attract the brightest and best young entrepreneurs. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.
“The role of investors is evolving to mentorship and scale-up opportunities, rather than just providers of cash. The world’s leading venture capitalists are building ecosystems with their portfolios, hugely attractive to the world’s fastest-growing start-ups. Being able to say you have one of the top venture capitalist brands as an investor adds significant credibility to a start-up.
“Hurun Report is committed to promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research. For every successful start-up you see, there are thousands of failed companies, as well as a new generation of future unicorns coming through. I hope this list of the UK’s most successful Under 30s can help young entrepreneurs find role models for their businesses.”
Brothers Reiss and Kristian Edgerton set up fast-growing women’s gymwear brand AYBL. With girlfriend Alice Cross, Reiss set up Because of Alice. Notably, the Edgerton brothers were at school with Gymshark founders Ben Francis and Lewis Morgan, making South Bromsgrove High School in Worcestershire the school with the highest number of alumni on the Hurun UK Under 30s.
Grace Beverley established gym clothing brand TALA, which has generated sales of more than £10 million since its launch in 2019.
Natalie Glaze and Zanna van Dyke together set up Stay Wild Swim, making swimwear from recycled plastic.
Alexander and Oliver Kent-Braham are the first black British brothers to set up a unicorn, fintech Marshmallow.
Harry Stebbings made his name with his “Twenty Minute VC” podcast, before becoming a tech investor in his own right. The university dropout has raised more than £100 million to back UK start-ups.
Husband and wife team Dan and Melanie Marsden of lingerie retailer Lounge Underwear have shown the enormous potential of social media, as they have grown sales to £55 million last year.
Stephen Bartlett became the youngest entrepreneur panelist on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den. At the age of 22 he launched Social Chain with Dominic McGregor, growing revenues to around £150 million before merging the digital media business with a German firm. Bartlett has now launched his private equity operation, Catena Capital.
Thirteen of the business leaders are operating in the fashion industry, with 11 in food and drink, nine in healthcare and eight in marketing.
60 of the young entrepreneurs' businesses are based in London, with Solihull, Leeds, Manchester and Redditch amongst the regional hotspots.
The university of Oxford led with six alumni on this year’s list, followed by Bath and Warwick with five, and Cardiff, Durham, Exeter, LSE, Manchester, Nottingham Trent and UCL with three.
Four pairs of siblings appear - the Edgerton brothers, the Kerr sisters, the Kent-Braham brothers and the Holmes-Darby brothers.
Evie and Oliver Bristowe, the pair behind the animal products brand Pets Purest, also feature in the Hurun UK Under 30s.
The 100 Hurun UK Under 30s are part of a family of over 1000 Under 30s from 10 countries, the others being China, India, US, Canada, Germany, Spain, South Korea, UAE and Australia.
Hurun UK Under 30s 2022
By Region and City
By Sector Operating Within
By Means of Disruption
Male/Female Split
Most Successful Alumni
17 did not attend university, whilst 83 studied for at least one degree. 6 studied at universities overseas, led by 2 from the US and China and one from each of Holland and Italy. 5 went to university but it is not known which one.
Brief Bios of Hurun UK Under 30s 2022
Mark Abraham
Abraham named Shackle after the iconic explorer Ernest Shackleton. His London-based tech firm’s app digitises checking in and other processes for hotel visitors. In July 2022 Shackle raised seed funding of around £5m.
Tobi Ajala
TechTee develops software for Gucci, Deutsche Bank and Nike. Ajala founded the business after working as a programmer for Apple and the BBC. She has grown TechTee’s turnover to more than £1 million.
Sean Ali
Ali has overcome Hodgkin's Lymphona to grow his superfoods brand Rheal, which he started with Charlotte Bailey. The pair have sold their snacks, powders and other healthy products to more than 100,000 customers and are expected to grow sales to more than £6.9m this year.
Timothy Armoo
Digital agency Fanbytes specialises in producing content for Warner Music, McDonald's, Deliveroo and the British government. Armoo launched the venture during the second year of his computer science degree. He raised £2 million of funding and grew his workforce to 60 before selling up in the summer of 2022.
Ben Askins
Verb Brands is a digital agency specialising in luxury brands with offices in London, Manchester and Shanghai. Harrods, Bugatti and Net-a-Porter are all clients. Turnover in January 2021 alone exceeded £400,000. Askins co-founded Verb in 2013 and sold the venture last year. He will continue to serve as managing director.
Alexandra Auger
The Juice Executive makes fruit juice, smoothies and other drinks. Auger founded and owns the Kent-based manufacturer, which has grown annual turnover to £1.8 million - 70% of which is to corporate clients.
Charlotte Bailey
Bailey and her business partner Sean Ali set up their superfoods brand Rheal in their final year at Nottingham Trent University. Sales of the pair's snacks, powders and other healthy products are expected to top £6.9m this year.
Steven Bartlett
Bartlett in 2021 became the youngest entrepreneur to become a panelist on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den. At the age of 22 he launched Social Chain with Dominic McGregor, growing revenues to around £150 million before merging the digital media business with a German firm. Bartlett has now launched his private equity operation, Catena Capital.
Charlie Baron
Baron and Hugo Tilmouth run theup,co. The pair’s venture began with ChargedUp, providing access to charging banks for phone and tablets kept at more than 30,000 bars and other hospitality venues across Europe. During the pandemic they expanded to offer payments and sanitiser services for the hospitality industry. theup.co last year secured £7 million of investment.
James Barthorpe
Food Circle Supermarket buys excess stock from manufacturers that would otherwise be wasted and sells it on to customers. Barthorpe co-founded the business with Paul Simpson, growing annual turnover to £1.5 million within three years.
Edward Beccle
Beccle co-founded Glorify, an app that helps Christians follow daily habits of worship and scripture readings. A £29.4 million fundraising recently valued the business at £184 million. He sold his earlier mentoring serving to the coaching business Hintsa in 2021.
Dan Beckles
Beckles and his childhood friend Monty George set up Furniture Box in 2015. The Wiltshire-based retailer sells beds, sofas and other products imported from China. Sales grew to £9.4 million in 2020.
Grace Beverley
Beverley's gym clothing brand TALA has generated sales of more than £10 million since its launch in 2019. She previously launched the fitness app Shreddy, which gives gym users workout advice.
Johnny Boufarhat
Australian-born Boufarhat launched Hopin in early 2020. The video conferencing service thrived during the pandemic, with a fundraising in August 2021 valuing the business at more than £5.7 billion.
Leo Bowden
Belfast-based Bowden Property is the largest independent letting agency in Northern Ireland. Bowden founded the business in 2017 and has grown annual turnover to £1.7 million.
Joe Brammer
Brammer co-founded Bulkhead Interactive, the software developer behind hits games including The Turing Test and Battalion 1944. Japan's Square Enix bought a 20% stake in the company for £2 million in 2018.
Anna Brightman
A former area manager at supermarket giant Aldi, Brightman launched UpCircle Beauty with her brother William. Their ethical cosmetics brand makes scrubs and other products from waste ground coffee, generating annual sales of more than £1 million.
Evie Bristowe
Bristowe met her husband Oliver at primary school. The pair founded their pet treatment business with £600 in 2017 and have grown annual sales to £6.3m.
Oliver Bristowe
Bristowe teamed up with his wife Evie to launch Pets Purest, which sells treatments and snacks for cats, dogs and other animals. Annual sales have grown to £6.3 million.
Chris Butcher
Cheq Payments helps Deliveroo and other gig economy operators predict cashflows and manage fluctuation earnings. Software developer Butcher co-founded the fintech, which raised £1.7m in May 2022 - adding to £8m already secured.
Charlotte Casebourne
Casebourne co-founded and runs an Oxford University spinout that develops viruses that combat cancer. Theolytics has raised nearly £7.4 million of funding since it was founded in 2017.
Kyle Cassidy
Cassidy set up his Lincolnshire-based garden furniture retailer in 2019, teaming up with Philips Hue and other upmarket brands. Talor’s sales doubled to £2.6m in 2021.
Raphael Chow
Chow launched the first business to consumer VAT refund app after working for Deloite. His London-based fintech has attracted £3.7m of funding and has so far helped more than 70,000 people from 88 countries reclaim sales taxes. Chow also runs The Nest, which is billed as "a community of exceptional Chinese diaspora entrepreneurs in Britain".
Sam Coley
Coley set up a price comparison site for music gig tickets with Steve Pearce in 2015, attracting around £4 million of investment from Ministry of Sound and other backers. The pair have now pivoted TickX into a software developer for the travel and events industries.
Sam Cox
Better known as Mr Doodle, Cox held the sale of his first NFTs in July 2021. His work Spring sold for around £740,000 at the Tokyo Chuo Auction in 2019. The squiggly illustrator has 2.7 million followers on Instagram.
Alice Cross
After building up a following as an Instagram influencer, Cross launched her fashion label Because of Alice with her boyfriend Reiss Edgerton. He had previously set up the ath-leisure brand AYBL. Because of Alice generated £1.8 million sales in its first year of trading.
Nick D’Aloisio
D'Aloisio developed Summly while still at school, selling the news filtering app to Yahoo for around £20 million before his 18th birthday. His follow-up venture Sphere connects strangers with common interests on social media and was sold to Twitter in 2021 for an undisclosed sum.
Samuel Darkin
Darkin runs Apex Aero, which supplies reconditioned airplane parts for Boeing and Airbus craft. The Horsham-based firm's latest accounts show stock and other assets worth nearly £5 million on its balance sheet.
Matt Davis
Perlego is billed as the Netflix for textbooks. The ebooks platform specialises in academic and non-fiction titles. Davis co-founded the business with Gauthier Van Malderen. Perlego secured around £3.5 million of funding in 2018.
Kristian Edgerton
Edgerton set up women’s gymwear brand AYBL with his brother Reiss in 2018. Gymshark founder Lewis Morgan joined the business as executive chairman in late 2021, buying a stake that values AYBL at £50 million.
Reiss Edgerton
Edgerton was at school with Gymshark founders Ben Francis and Lewis Morgan. After building and selling watch brand Tayroc, he set up gym wear business AYBL with his brother Kristian and generated a £2.4 million profit in 2020-21.
Kyriakos Eleftheriou
Terra makes it easier for software developers to access fitness and health data from sports watches and other gadgets. A former commando in the Cypriot special forces, Eleftheriou co-founded the operation with Raouf Yousfi. The pair secured £2.1 million of investment from General Catalyst in June 2021.
Christian Facey
AudioMob specialises in developing in unobtrusive in-game advertising. Facey set up the developer after working for Google and has raised £11.8 million of funding - valuing the operation at £81 million.
Georgina Felce
Felce is COO and co-founder of Talewind, a development studio operating within the "Roblox" metaverse. The Bournemouth-based outfit has raised more than £3.4m of investment.
Ben Francis
University dropout Francis set up Gymshark with Lewis Morgan from his parents’ house in 2012. Eight years later the pair sold a stake to US investor General Atlantic valuing the ath-leisure clothing brand at around £1 billion.
Matthew Geleta
Geleta founded Hurr with Victoria Prew. The fashion rentals business attracted £4.1 million investment in a funding round towards the end of the 2021. Geleta has now moved on to work elsewhere.
Monty George
George was still in his teens went when he began selling quad bikes imported from China. In 2015 he set up Furniture Box, which sells imported sofas, tables, and beds. The Wiltshire-based retailer grew profits to £1.5 million in 2020.
Samuel Gill
Sylvera helps companies make better decisions about which carbon credits to buy. Gill founded the business, which has raised more than £32.8m of investment and signed up Cargill and Delta Airlines as clients.
Elizabeth Gilligan
Material Evolution is harnessing artificial intelligence to make concrete manufacturing more environmentally friendly. Gilligan founded the Teesside-based business, which secured £2.5 million of investment in late 2021.
Natalie Glaze
Stay Wild Swim makes swimwear and underwear from recycled plastics. Glaze and her friend Zanna Van Dijk launched the business in 2018. Annual sales exceed £1 million.
Sasha Haco
Haco worked alongside Professor Stephen Hawking while completing her PhD at Cambridge. Her artificial intelligence start-up Unitary helps moderate harmful content on websites and raised £1.3 million in seed funding in March 2020.
Jennifer Higgins
Higgins launched The Wee House Company in 2013. The Scottish construction company completes 90% of its buildings from its factory and last year agreed a £9.8 million joint venture to deliver Scotland's largest modular social housing project.
Joel Holmes-Darby
Holmes-Darby and his brother Kieran founded Excel Esports in 2014. The franchise’s players compete at Fortnite, Fifa and other hit games. In late 2021 the business raised £17 million from City investors, valuing Excel at £100 million.
Kieran Holmes-Darby
Holmes-Darby founded esports franchise Excel with his brother Joel. The brand's players compete at Fortnite and League of Legends. A fund raising in late 2021 raised £17 million and valued the operation at £100 million.
Sam Horbye
Olsam helps ecommerce businesses scale up. Horbye co-founded the business after working for Amazon and has secured more than £140m of investment.
Ryan Howell
M-XR develops augmented reality experiences for brands, studios and other clients. Howell co-founded M-XR and is chief executive. M-XR has received £1 million of funding from fashion website FarFetch and other investors.
Ben Jeffries
Jeffries and Caspar Lee launched Influencer, which helps Pepsi, Apple, McDonald’s and other brands form partnerships with stars from Instagram and other social media platforms. A first fundraising brought in £3 million.
Mariam Jimoh
A former Rothschild banker, Jimoh is building an online supermarket for African and Caribbean food. Oja - which takes its name from a Nigerian word for "market" - recently attracted £2.5 million of investment. Jimoh previously created WCAN, a venture which provided personal and professional development for black women.
George Kalligeros
Kalligeros set up electric vehicle start-up Pushme with Dan Keene after working for Tesla and Bentley Motors. German e-scooter specialist Tier Mobility snapped up their venture in early 2020.
Dan Keene
Keene, a former investment banker, launched Pushme with George Kalligeros in 2017. The company creates power systems for electric scooters and other forms of transport. Tier, Europe’s largest e-scooter firm, snapped up Pushme in 2020.
Alexander Kent-Braham
Kent-Braham and his twin brother Alexander have grown sales at their specialist insurer Marshmallow to more than £100m. A £62m fundraising last year valued the business at £900m.
Oliver Kent-Braham
Kent-Braham and his twin brother Oliver launched Marshmallow, the first unicorn to be created by black British-born entrepreneurs.A fundraising last year valued the speciaist insurer at £900m.
Georgina Kerr
Stinky Stuff sells natural remedies for dogs, horses and other animals. The Kerr sisters set up the business and generated £3.1 million sales in 2019-20.
Olivia Kerr
Kerr and her sister Georgina set up Stinky Stuff, which sells natural remedies for dogs, horses and other animals. The Leeds-based business made profits of £1.1 million in 2019-20.
Mustafa Khanwala
Khanwala set up MishiPay with Tanvi Bhardwaj. The barcode-scanning app lets shoppers pay for goods without having queue up at tills. MishiPay’s clients include Spar and Muji. The business has attracted nearly £5.3 million of investment.
Peter Kirby
Kirby and fellow Durham University graduate Will Smith have raised £1 million of funding for green debit card Tred - valuing the business at around £6m. The Tred card is made of recycled plastic and enables users to track, cut and offset their carbon footprint as they spend.
Darcy Laceby
Laceby set up Absolute Collagen with her mother in 2015. The business sells a range of anti-aging treatments and grew sales to more than £17m in 2021.
Bo van Langeveld
While working in finance Langeveld noticed how many colleagues kicked off their working shoes as soon as they could. This led him to launch Baudoin & Lange, which sets out to make comfortable, smart footwear. The shoe manufacturer closed a £3.8 million funding round in early 2021 and now generates annual sales of several million pounds.
Dana Lattouf
Tickitto creates ticket-buying platforms for the events and travel industry. Jordanian-born Lattouf founded the Bristol-based developer in 2018 after working for Accenture, so far raising £3.3 million of funding.
Caspar Lee
Lee began his career as an actor and Youtuber. In 2017 he teamed up with Ben Jeffries to launch Influencer, which helps Pepsi, Apple, McDonald’s and other major brands forge partnerships with stars from Instagram and social media platforms. A first fundraising brought in £3 million.
Joe Lewin
Lewin founded the electric scooter service operator Zwings. He is in the process of selling the business and has already raised £1 million of funding for his next venture.
Ryan Lindsay
Lindsay founded Right Now Recruitment, which specialises in providing staff for Heathrow Airport. In 2021-22 there were revenues of nearly £3.7 million.
Eric Liu
Liu, a Chinese national, set up Asian food delivery service HungryPanda in 2017. The London-based operation has already raised more than £190 million in funding.
Yang Liu
Liu co-founded sustainable underwear brand Just Wears in 2018. A funding round in late 2021 raised £2.6 million for the manufacturer, which makes its products from an Austrian tree fibre that requires less water than cotton and other traditional materials.
Dominic McGregor
McGregor co-founded Social Chain with Steve Bartlett, merging the digital media business with a German business in a £150 million deal two years ago. McGregor stood down as chief operating officer of Social Chain in November 2020 and has now launched Fearless Adventures, an investment fund backing UK start-ups.
Tommy Mallet
Best known from his appearances on the TV show The Only Way is Essex, Mallet's footwear brand generated sales of £11.8 million in 2020. The London-based trainer retailer's latest accounts show a £1.2 million dividend and £6 million of shareholder funds.
Melanie Marsden
Marsden and her husband Daniel set up the online lingerie retailer Lounge Underwear in 2015. Canny use of social media helped drive sales to £55 million in 2020-21.
George Melhuish
Safe Fence supplies temporary fencing, barriers and scaffolding. Melhuish, a former HSBC banker, founded the business, which grew profits to £1.7 million on £13.8 million sales in 2020.
Valentina Milanova
Bulgarian-born Milanova founded Daye, which makes and sells CBD-infused organic tampons. She has raised £4.23 million of funding for the London-based venture.
Siddhi Mittal
Mittal teamed up with her former Barclays colleague Heinin Zhang to launch Yhangry. The online service has a roster of more than 200 chefs who can be booked to cook meals at a customer’s home. Yhangry raised £1.1 million in funding shortly before a successful appearance on the BBC show Dragons' Den raised another £100,000.
Charlie Morgan
Morgan set up the fashionable drinks brand AU Vodka with school friend Jackson Quinn. Sales exceeded £45m in 2021.
Lewis Morgan
Morgan co-founded Gymshark with his school friend Ben Francis. After selling his stake in the £1 billion clothing brand in 2020, he moved into property and set up construction firm Ernest Cole. Morgan in late 2021 joined AYBL, a gym wear brand launched by another friend from his school days.
Bejay Mulenga
Mulenga founded Supa Network, an entrepreneurial skills service that has trained more than 10,000 people and partnered with Facebook, Barclays, River Island and Pepsi. He became the youngest person to receive the Queen's Award for Enterprise at the age of just 20.
Sidney Neuhaus
Neuhaus set up Kimai with her childhood friend Jessica Warch. The ethical jewellery brand grows its diamonds in labs and only uses recycled gold. Turnover approached £4 million 2021.
Gini Newton
Newton and her sister Ecci founded food delivery service Karma Kans, which delivers health lunches to offices. They later launched Karma Kitchen, which assembles co-working and commercial space for food businesses and in 2020 attracted more than £250 million of investment to fund new kitchens.
Wilfrid Obeng
AudioMob specialises in developing in unobtrusive in-game advertising. Obeng and Christian Facey set up the developer after working for Google and has raised £11.8 million of funding - valuing the operation at £81 million.
Stephen Pearce
Pearce and his business partner Sam Coley set up TickX as a price comparison site for gig tickets, soon attracting £4 million of funding from Ministry of Sound and other investors. The business has now evolved into a software development outfit for the events and travel industries.
Victoria Prew
Former chartered surveyor Prew is capitalising on the shift to a more sustainable fashion industry by allowing customers to rent party dresses and other clothes. Prew launched Hurr in 2019 with Matthew Geleta. Annual revenues have reached around £1.85 million. A fundraising in late 2021 secured £4.1 million of investment.
Jackson Quinn
Quinn set up AU Vodka, a Swansea drinks business in 2016. There were profits of more than £15m last year.
Cherish Reardon
Reardon was a stay-at-home mum before setting up her fashion business Popsy Clothing, which specialises in making vintage frocks. Turnover passed £1 million in 2020 and Popsy prides itself on making all its dresses in the UK.
Henrietta Rix
Rix co-founded fashion label RIXO after working for ASOS and Selfridges. Profits rose to £3.6m on £10.3m sales in 2020-21.
Rupert Rixon
Rixon's Perspective Pictures generated turnover of around £1.25 million in 2020. Based in London's Mile End district, the agency specialises in making content suitable for TikTok, Instagram and other platforms for Redbull, Deliveroo, Rolls-Royce and other clients.
Carrie Rose
Rose started digital marketing agency Rise at Seven in 2019. Over the first two years she attracted 65 clients, including Boohoo and xBox. Annual turnover already exceeds £4 million.
Elliott Round
M-XR develops computered generated augmented reality for brands, studios and other clients. Round co-founded M-XR with Ryan Howell and is chief technology officer. M-XR has received more than £1 million of funding from fashion website FarFetch and other investors.
Akshay Ruparelia
Ruparelia set up Doorsteps.co.uk at the age of 19 from his bedroom, choosing to prioritise the online estate agent rather than head to university. A £2 million funding round valued the business at £18 million.
Theo Saville
Saville co-founded autonomous manufacturing specialist CloudNC. The Chelmsford-based business has attracted more than £9 million of investment and was recognised as a World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer in 2021.
Leo Scott Smith
Tended makes high-tech wristbands and other wearable technology that helps warn construction workers from onsite hazards. Scott Smith founded the health and safety specialist in 2017 and has so far attracted £4.4 million of investment.
Will Smith
Leeds-based Tred will allow users to track their carbon emissions based on their spending habits. Smith set up the fintech with fellow Durham University graduate Will Smith and have raised £1 million of investment.
George Smithies
Chartered engineer Smithies co-founded innDex, which provides software for construction firms. Based in North Wales, the operation now has offices in London and India. Annual revenues came in at around £2.9 million in 2020.
Luke Sparkes
Sparkes set up South Kensington-based Smith & Partner, which sells limited edition prints and NFTs. Sales grew to nearly £2 million in 2019.
Harry Stebbings
Stebbings made his name with his “Twenty Minute VC” podcast. Now a serious tech investor in his own right, the university dropout has raised more than £100 million to back UK start-ups.
Hugo Tilmouth
Tilmouth co-founded theup.co with Charlie Baron. The pair began by offering an app which showed hospitality venues where users could access power banks to recharge their mobile phones. They have now moved into providing payment systems and sanitisers for bars and over venues, recently attracting £7 million of investment.
Ben Towers
Towers' new venture Tahora helps staff working remotely collaborate more effectively with office-based colleagues. The venture has received around £1 million of funding, including from Monzo founder Tom Blomfield. Towers sold his digital marketing company while still in his teens and later served as an adviser to the UK's Department for Business.
Zanna Van Dijk
Stay Wild Swim makes swimwear and underwear from recycled plastics. Van Dijk and her friend Natalie Glaze launched the business in 2018. Annual sales now exceed £1 million.
Gauthier Van Malderen
Van Malderen set up Perlego with his school friend Matthew Davis. The ebooks platform allows users to buy or rent textbooks from more than 1,000 different publishers. Perlego secured around £3.5 million of funding in 2018.
Reece Wabara
A former England U20 international defender who played for Manchester City, Wabara set up Maniere De Voir in 2013. He retired from football four years later to devote more time to his online fashion retailer and grew sales to £23.4 million in 2020.
Jessica Warch
Warch's environmentally-friendly jewellery brand Kimai grows its diamonds in labs. She founded the business with her childhood friend Sidney Neuhaus, attracting around £900,000 of funding in 2019.
Matthew Wilson
Wilson is co-founder of Omnipresent, which helps companies employ remote working teams in more than 150 countries. A Series B fundraising in March 2022 raised $120m.
Raouf Yousfi
Former PwC consultant Yousfi teamed up with Kyriakos Elftheriou to set up Terra, which is making it easier for software developers to harness fitness data from sports watches and other gadgets. The venture has secured £2.1 million of investment from General Catalyst and has also received funding from Samsung.
Heinin Zhang
YHANGRY allows users to book a private chef to cook a first-class meal in their own home. Zhang co-founded the business with her former Barclays colleague Siddhi Mittal and the pair raised £1.1 million of funding in April 2021.
Our Methodology
Entrepreneurs who appear in our rankings have to have founded or co-founded a UK-based business that met at least one of our three criteria: raised investment of at least £1m, grown annual sales to more than £1m or have been sold for over £1m. Hurun Research would particularly like to thank Robert Watts of Threshold Editorial for his research advice and support.
About Hurun Inc.
Promoting Entrepreneurship Through Lists and Research
Oxford, Shanghai, Mumbai, Sydney
Established in the UK in 1999, Hurun is a research, media and investments group, which generated 8 billion views on the Hurun brand in 2021 – mainly in China and India – on the back of providing lists and research reports.
Best-known today for the Hurun Rich List series, ranking the most successful entrepreneurs in China, India and the world, Hurun’s other key properties include the Hurun 500, a ranking of the world’s most valuable companies, and the Hurun Start-up series, a comprehensive listing of the world’s start-ups and outstanding young entrepreneurs.
The Hurun Start-up series begins with the Hurun U30s, an award recognizing the most successful entrepreneurs under the age of thirty, and is today in ten countries. Next up are Hurun Cheetahs, start-ups with a valuation of between US$300mn to US$500mn, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within five years. Hurun Global Gazelles Index recognizes start-ups with a valuation of US$500mn to US$1bn, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within three years. The culmination of the start-up series is the Hurun Global Unicorn Index. You can see links here: Hurun Global Unicorns on and the Hurun Global Gazelles as well as the Hurun Global VCs.
Hurun has been hosting the Hurun U30s Awards in China since 2017 and this year is with 10 countries, including China, India, US, Canada, Germany, Spain, South Korea, UAE, Australia and the UK. Upcoming Hurun U30s events include London on Oct 17, Sydney on Oct 20, LA on Nov 10, Shanghai on Nov 18, Boston on Jan 12 and Abu Dhabi on Jan 23-25.
Hurun hosted high-profile events in the last couple of years across China and India, as well as London, Paris, New York, LA, Sydney, Luxembourg, Istanbul, Dubai and Singapore.
Hurun provides research reports co-branded with some of the world’s leading financial institutions, real estate developers and regional governments.
For further information, see www.hurun.net or www.hurun.co.uk
Hurun UK Under30s 2021
These 31yr-olds made the list originally planned for release last year, and have been included here today.
Brief Bios of the Hurun UK Under30s 2021
Ben Amanna
A keen boxer himself, Amanna created the sportswear and equipment brand BOXRAW. Turnover doubled to £3.9 million in 2020.
Nicolai Baldin
Baldin launched Synthesized in 2017. The London-based tech firm enables banks and insurers to speed up the development of data-driven products and has so far raised nearly £2.6 million.
Laurence Bargery
AccuRx provides SMS alerts services and video conferencing for GPs’ surgeries. Bargery teamed up with Jacob Haddad to launch the healthcare app, which has been in strong demand during the pandemic. AccuRx raised an additional £27.5 million of investment in 2021.
Tanvi Bhardwaj
The MishiPay app allows shoppers to self-checkout by scanning a barcode and paying for items on their phone. Bhardwaj co-founded the operation, which has raised £5.29 million of funding.
Lucrezia Bisignani
Italian-born Bisignani founded Kukua, which creates cartoons, games, music and other media for children. Investment of around £1.8 million was raised in 2018. Bisignani is no longer UK-based.
Eliot Brooks
Thriva's testing kits can be used by customers to monitor their cholesterol or iron levels. Co-founded by Brooks in 2016, Thriva has since attracted £11 million of investment. Brooks serves as chief operating officer.
Chris Donnelly
Donnelly and Ben Askins founded Verb Brands, a digital agency with offices in London, Manchester and Shanghai. Harrods, Bugatti and Net-a-Porter are all clients. Turnover in January 2021 alone was put at £400,000. Verb has now been sold and Donnelly has now launched an app which helps users find the right care home.
Dominic Falcao
Falco ran Imperial College London's science startup programme, raising over £25 million of funding for student companies. He left in 2016 to found Deep Science Ventures, which channels investment at energy, agriculture, pharma and IT companies - so far helping launch more than 30 start-ups.
Matthew Goldhill
Goldhill founded and runs Picnic, which develops advertising features for websites with the slick feel of social media platforms. The developer has delivered more than 400 campaigns over the past four years and in late 2021 secured £2m of investment from Guinness Asset Management.
Joyce de Haas
Twins Joyce and Raissa de Haas launched Double Dutch Drinks in 2015. Brewing billionaire Charlene Heineken has bought a 10% stake in the Double Dutch, which has raised £5.1 million through several funding rounds.
Raissa de Haas
Twins Joyce and Raissa de Haas launched Double Dutch Drinks in 2015. The London-based drinks manufacturer's mixers are available in more than 4,500 bars and restaurants.
Jacob Haddad
AccuRx provides software which allows doctors to text patients securely to report test results and arrange appointments. Haddad set up the business with Laurence Bargery. The healthcare app thrived during the pandemic, raising an additional £27.5 million of investment during 2021.
Arthur Kay
Kay founded Bio-Bean, which recycles used coffee grounds into eco-friendly biofuels and biochemicals. Now entrepreneur in residence at University College London, his latest venture is Skyroom - an urban development company putting together a £100m fund to deliver affordable accommodation for London’s key workers.
Eshita Kabra-Davies
By Rotation is considered the Airbnb of designer fashion, allowing people to rent upmarket frocks or hire out clothes to other users. Kabra-Davies started the app while working as an investment analyst for a hedge fund. By Rotation has so far attracted 120,000 users.
Alex Latham
Savings and investment app Chip has more than 400,000 customers, together depositing more than £660 million. Latham serves as chief marketing officer and co-founded the fintech, which has raised more than £48 million.
Emma Leggett
Flexible People specialises in finding truck drivers for clients at short notice, both for casual and permanent positions. Leggett founded the business in 2014 and has grown annual turnover to more than £2 million.
Arthur Lowe
Smartify has been called the "Shazam and Spotify of art". The app identifies two million digitised artworks across 160 museums around the world. Lowe co-founded the business in 2015. Funding of £1 million was raised in November 2020 and Boris Johnson last year appointed Lowe as Youth Engagement Trustee at the Tate - making her the youngest trustee in the museum’s history
Daniel Marsden
Marsden and his wife Melanie began their online lingerie retailer by spending £1,000 on making 100 bras from home. Recruiting Instagram influencers has helped Lounge Underwear grow profits to £18.1 million in 2020-21.
Alex Mills
Mills set up Dynamo Cover after appearing on The Apprentice with Sir Alan Sugar. The Welshman’s insurer now generates annual revenues of around £15 million.
Evren Ozkarakasli
Ozkarakasli was already working in fashion when his friend Tommy Mallet, the reality TV star, asked him to create a pair of trainers. That would be the start of the pair’s footwear brand Mallet London. There were revenues of £11.8 million sales in 2020.
Charlotte Pearce
Pearce's marketing agency Inkpact specialises in delivering handwritten correspondence to customers on behalf of clients including Gymshark, Brewdog and John Lewis. Her "Scribe Tribe" who write the letters now numbers more than 700 people in the UK and US.
Ciaran Savage
Card Industry Professionals sources payment devices and systems for small businesses and other clients. Savage founded the business after working in the finance industry and has grown annual turnover to nearly £1.5 million.
Rushina Shah
Shah launched Insane Grain after working for Procter & Gamble. The health snack brand has raised £2.7 million from a series of investment rounds and sells its foods to clients including Sainsbury’s and Holland & Barrett.
Ahmed Shahrabani
Omani-born doctor Shahrabani co-founded a digital platform that helps NHS trusts find locum doctors to hospital work. Locum’s Nest now has more than 40,000 practitioners on its books and has attracted over £4.2 million of investment.
Abe Simpson
Simpson's property developer and house builder employs 50 staff and delivers residential, retail and holiday accommodation projects. His main company has £10.7 million of net assets.
Paul Simpson
Food Circle buys excess stock from manufacturers that would otherwise be wasted, selling it on to consumers. Simpson co-founded the Sheffield-based business with James Barthorpe, growing annual turnover to £1.5 million within three years.
Jezz Skelton
Skelton's jewellery brand Abbott Lyon is now generating annual sales of £10 million. He previously set up, grew and sold the cycle retailer Mango Bikes.
Alex Solomou
Solomou has turned LADBible from a small Facebook group into a publishing platform with revenues of nearly £32 million in 2020. An imminent stockmarket float is expected to value the Manchester-based operation at £400 million.
Liz Stone
Stone co-founded and serves as creative director of OK COOL. The social media agency has grown annual revenues to around £3.4 million after winning contracts with Nike, JD Sports and other household names.
James Whiting
Whiting co-founded The Skinny Food Company, which makes low-sugar snacks and sauces. The Nottingham-based manufacturer now has a range of 225 products and grew annual sales to £17.2 million in 2020-21.
Charlie Wilson
A former goalkeeper for Crystal Palace’s youth team, Wilson turned to property development in his early 20s. His largest company made a profit of £18.9 million in 2020.
Xinran Zhao
