Meet The Forbes Under 30 Class Of 2023

The young leaders and entrepreneurs on our 12th annual Forbes 30 Under 30 list provide plenty of reason to believe that tomorrow will be brighter than today.

War. Inflation. Market crashes. Layoffs. In a terrible, topsy-turvy year, one thing remains constant: Tomorrow’s brightest young leaders are turning to entrepreneurship to solve the world’s biggest problems—on their own terms. The 600 bold founders, leaders and entrepreneurs on the 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 list have launched creative companies to put a dent in issues like global warming, reproductive health, student debt and financial freedom.

To compile our 12th annual list, Forbes writers and editors—with the help of expert independent judges like Joe Jonas, Aimee Song, Bobbi Brown and Sid Sijbrandij—evaluated more than 12,000 candidates on factors including funding, revenue, social impact, inventiveness and potential. The 600 who made the cut are both an inspiration and a challenge to the conventional wisdom. Either way, they provide plenty of reason to believe that tomorrow will be brighter than today.

Take 27-year-old Dina Radenkovic, who is redefining female reproductive health with her startup, Gameto. So far, the 2023 Healthcare lister has raised $40 million to make egg harvesting cheaper and safer by using human stem cells to mature ova in a lab. Or Social Impact lister Noah McQueen, 26, whose company Heirloom has raised $53 million to fight global warming, signing carbon offset deals with tech giants Microsoft, Stripe and Shopify.

Explore The Under 30 Collection

Forbes

Other highlights include household names like Hailey Bieber, 26, who jumped from model to mogul when she created Los Angeles-based skin care startup Rhode Skin; Ayo Edebiri, 27, fresh off the success of her recent comedy-drama series The Bear that won praise from fans and critics; and Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, 28, who next season will begin a four-year, $196 million contract extension with the team that he negotiated himself.

For a broader perspective, check out these facts about the Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2023—and don’t forget to view the full list here.

30 UNDER 30 2023 BY THE NUMBERS

FUNDING

$5.3 billion+

More than $5.3 billion raised in funding

AVERAGE AGE

27

The average age of Under 30s decreased this year (the two youngest are 15, Jalon Christian and Anna Leigh Waters)

SELF-IDENTIFY AS PERSON OF COLOR

49%

Nearly half of the individuals that appear on this year’s list self identify as a person of color, up from 47% last year.

IMMIGRANTS

23%

The immigrants on our list hail from 46 countries including Afghanistan, Cameroon, China, Ecuador, India, Kenya, South Korea and Uganda.

GENDER

1% non-binary, 40% female and 59% male.

Gender parity this year tied our all-time high in 2021.

GEN Z (25 OR YOUNGER)

22%

This is the largest contingent of Gen Z to ever appear on the list.

(CO) FOUNDERS

66%

The majority of listmakers are founders or cofounders of a company. Many of the rest are actors, musicians or creators that are building their own brands.

TOP CITIES

New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Miami and Toronto.

Canada’s largest city displaced Chicago as the fifth-most common city where listers hail from.