Forbes India 30 Under 30: How is the Class of 2022 doing?

Breakout Stars

Lakshya Sen
Badminton player
The shuttler began 2022 with a bang, winning the Indian Open by beating world champion Loh Kean Yew. He also made it to the final of the prestigious All-England Championship, only the fifth Indian to do so. The 21-year-old was part of the Indian team that won its maiden Thomas Cup title—Sen played his part in the historic victory as he won the first singles and gave India a crucial lead in the final. He followed up his exploits with a gold in the Commonwealth Games.

Neetu Yadav, CEO
Kirti Jangra, COO
Animall
The company, co-founded by two IITians in 2019, grew its workforce by about 30 percent. The Animall app reached one crore downloads and has received a 4.7 star rating. Through last year, app listings grew to 1.84 million and the company has generated $4.7 million in revenue.

Forbes India Impact: “After being recognised by Forbes India 30 under 30, people were keen to join Animall,” says Jangra.

Team Beco (from left): Akshay Varma, Aditya Ruia and Anuj Ruia Image: Mexy Xavier

Akshay Varma, Aditya Ruia, Anuj Ruia
Co-founders, Beco
The eco-friendly home and personal care brand raised $3 million in Series A led by Rukam Capital in September 2022. The startup claims to have grown 4x, and has taken its reach to over 5,000 stores across the country. It also expanded its product portfolio by adding detergent sheets, floor cleaning sheets, colour catcher sheets, fabric softener sheets, and claims to sell close to 20 million products.

Forbes India Impact: “The list gave us a lot of credibility and resulted in awareness-boost for the brand,” says Varma.

Nishant Chandra
Siddharth Maheshwari
Co-founders, Newton School
Newton School raised $25 million in a Series B funding round led by Steadview Capital, to build a strong brand and a senior leadership team, and invest in interactive and gamified learning approaches. It partnered with the Goa government to train 10,000 students, launched a ‘neo’ recruitment portal for startups and corporates. The portal on-boarded over 800 companies. So far, Newton School has achieved over 2,000 placements for students.

Forbes India Impact: “The recognition acknowledges both our students and our efforts, motivating us to work further towards bridging India’s education gap,” says Chandra.

Trinetra Gummaraju
Digital content creator
India’s first transgender content creator and doctor continues to stand up for the LGBTQIA+ community. With 257,000 followers on Instagram, she uses her reach to create awareness around gender, sexuality, mental health, queerphobia, bullying etc. Gummaraju will be seen in Amazon Prime’s Made In Heaven, Season 2 original in 2023.

Forbes India Impact: “Given that trans people like myself are often erased from rooms that celebrate young achievement, the 30 Under 30 List was a push in the right direction.”

Vidur Gupta  
Co-founder, Third Eye Distillery  
They launched Short Story, a range comprising vodka, rum and gin, and their flagship product, Stranger and Sons, won several global awards. They also expanded their presence to Italy, Taiwan and the US, and acquired a controlling stake in Svami, a non-alcoholic drink and mixers brand, apart from acquiring Countertop, a collective of beverage experts.

Forbes India Impact: “Having featured on the list has given us the opportunity to network with talented individuals and organisations, and provided new opportunities to grow our brands.”

Proven Performers

Achyuth Jaigopal
Lead guitarist, When Chai Met Toast
In 2022, the indie band toured across 10 cities as part of their When We Feel Young album launch. They also performed internationally for the first time, in the UK and Nepal, and were the only Indian band this year to play at Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. In 2023, they’ll launch their new EP with four songs, which they’ve recorded at the historic RAK Recording Studio in London.

Forbes India Impact: “This kind of recognition validates the ‘different’ path I’ve chosen, especially for my extended family who would doubt my choice of music as a career.”

Actor Adarsh Gourav will be seen in an international project starring Meryl Streep Image: Aditya Desai

Adarsh Gourav
Actor
The 28-year-old had a quiet year since featuring on the list, but 2023 looks promising for Adarsh Gourav. The White Tiger actor will be seen in Guns & Gulaabs, a Netflix web show directed by the duo of Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK that also stars Rajkummar Rao and Dulquer Salmaan. The highlight, though, is likely to be his international project—the Apple Plus TV series Extrapolations with Meryl Streep.

AP Dhillon
Singer-songwriter
Amritpal Singh Dhillon, or AP Dhillon, topped the charts as the most-heard artist in 2022, across multiple streaming platforms. Dhillon’s song ‘Excuses’ was 2022’s most-streamed song in India on Spotify. A documentary series is reportedly being produced by Dhillon and is expected to drop on Amazon Prime Video in the second half of 2023. With this, Dhillon has become the first Punjabi pop artist on whom a documentary will be made.

From left: Sandeep Sharma, Anil Kumar Reddy and Sarang Bobade’s Donatekart has raised ₹4-5 crore per month, according to the co-founders Image: Selvaprakash Lakshmanan for Forbes India

Anil Kumar Reddy, Sandeep Sharma, Sarang Bobade
Co-founders, Donatekart
On an average, the crowdfunding website raised ₹4-5 crore per month, coming from at least 40,000 people, according to the founders. They also saw repeat donors, and started a provision for monthly recurring donations on the platform. They expanded to include corporate donations, and raised funds for over 1,500 causes.

Forbes India Impact: “Being on the list brings credibility while approaching donors, especially in the NGO space. This award helped us in entering new areas like corporates,” says Reddy.

Elwinder Singh
Co-founder, Connect and Heal
Connect and Heal (CNH) ties up with large companies to manage their on-site primary care for employees and their families. Over the past year, CNH has introduced outpatient (OPD) benefits both virtually and in-person, integrated with insurance and third party administrators. It added over 100 enterprises to its clientele and now serves more than seven million people across its health care platform.

Forbes India Impact: “Making the list has given us global recognition in highlighting the impact of our work across India.”

Gokul Srinivas
Founder, MinionLabs
Srinivas’s company, which makes smart Minion devices that can deliver energy savings and predict repairs of appliances and heavy machinery, signed major clients like Biocon and Maruti Suzuki. It also introduced a carbon certificate for clients who are saving energy by using the Minion device. This certificate can be traded in the carbon market for which the company charges a transaction fee, adding a new revenue stream. Another new “geeky innovation” is Augmented Energy Auditing which allows an individual to conduct an energy and machine audit on the go.

Jash Shah  
Founder and CEO, Get-A-Way
In 2022, they bagged `1 crore from boAt’s Aman Gupta, Ashneer Grover and Sugar Cosmetics’ Vinita Singh on Shark Tank India. They launched 100 percent fruit-based popsicles, vegan ice creams, and ice cream sandwich. In October 2022, the company raised $2 million from Biryani by Kilo.

Forbes India Impact: “This recognition has helped us build a strong credibility as people can easily relate to our brand and what we’re building.”

Khyati Trehan
Graphic designer & visual artist
Since finding herself on the list, Trehan’s independent visual art practice has grown to include clients such as Google DeepMind, the Oscars, Vogue Global and Warner Music Group. She exhibited digital installations at the London Design Festival, India Art Fair, and the Mumbai Urban Art Festival. She has also had the chance to be on the other side and was among the jury for the One Club for Creativity’s ‘Young Guns’ and ‘Colorful’ competitions.

Krishma Shah
Co-founder, CliniBiz; director of clinical relations, Annex Clinical
CliniBiz uses automation technology, analytics, and artificial intelligence to make clinical trials more efficient and affordable. In 2022, the company signed contracts with 21 major hospitals in four states. It doubled the size of its Indian workforce and also worked with several biopharmaceutical sponsors to advance challenging disease indications.

Forbes India Impact: “I’ve spoken at several conferences, including prestigious venues like the Bombay Stock Exchange. CliniBiz has also received interest from venture capital firms, including Fidelity.”

Manushi Jain is a gold medallist and topper in B Arch with a master’s in architecture and urban design Image: Selvaprakash Lakshmanan for Forbes India

Manushi Ashok Jain
Co-founder and director (design & operations), Sponge Collaborative
Jain has continued challenging traditional norms of planning and design with a focus on ecology and community. She has worked on public projects such as Chennai’s first Climate Park. In 2022, Sponge Collaborative expanded its office size three-folds and is now operating from Chennai, Bengaluru and Lyon in France.

Forbes India Impact: “Design has the power to empower and change lives. And to be recognised for our contribution so far, only encourages us to do better.”

Mehul Nath Jindal
Co-founder and CEO, BharatX
In 2022, BharatX received fresh seed round of funding from Y Combinator and other marquee investors. The company fell victim to an alleged fraud from an edtech startup, which resulted in financial losses. But it has since emerged strong, and launched new products such as “Pay in 3”. In 2023, Jindal plans to go back into the growth phase and expand into new product lines.

Forbes India Impact: “Coming on the list, from being students when we created BharatX, was an un-locker of sorts. We were taken more seriously and our work was creating an impact.”

Nimisha Sajayan
Actor
Nimisha Sajayan had a busy year as an actor, with multiple Malayalam films and a Marathi film debut. Her performances in the films Innale Vare and Oru Thekkan Thallu Case were appreciated by critics and the audience. She has a busy year in 2023, with films lined up in English, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam.

Pranav Sharma
Founder, Felicity Adobe LLP
Felicity Adobe has been setting up solar power projects in the drought-hit parts of India, while also building residential properties for the economically weaker sections of society. Over the past year, in affordable housing, it managed to sell some 300 homes in Belgaum. In the solar business, Sharma says he has signed up seven more clients, and also ventured into hybrid projects involving solar and wind energy. He claims to have signed projects worth ₹125 crore.

Forbes India Impact: “I got a lot of recognition and appreciation for my work, which motivated me even more to achieve bigger and scarier goals.”


Rahi Chadda was a part of Dior Beauty’s UK Ambassadorship Image: Pietro Schiavetti

Rahi Chadda
Fashion Influencer and supermodel
The year 2022 saw Chadda become one of the first South Asians to be a part of Dior Beauty’s UK Ambassadorship. He collaborated and curated content during international fashion weeks, like Milan, Paris and the New York Fashion Week.

Forbes India Impact: “After being featured in Forbes India, my Indian audience has been a lot more supportive, louder, and there’s an energy that can’t be competed with.”


Rahul Jain is not afraid of making mistakes and taking bold bets Image: Madhu Kapparath

Rahul Jain
Strategy director, Sideways
Rahul Jain had an elevation from brand and creative strategist to strategy director. In 2022, he led pan-India research immersions and strategic thinking for brands such as Meesho, CoinSwitch Kuber and a few other new entrants trying to crack the Indian market. He went back to his alma mater, XIC, for a teaching opportunity.

Forbes India Impact: “It has given me the courage to make mistakes. It made stepping out of the comfort zone a bit more comfortable.”

Raju Kendre
Founder and CEO, Eklavya India
Eklavya India mentors and helps first-generation learners, especially from remote and vulnerable backgrounds, so that they can achieve their full potential. In 2022, they launched a ‘Global Scholars Program’ to mentor and train students from marginalised communities to pursue quality education in global universities.

Forbes India Impact: “After being featured in Forbes India 30 Under 30, our work gained momentum and we are expanding.”

Rashid Khan
Co-founder, Yellow.ai
The conversational AI provider to enterprise customers was founded in 2016 by Khan, Raghu Ravinutala and Jaya Kishore Gollareddy. The San Mateo- and Bengaluru-based venture has raised $120 million so far, backed by investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners and WestBridge, according to Tracxn. Yellow.ai is witnessing “exponential growth globally”, Ravinutala said in October, when the company rolled out a $43 million employee stock option plan.

Shlok Srivastava
Digital content creator; entrepreneur
Shlok Srivastava creates videos to make tech simple and fun. His work expanded to multiple genre channels under his Burner Digital umbrella, which took its YouTube subscriber count to 10 million. In 2022, Srivastava launched Layers, a mobile accessories brand, which is an extension of his apparel line, Overlays Clothing. He also started a podcast, Winners Only.

Forbes India Impact: “I was able to connect with founders and people who are taking the business to a new level.”

Brothers Sowmay (left) and Samyak Jain launched their startup Instadapp in 2018

Sowmay Jain, Samyak Jain
Co-founders, Instadapp
Despite the crypto winter, Instadapp has been working on new innovations to solve larger problems in the industry. The startup has been building and developing new products. In 2023, they have two product launches, a lending protocol, and a network, gas and account abstracting platform.

Forbes India Impact: “Being on the list helped in brand recognition and validated the work we did at Instadapp.” says Jain.

Tasheen Rahimtoola  
Founder, Taste Retreat  
Rahimtoola was invited as a speaker at Babson College, Boston, and her alma mater Wellesley College. The company’s presence grew stronger in Dubai and London. She’s done menu curations for brands like Charles & Keith, Ajio Luxe, Jimmy Choo, and the launch of Victoria’s Secret in Mumbai.

Forbes India Impact: “This honour has helped me catalyse my startup’s goal. It has helped me take my business acumen to the next level.”

Vandana Katariya
Hockey player
It was a great year for the star striker of the women’s hockey team. She was honoured with a Padma Shri. The team won a bronze at the 2022 Asia Cup where Katariya scored three goals. This was followed by another bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where she scored four goals. The team also won the first ever FIH Women’s Nations Cup. Katariya will now play the 2023-24 Women’s FIH Pro League, the Asian Games, and work to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Viraj Mithani
Artist
He is a Kirloskar fellow at Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University. This past year has been productive in building his thesis in investigating Indo-futurism, animism and digitalisation affecting art.
Forbes India Impact: “Being part of 30 Under 30 has put me in touch with a larger community across the globe. The connectivity factor has been of tremendous value with my contemporaries excelling in different fields.”