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 Forbes India 30 Under 30 2025: Meet our young groundbreakers and trendsetters

years old - the youngest winner this year

Age of D Gukesh, youngest World Chess Champion and youngest listee

Devan Chandrasekharan

Fuselage helps farmers increase efficiency by deploying advanced solutions for mapping and diagnostics of the farmland. It specialises in the development of technologies based on Unmanned Ariel Vehicles, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. Applications range from post-disaster management, infrastructure monitoring and even environmental conservation.

Founder and managing director, Fuselage Innovations

Rabiul Khan

From a coal mining family to bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fine arts from Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati University, Rabiul Khan has come a long way and wants to make art that asks provoking questions. His collective, Gabaa, was set up with like-minded friends from college. He has received the Inlaks Fine Art Award in 2023 and the Prince Claus Fund Seed Award in 2024.

Artist

Rajat Arya, Chirag Arya

The Arya brothers are not new to the world of AI—they have built a software business in the past and a few blockchain solutions for US customers. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's India visit in 2023 piqued their interest in information about India in language models, finding a unique opportunity to do something desi versus West-oriented information on the internet. An important early user for the Aryas is ISRO, India’s space agency, which is testing out a PDF agent that 169Pi has created. 

Founder and CEO; COO, 169Pi.ai

28, 24

Deepak Meena, Arjit Singh, Hansraj Patel

Flyzy found an opportunity in the pandemic and entered the Online Travel Agency (OTA) business which put the Davids and the Goliaths at the starting line. Flyzy has come a long way, from an app to enable contactless travel to finding a niche in B2B online ticket booking. It is profitable while filling a crucial gap of end-to-end travel solutions in B2B. It aims to be a unicorn in profit instead of valuation. 

Co-founder and CEO; Co-founder and COO; Co-founder and CTO, Flyzy

25, 26, 25

Abhinav Shekhar Vashistha

WeVois has created a sustainable, scalable and profitable waste management business for urban and suburban areas. With the confidence that India can resolve its trash problem, the company deploys an IoT-enabled app to help efficient waste collection to reduce open dumping and burning of household trash. Its employees—the waste collectors—are given social benefits: a first, and it encourages performance with rewards and bonuses. It employes 1,000 workers directly, and other 500 indirectly. 

Co-founder and CTO, WeVOIS Labs Pvt Ltd

number of women on the list

Brinda Dudhat

Brinda Dudhat set up Morii Design in 2019, focusing on one-of-a-kind textile art pieces and wall art. With a natural and earthy palette, Dudhat’s work is organic, abstract, and intuitive, reminiscent of aerial views of landscapes, conceptually depicting themes like global warming and climate change. Today, Morii collaborates with over 165 women artisans from 12 villages across India, combining techniques such as Sujani embroidery from Bihar, Bela block printing, and Rabari embroidery with contemporary abstract designs from Kutch and Kantha embroidery from West Bengal. The aim: Ensuring artisans can work in their villages while earning fair wages, maintaining traditions and taking pride in their work

Co-founder, Morii Design

Simoul Alva

“Simoul approaches every project with an open mind and a desire to push boundaries,” says Jessica Walsh, founder and creative director, &Walsh about Alva. “Her ability to seamlessly merge creativity with thoughtfulness and precision makes her a standout in the field of design.” In her own words, Alva says, "Designing for products or tech that need to be explained by visualisation sets me apart". Alva has worked on brands such as Amazon, Apple, and even Indian brand Frooti during her employment at the New York-based creative agency &Walsh. She is currently the visual design lead at Ripple.

Visual Design Lead, Ripple

Prakhar Gupta

His podcast 'Prakhar Ke Pravachan' on YouTube has seen guests like Piyush Goyal, the union minister of commerce and industry, and Arvind Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Delhi CM. Gupta says he's learnt how to deal with India's political class along with many other crucial lessons while running his podcast for over a year. He's not afraid to make mistakes and claims his Ivy League education (a Columbia University graduate in psychology and economics) taught him to use ideas as currency. His channel is full of varied conversations about religion, science, politics, and even spirituality, offering fresh perspectives. 

Podcaster

Kavya Karnatac

Kavya Karnatac's video at the Ghazipur garbage dump—India's tallest—garnered 3 million views, but it was also a test of her commitment to her work. She and her team were attacked by a mob but she continued documenting the lives of the people there and their struggles. Her videos break the mould of traditional content creation and takes her viewers on a raw and bold journey, offering a view into the lives of everyday people who are often forgotten. Her aim: To visit India's 800 districts to experience and tell their stories. 

Founder, KK Create

Pallav Bihani

From being forced onto a journey of fitness to falling in love with every aspect of it, Bihani has come a long way. Like taking his health by the horns, there is nothing unthinking about his foray from family business to entrepreneur. He wants Boldfit to be India's counter to prohibitive international brands and cheap Indian brands. Boldfit promises high-quality products at an affordable price point. The profitable venture clocked revenue of nearly Rs 140 crore in FY24.

Founder, Boldfit

number of categories this year

Aniket Shah, Ujjwal Sukheja and Saran S

Founded in August 2024 Swish manages the entire process—from food preparation to delivery—and operates within a geographical radius of 1.5 to 2 kilometres. The startup operates several cloud kitchens
in Bengaluru, and has raised $2 million in its maiden funding round led by Accel in 2023. With the belief that making of food to delivery to controlling the food stack, everything should be owned and managed, Swish has over 70 unique stock-keeping units (SKUs), covering indulgences, snacks, beverages and meals.

Co-founders, Swish

25, 24, 24

Anshita Mehrotra

Fix My Curls is the result of extensive primary and secondary research—testing and studying curly hair products from all over the world, finding the pain points for curly hair women, and more. The formulation was then created. Its products—hair butter, hair mask, leave-in cream, volumising mousse, shampoo and conditioner are sold on ecommerce platforms and are available in 15 countries including Germany, Switzerland, the US and the UAE. 

Founder, Fix My Curls

Neelakantha Bhanu, Devulapalli Lakshmi Prachotan, Alluru Uday Kiran and Jonnalagadda Sai Krishnakanth 

Bhanu holds several world records in mathematics, and by the time he was 18, he was being invited to schools and colleges and companies to talk about strenghtening maths skills. Bhanzu, started as a Government of Telangana numeracy development project, works with nearly 5,000 government schools to teach maths in the best possible ways. So far, it has been conducting online classes and is also looking to have an offline presence. It has also launched in the US, UK, Australia and some parts of the Middle East and South Asia. 

Founder and CEO; Co-founder, head of business development; Co-founder, head of operations; Co-founder, head of research and development, Bhanzu

25, 25, 26, 27, 55

Anirudh Sharma

With the launch of Digantara Research’s SCOT satellite, the co-founders have joined an elite club of space tech entrepreneurs who are building space surveillance and intelligence technologies. Digantara's SCOT satellite stands for space camera for object tracking, and was among the 131 satellites onboard SpaceX’s transporter-12 Falcon-9 rocket that lifted off from the Vandenberg spaceport in the US. As one of the world’s first commercial ‘space situational awareness’ satellites, SCOT is engineered to track ‘resident space objects’ with high frequency and precision, the company has said

Founder and CEO, Digantara Research and Technologies

Aparna Balamurali

In the 10 years of her career as an actor, Aparna Balamurali has done some 30 films, and has a National Award to her credit. She had started acting serendipitously but now wants to make the most of opportunities. In 2024, she played significant roles in two well-received dramas and thriller projects, Tamil film Raayan and Malayalam film Kishkindha Kaandam. Her next will also be a thriller directed by Jeethu Joseph (of Drishyam fame). In the future, however, she wants to “get into something a little more lighter, cooler, something towards humour”.

Actor

number of new categories—AI

Rohit Saraf

Rohit Saraf wanted to be a professional dancer but decided to give acting a real shot after he lost his father when he was 12. It was his father's dream to see him on the big screen. The youngest of five children, Saraf did not have a Plan B, and approached his craft with honesty and sincerity. After doing two TV shows in his maiden year, he did parts in movies from 2016-2020 when Netflix's Mismatched came as a defining turning point of his career.

Nancy Tyagi

Nancy Tyagi's favourite childhood activity was creating dresses for her doll. Eventually, she designed clothes for herself and created content for social media. This led to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase her talent on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024, for which she created four outfits in four months. Since then, she has collaborated with popular beauty and fashion brands, gaining millions of followers across platforms. 

Fashion designer and 
content creator

Khushi Shah

Shanti Banaras, a designer Banarasi sarees and Indian clothing brand was born out of recognising the decline of real zari—an intricate weaving technique. Involved in the family business since a young age, Khushi Shah has been instrumental in forming Shanti’s brand identity development and positioning. By changing the visual imagery and styling in her campaigns, she has successfully attracted a younger audience.

Creative director and Co-founder, Shanti Banaras

Anant Mohta

At 12, Anant Mohta saw most of his family wealth lost to the 2008 financial crisis. At 27, he became the youngest vice president at Bain Capital Private Equity. Two years after joining, Bain Capital closed a near-$500 million deal to pick up a substantial stake in asset and wealth management services firm 360 One (formerly IIF Wealth), a business he had tracked proactively. Mohta wishes to explore something more entrepreneurial at some point. 

Vice President, Bain Capital Private Equity

Rajit Uboweja

Rajit Uboweja proudly points out that he is one of the youngest partners in the global venture debt industry. Over the past four years, Uboweja has led investments in over 50 of Stride Venture’s 160 venture debt portfolio companies and has deployed around $170 million across early and late startups in diverse sectors, including consumer and B2B commerce. Some names include Sugar Cosmetics, Zepto, among others. 

Partner, Stride Ventures

worth deal made by a listee this year

$500 million

Raghav Simha, Pragun Bajaj, Jatin Talreja

Friends and roommates Raghav Simha, Jatin Talreja and Pragun Bajaj quit high-paying jobs to launch Project Hum, a farm-to-table fast-casual restaurant in September 2022, in Mumbai. The USP of Project Hum, other than popularising clean eating, is that it connects diners with farmers to understand their triumphs and challenges. With a revenue of Rs 4.48 crore in FY24, they’ve launched their second outlet and plan to take it to other cities as well. 

Co-founder-operations head, Co-founder-kitchen operations, Co-founder-business, Project Hum

27, 28, 27

Siddhant Dangi, Deepansh Goyal

Founded in 2020, the duo's company, Nexstem, launched Nexstem V1, an EEG (electroencephalogram) headset that would capture electrical signals. The success of the device led to a focus on capturing bio signal acquisitions, which have the potential to be used across areas such as medical, gaming, digital, health, and defence, among others. Today, Nexstem works to democratise brain-computer interface (BCI) technology and leverage its expertise in neurotech research and engineering. 

Co-founder and CEO, co-founder and CTO, Nexstem

25, 26

Devika Gholap

Along with her father, she wants to eliminate all microscopes in the world and replace them with digital pathology scanners in the fight against cancer. They help scan slides from biopsies or other sources in addition to features such as storing, archiving, real-time sharing, and reporting, symptoms often missing while using microscopes, to help pathologists come to a quicker conclusion. She says this would help democratise treatment and make it affordable for the public.

Co-founder and Chief product officer, OptraScan

Divanshu Kumar

Kumar is driven to find a permanent and effective solution to the cruel practice of manual scavenging. His company works in two aspects: Cleaning septic tanks, drains, and sewers, as well as inspecting and cleaning water pipelines. It has developed two robots that crawl through a water and sewer pipeline of any material and diameter ranging from 90 mm to 1500 mm. It closed FY24 with a revenue of Rs 4.5 crore. 

Co-founder and CEO, Solinas Integrity Private Limited

Karan Kanchan

In 2024, Kanchan took the stage at Lollapalooza's second edition, debuting with his show, The Karan Kanchan Experience. With a vision to fuse music from diverse genres with dynamic visuals, lighting, and sound, he created a truly immersive theatrical experience— one that left an unforgettable impression on the audience. "Karan is the hottest beat maker in the current scene," says Ankur Tewari, singer-songwriter, music supervisor, and sonic designer.

Artist and Entrepreneur

number of professionals on the list 

Soumya Dabriwal, Aradhana Rai Gupta

The duo, through their social enterprise, Project Baala, have been working to provide quality, low-cost menstrual products, and create awareness about menstrual hygiene and health. Their portfolio includes sustainable menstrual cups and biodegradable pads. Since 2017, their enterprise has reached a million beneficiaries across 28 states in India, apart from Ghana, Nepal, and Tanzania. 

Co-founders, Project Baala

29, 29

Rishabh Suri

Rishabh Suri and his brother make tableware that has already replaced 1 lakh kg of plastic waste. The products are made from rice husk, which the founders claim are not only sturdy, microwaveable, and freezable but also free of any adhesives and laminates, making it safe for animals eating from trash cans or when it decomposes into the soil in 30 days. 

Co-founder and CEO, qudrat

D Gukesh

At 18, D Gukesh has achieved what many aspire to once in their lifetime. In 2024, he scripted history as he brought home the World Championship crown back to India as its youngest winner. His composure and his ability to remain unfazed are exceptional, and he brings the same attitude and strategy to every game, says Viswanathan Anand, himself a five-time World Champion and the torchbearer of India's chess revolution.

Chess player

Yashasvi Jaiswal

The cricketer who once sold pani puris to survive in Mumbai emerged as the second-highest Test run-getter and was the highest Indian run-getter in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2024. All four Test centuries he has scored since his debut in July 2023 have been 150+, two of them double centuries. With his selection for the Champions Trophy, the young batter has completed his debut in all formats.

Cricketer

Preethi Pal

The para-athlete created history when she made her Paralympics debut at Stade de France in Paris in 2024. She won two bronze medals—in the women's 100-metre and 200-metre T35 (the category is for runners with coordination impairments). She also became the first Indian woman to win a medal in track events at the Paralympics or Olympics. She is gearing up for the World Championship in New Delhi in September. 

Forbes India 30 Under 30 2025: Meet our young groundbreakers and trendsetters

Devan Chandrasekharan

Founder and managing director, Fuselage Innovations

Rabiul Khan

Artist

Rajat Arya, Chirag Arya

Founder and CEO; COO, 169Pi.ai

Deepak Meena, Arjit Singh, Hansraj Patel

Co-founder and CEO; Co-founder and COO; Co-founder and CTO, Flyzy

Abhinav Shekhar Vashistha

Co-founder and CTO, WeVOIS Labs Pvt Ltd

Brinda Dudhat

Co-founder, Morii Design

Simoul Alva

Visual Design Lead, Ripple

Prakhar Gupta

Podcaster

Kavya Karnatac

Founder, KK Create

Pallav Bihani

Founder, Boldfit

Aniket Shah, Ujjwal Sukheja and Saran S

Co-founders, Swish

Anshita Mehrotra

Founder, Fix My Curls

Neelakantha Bhanu, Devulapalli Lakshmi Prachotan, Alluru Uday Kiran and Jonnalagadda Sai Krishnakanth

Founder and CEO; Co-founder, head of business development; Co-founder, head of operations; Co-founder, head of research and development, Bhanzu

Anirudh Sharma

Founder and CEO, Digantara Research and Technologies

Aparna Balamurali

Actor

Rohit Saraf

Actor

Nancy Tyagi

Fashion designer and content creator

Khushi Shah

Creative director and Co-founder, Shanti Banaras

Anant Mohta

Vice President, Bain Capital Private Equity

Rajit Uboweja

Partner, Stride Ventures

Raghav Simha, Pragun Bajaj, Jatin Talreja

Co-founder-operations head, Co-founder-kitchen operations, Co-founder-business, Project Hum

Siddhant Dangi, Deepansh Goyal

Co-founder and CEO, co-founder and CTO, Nexstem

Devika Gholap

Co-founder and Chief product officer, OptraScan

Divanshu Kumar

Co-founder and CEO, Solinas Integrity Private Limited

Karan Kanchan

Artist and Entrepreneur

Soumya Dabriwal, Aradhana Rai Gupta

Co-founders, Project Baala

Rishabh Suri

Co-founder and CEO, qudrat

D Gukesh

Chess player

Yashasvi Jaiswal

Cricketer

Preethi Pal

Para-athlete

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