Leading research institution reveals the Under 40s British powerhouses driving Britain’s £82 billion business empire

Hurun UK Under40s 2024 list recognizes 110 of Britain’s leading founders creating over 60,000 jobs

● Inaugural Hurun UK Under40s list reveals 110 of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs aged 40 or under with businesses worth a combined value of £82 billion

● 40% of the companies in the new list have achieved unicorn status – including founders of Monzo and Gymshark

● Zilch thought to be the fastest company to achieve unicorn status

● Revolut is the most valuable company to appear after securing a $45bn valuation

● Best-represented sectors include financial services, software and consumer goods

● London dominates the list, with over 70% of the entrepreneurs based in the Capital, a higher representation than Hurun’s recent UK Under 30 and Under 35 lists

● More than a quarter of entries are from overseas, underscoring Britain’s “magnetic” appeal to young business creators

● Entrepreneurs included have either founded or co-founded a company worth at least US$100 million

● Hurun Chairman: “Britain is a magnet for ambitious entrepreneurs”

[London: 11 March 2025]: Global research group, The Hurun Research Institute today releases the inaugural Hurun UK Under40s 2024, showcasing pioneering entrepreneurs in the UK creating thousands of jobs and powering economic growth.

The 110 entrepreneurs have together set up businesses with a combined value of £82 billion and between them created more than 60,500 jobs. The average value of each of the companies included is £1.32 billion.

For a founder to appear in one of Hurun’s Under40s lists, a person would need to have either founded or co-founded a company considered to be worth at least US$100 million.

Digital money management service Revolut is the most valuable company to appear after securing a $45bn valuation, co-founded in 2015 by Nick Storonsky.

Ben Francis, the university dropout who founded the ath-leisure brand Gymshark, and Euan Blair, the son of former prime minister Tony Blair, are some of the high-profile business stars to appear in Hurun’s research. The younger Blair’s skills venture, Multiverse has been valued at nearly £1.4 billion.

40% of the entrepreneurs listed have founded a unicorn - a business worth at least $1 billion. Amongst the 44 unicorn founders is Ben Maruthappu who set up patient care app Cera, which has secured contracts with over 300 NHS trusts and is said to be saving the NHS £1 million a day. Fellow unicorns to feature include Fintech credit business Lendable, virtual worlds developer Improbable, insurer Marshmallow, payments provider Paddle and driverless car tech firm Wayve.

Zilch is thought to be the fastest company to achieve unicorn status - achieving a $1 billion valuation within 14 months of launch, with the consumer credit provider founded by Philip Belamant.

Financial Services is the best-represented part of the economy, accounting for 25% of the 110 entries. There were also strong pools for the Software and Services sector (21%), as well as the Consumer Goods sector (12%).

The Capital dominated the report, with seventy-nine of the 110 entries - more than 70% - owing their place in the research to a London-based business. This was an even greater proportion than Hurun’s recent UK Under 30 and Under 35 lists, where 66% and 48% of the entries stemmed from the capital retrospectively.

Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher, said: “These young business leaders are the future of the British economy. It takes courage to start a business and a lot more to grow to the scale of those we feature here. Each of our founders has built a company worth $100m - some many multiples of that number.

“The diversity within this list is extraordinary. There are those with PhDs who studied at the world’s top universities and others who left school with few qualifications. There are some building great companies by harnessing AI and similar cutting edge technologies, others creating valuable enterprises by selling everyday items such as makeup, gym wear and lingerie.”

The North West was the second-best represented part of the country with 10 entries in the Under 40s. These included Phil and Tom Beahon, who set up Castore, the fast-growing sports kit manufacturer which has attracted investment from tennis legend, Andy Murray. Another North West based entrepreneur is Alex Solomou, the boss of the media group behind viral video platform LADbible.

The list also includes “Next generation” entries, which are required to manage investments or revenues of US$200 million to qualify. Fawn James, a director of London property group Soho Estates, is one of 10 “next generation” entries to make the cut. Her company was initially set up by her grandfather, the Soho legend Paul Raymond.

Others appearing in Hurun’s research who have picked up the reins of their family’s business include Alex and David Campbell, brothers who run a healthcare business that provided Covid testing kits to the NHS during the pandemic.

More than a quarter (26.4%) of the list are not British citizens, emphasising the strong pull the UK has to entrepreneurs from overseas. Out of the foreign entrepreneurs, China and Germany represent the largest contingents, each with four.

Those who were born overseas and started their businesses here include Eric Liu, the Chinese-born founder of the food delivery service HungryPanda, and Bulgarian national Roma Savova, the chief executive of Pension Bee, a retirement planning service now worth more than £370 million.

Hoogewerf added: “Our UK research found a larger proportion of entrepreneurs from overseas than we’ve found from our similar studies in other countries. Britain clearly is a magnet for ambitious young people who want to start and grow their businesses.

“Some of these founders came here to study at university and then stayed. Others are drawn here because of the opportunities to find investment or meet like-minded people to start something up with. It’s vital that this entrepreneurial ecosystem is protected - by creating jobs, generating tax and driving economic growth..”

For a founder to appear in Hurun’s Under40s lists, a person would need to have either founded or co-founded a company considered to be worth at least US$100 million - a standard benchmark across the world. “Next generation” entries are required to manage investments or revenues of US$200 million to qualify.

The 2024 Hurun UK Under40s are part of a family of more than 3,000 young entrepreneurs from five countries, including China, India, US and Canada. The Hurun U^th series starts with the Under30s and moves through to the Under35s and Under40s.

The list follows the recent release of the Hurun UK Unicorns and Future Unicorns Index 2024.

The business leaders featuring on the Hurun UK Under40s and the Hurun UK Unicorns and Future Unicorns Index 2024 were celebrated at an awards forum in London at a private club at 11 Brick Street on Monday 10 March 2025, sponsored by global smart electric vehicle company NIO; and drink supported by premium vodka brand Golden Egg.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Harriet Shearer / Will Heron  

hurun@thecommunicationgroup.co.uk

The Communication Group plc

020 7630 1411

For business cooperation, please contact:

Ada Shan, Hurun chief representative in the UK & Europe 

ada.shan@hurun.net, 07539018042

Philip Reeve, Hurun UK Uth Event Director

philip@hurun.co.uk, 07756 506 683

About Hurun Inc. 

Established in the UK in 1999, Hurun is a research, media and investments group, promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research.

Best-known today for the Hurun Rich List, telling the stories of the world’s successful entrepreneurs in China, India and the world, Hurun’s other main series are the Hurun Unicorn and U^th series. Hurun generated eight 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 1,453 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 U^th series is about promoting young entrepreneurs to investors, local government and strategic partners, who can help them think big, grow faster and bigger. The U^th series starts with the Under25s (to qualify, you have to be a founder of a business worth over US$1mn), Under30s (over US$10mn) Under35s (over US$50mn) and Under40s (over US$100mn). 2024 is the third year of the Hurun UK Under30s, second year of the UK Under35s and first year of the UK Under40s.

Hurun has hosted high-profile events in the last few years across China and India, as well as London, Paris, New York, LA, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, Luxembourg, Istanbul, Dubai and Singapore. 

For further information, see www.hurun.net.  

Instagram: hurun.uk 

LinkedIn: HURUN UK 

About NIO

NIO is a global smart electric vehicle company founded in November 2014. Dedicated to shaping a sustainable and brighter future together by providing high-performance smart electric vehicles and exceptional user experiences, NIO is the first car company listed on the NYSE, HKEX and SGX. NIO currently has three major brands under its umbrella: NIO, ONVO and firefly.

Ten years into establishment, NIO is now one of the leading companies in the global premium smart electric vehicle market, committed to fostering its own research and development capabilities for core technologies. As of the end of December 2024, the company had filed for and obtained over 9,800 patents. Additionally, NIO has developed NIO Full Stack, a collection of 12 technology domains.

NIO has R&D and manufacturing facilities in Shanghai, Hefei, Beijing, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wuhan, San Jose, Munich, Oxford, Berlin, Budapest, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. The company has also established sales and service networks in China, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, the UAE, Israel and Azerbaijan.

NIO Inc. currently offers nine premium smart electric vehicle models under the NIO brand and one smart electric vehicle under the ONVO brand. firefly has started its pre-orders in China. As of January 31, 2025, NIO Inc. had delivered a total of 685,427 vehicles, leading the premium BEV segment priced above RMB 300,000.

About Golden Egg vodka

Golden Egg is a super premium, supremely smooth vodka. Crafted from the highest quality English grain, Golden Egg vodka undergoes a meticulous process of double distillation and triple filtration, resulting in a supremely smooth character. Enhanced with an infusion of premium local Berkshire honey acting as a natural smoothing agent, it boasts a distinctive and refined mouthfeel.