Hurun UK Under30s Young Entrepreneurs to Watch 2024

Respected research institution celebrates young British entrepreneurs driving growth and creating jobs

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Hurun UK Under30s list recognises 82 of Britain’s leading young founders 

· Olivia Jenkins, founder of popular jewellery brand D. Louise and Dragons’ Den brothers, Levi and Teddie Levenfiche, who landed investment for health drinks brand, PerfectTed, are named among Britain’s best young business talent

· ElevenLabs, the AI-powered synthetic voice developer co-founded by 29-year-old Mati Staniszewski, is the most valuable company to appear in this year’s research - achieving unicorn status from a fundraising valuing the business at more than US$1bn

· Michael Ginzo, 30, secures his place after completing a reported £100m sale of his home office services venture Hofy

· At 22 years old, Piers Millar– one of the founders of Kaikaku - is the youngest entrepreneur to be recognised

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· Khurram Asif was just 11 years old when he started the YouTube channel that would evolve into TechSimulater, recording annual profits of £4.5m

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· Fifty-four (66%) of the entrepreneurs featured in this year’s Hurun UK Under30s research have ventures in London

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· Biotech and food & beverages are the best represented sectors, each with 14 in this year’s list. Only one biotech founder featured in the 2022 and 2023 Hurun UK Under30s lists. This year’s representatives from the food & beverages world is twice as large as the 7 in last year’s research

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· For the first time, Hurun’s UK Under30s list features founders as well as “next generation” business leaders delivering strong growth in their family’s businesses

[London: 20 November 2024]: Global research group, The Hurun Research Institute, today releases the prestigious Hurun UK Under30s 2024 showcasing outstanding young entrepreneurs in the UK who are driving growth and job creation.

The 82 entries have together set up businesses with a combined value of more than £2.3 billion and between them created 1,250 jobs.

This year’s UK list features well-known business leaders such as Olivia Jenkins, the founder of the jewellery brand D. Louise, and Levi and Teddie Levenfiche, brothers who landed investment for their health drinks brand PerfectTed after appearing on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, as well as less well-known entrepreneurs who have already created ventures worth at least $10 million. 

Mati Staniszewski, a co-founder of ElevenLabs, is the young business leader to have created the most valuable company covered in this year’s research. His AI-powered synthetic voice developer has secured unicorn status with a valuation of more than $1 billion.

Plantmade’s Ama Amo-Agyei and the siblings behind the Sister and Seekers, Alice and Maisie Jones, are among 21 women featured. Amo-Agyei set up her haircare brand after being made redundant at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic while the Jones sisters launched their fashion label with £2,000 saved from selling vintage clothes on eBay.

Two sectors, biotech and food & beverages, each have fourteen representatives in this year’s list - more than any other. Biotech founders named include Sioned Jones, Lydia Mapstone and Tara O’Driscoll, the trio behind infant nutrition biotech BoobyBiome.

Eleven of those listed in Hurun’s UK Under30s have grown ventures in the apparels & accessories sector. These include Archie Hewlett, the founder of footwear brand Duke + Dexter. David Beckham and Rihanna are among the celebrities to have worn Hewlett’s shoes.

The research also showcases pioneering entrepreneurs building environmentally friendly ventures creating innovative new low-carbon products. These include the founders behind FlexSea, the developer of a biodegradable packaging film, and Natural Building Systems, a maker of cladding and construction materials made from hemp and other natural substances.

For the first time Hurun’s UK Under30s list features founders as well as “next generation” business leaders delivering strong growth in their family’s businesses. Entries in this category this year include Eleanor Thatcher of Thatchers Cider and William Langley of the industrial group Langley Holdings.

Thatcher is now a full board member of the Somerset-based drinks brand with a brief to reduce the business’ footprint and recently led the launch of Juicy Apple, a cider created entirely using renewable energy. In just five years Langley has tripled profits at Reader Cement Products, a subsidiary of his father’s diverse industrial group. He is also now on the board at the conglomerate’s parent company. Four of this year’s 82 Under30s are classed as “next generation”.

Alumni from previous generations of Hurun UK Under30s have created business worth more than $1 billion. Unicorn founders Ben Francis and Lewis Morgan, the entrepreneurs who set up ath-leisure label Gymshark, and the pair behind payments firm Paddle, Christian Owens and Harrison Rose, appeared in previous years.

Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher, said:

“These inspiring young entrepreneurs are the future of the British economy. Our country rightly celebrates the achievements of young musicians and young sportsmen. It’s vital business founders of the same age also get the credit and recognition they deserve.

“Some of these young pioneers are helping address some of the world’s most pressing medical and environmental challenges. We all benefit from their passion and hard work. Their ventures create products and services we want and need while generating thousands of jobs and millions of pounds for the public finances.

“It will be fascinating to watch how their businesses progress in the years and decades ahead. Some of these fresh ventures will before long develop into multi-billion pound operations. Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have vowed to ‘kickstart economic growth’. These are the people who can help the new Labour government do exactly that and they need to be supported - not stifled.”

Fifty-four (65.9%) of the entrepreneurs featured in this year’s Hurun UK Under30s research have ventures in London. There are 5 in the East of England, 5 in the South East, 4 in the East Midlands and 4 in the South West.

There is also a strong showing for young business leaders who have come to the UK from overseas. Beren Kayali, who set up life-saving water tank manufacturer Deploy Tech hails from Turkey. Jai Kanwar, the founder of the logistics platform Zeus Labs, moved to the UK from Hungary. At least a quarter of this year’s entries are thought to have started their lives in another country - a far higher proportion than in Hurun Under30s research in China and India.

Hoogewerf added: “Britain benefits from being an attractive place for entrepreneurs to launch and grow their ventures. Top class universities attract many of the world’s bright young people and after they graduate they have a strong pool of potential investors often ready and willing to back their start-up.”

Nine of the 82 business leaders featured attended Imperial College London for either undergraduate or post-graduate study, more than any other university. Oxford came second with 8 alumni in this year’s Hurun U30s list - three more than last year. There were also strong showings for Cambridge (7), University College London (6) and the London School of Economics (5).

Significantly, 9 (11%) of those who appeared did not attend university - compared with 17% of the 2022 list and 13% of 2023’s research.

The average age of the Hurun Under30s entrepreneurs featured is 28 years old. The youngest at 22 years old is Piers Millar, one of the founders of Kaikaku - a robot developer using artificial intelligence to transform food preparation in restaurants. The second and third youngest of the group are Ivan Tregear, Kaikaku's chief executive aged 23, and James Dacombe, of the neurotechnology firm CoMind. aged 24.

Many of the business leaders cut their entrepreneurial teeth while still in their teens. Khurram Asif was just 11 years old when he started the YouTube channel that would evolve into TechSimulater. Annual profits at his tech firm have climbed to around £4.5m.

Substantial seed capital is not always necessary to launch a successful business. Joe Seddon used the last £200 of his student loan to launch Zero Gravity. His online service helps people from poorer backgrounds access British universities and now employs 25 people.

Some of the Hurun UK Under30s entries have already sold their companies for large sums. Michael Ginzo was one of the founders of Hofy. The home-office assembly service was launched when the pandemic began and has now been sold for around £100m.

For a founder to appear in one of Hurun’s Under30s lists a person would usually need to have either founded or co-founded a company considered to be worth at least US$10 million - a standard benchmark across the world. “Next generation” entries are usually required to manage investments or revenues of US$20 million to qualify.

The 2024 Hurun UK Under 30s are part of a family of more than 3,000 young entrepreneurs from 5 countries, including China, India, US and Canada.

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:

Dominic Alting von Geusau, Hurun Uth Series Manager - UK & Europe

dominic.alting@hurun.co.uk

07770 485 993

Notes to Editors:

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 Uth series. Hurun generated 8 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 1453 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 Uth series is about promoting young entrepreneurs to investors, local government and strategic partners, who can help them think big, grow faster and bigger. The Uth 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 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.

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Biographies of Hurun UK Under30s 2024

Ayoola Ajisafe

Ajisafe is president and one of the founders of the recruitment agency Enzo Tech. Sales exceeded £10m in the London-based firm’s second year of trading.

Ama Amo-Agyei

Amo-Agyei started Plantmade with £100 after being made redundant during the pandemic. Her natural skincare brand has grown sales to £5.3m.

Khurram Asif

Asif was just 11 years old when he started the YouTube channel that would evolve into his IT contractor TechSimulater. Annual profits have climbed to around £4.5m.

Alexis Augier

A French former banker, Augier is the chief executive and one of the founders of Vega, a wealth tech firm aiming to connect clients to investment opportunities traditionally only available to large institutions. So far the operation has attracted more than $8m of funding.

Ryan Beal

Beal has a PhD in artificial intelligence from Southampton University. His consultancy Sentient Sports uses AI to help sports clubs make better decisions and has attracted more than $6m of investment.

Reece Broadhurst

Broadhurst set up the fashion label Arne Clothing with his brother Ryan after working in the NHS. Warrington-based Arne made annual profits of £4.7m last year.

Max Buchan

Valarian provides greater security for businesses’ internal messaging and communications tools to safeguard their intellectual property and trade secrets. Buchan co-founded the operation and raised $11m of investment in 2022.

Charlie Bullock

Scan.com provides an online marketplace where customers can quickly arrange a medical scan. Bullock has helped raised nearly $60m of funding and the service has already been used by more than 115,000 people.

Sam Burrow

Anaphite is on a mission to decarbonise electric vehicle batteries. Burrow co-founded the Bristol-based firm and in October raised $13.7m of funding.

Josef Chen

Describing himself as “traumatised” from his experience peeling potatoes in his family’s restaurant from the age of 6, Chen co-founded Kaikaku. This robot developer is hoping to transform food preparation in restaurants. A fundraising has valued the business at $15m.

James Dacombe

Founded by Dacombe while he was still in his teens, CoMind specialises in neurotechnology - innovative brain-related products and services. So far the London-based operation has raised more than £13.5m of investment.

Nick Doman

Ocean Bottle makes drinking vessels from recycled plastic and vows to recover 1,000 bottles for each product it sells. Co-founder Dorman has helped raise more than £7m of investment.

Hannah Earley

Vaire Computing earlier this year raised $4m for developing computer chips that require less energy. Earley is chief technology officer and co-founded the London-based start-up around her lecturing job at Cambridge University.

Lily Cairns Haylor

Cairns Haylor is head of product and one of the founders of Advanced Infrastructure, a provider of data and advise to utilities and local authorities on how to plan for a lower-carbon economy. The Cambridge University spinout has raised more than $3m of funding.

Alexander Hewitt

Hewitt co-founded Anaphite, a Bristol firm that has patented technology with the potential to make EV battery manufacturing 30% less carbon intensive and 40% cheaper. The Bristol-based firm recently raised $13.7m of funding.

Joan Kangro

Kingdom Technologies has developed robotic lawn mowers capable of trimming up to 70,000 square metres a week - 10 times as much as other models on the market. Kangro founded the Glasgow-based tech firm and has raised more than £3.4m of funding.

Oliver Carson

Universal Partners provides foreign exchange and hedging services to businesses. Carson co-founded and is chief executive of the company, helping grow profits to £3.7m over the past year.

Harry Glucksman Cheslaw

Autone offers an artificial intelligence-powered platform helping retailers manage their inventories. Cheslaw co-founded the London-based firm. More than $5m of funding has been raised and Autone has teamed up with businesses including Roberto Cavalli and Courrèges.

Alexander Christie

Attio specialises in building customer relationship management platforms. Christie co-founded the London-based software developer, has helping to secure more than $31m of funding.

Alex Cook

Cook co-founded Samphire Neuroscience, a biotech firm that has developed a headband delivering gentle electric pulse to help women experiencing pain during menstruation. The London company has raised around £2m of funding.

Flinn Dolman

Dolan is one of the co-founders of Lawhive, an online service connecting people looking for legal services with solicitors. A fundraising brought in £9.5m of additional investment earlier this year.

Chloe Donovan

Donovan co-founded Natural Building Systems, which creates cladding and other construction materials from hemp and other low-carbon solutions. The operation has so far raised around $2m of investment.

Luke Evans

Alliance Groundworks and Civils works with house builders to prepare sites. Evans founded the business in 2021 and has already grown annual sales to more than £63m.

Carlo Fedeli

Fedeli co-founded FlexSea, a manufacturer of a biodegradable alternative to plastic film. So far the London firm has raised more than £3m of investment.

Miroslav Gasparek

Miroslav Gasparek, CEO and Co-Founder of Sensible Biotechnologies, leads the development of the world's first cell-based platform for designing and producing high-quality mRNA, enabling next-generation mRNA medicines. Based in Boston, Oxford, and Bratislava, Sensible has raised over $10 million from top US and European investors and secured strategic collaborations with leading life science companies under Miro's leadership. A PhD student at the University of Oxford, Miro has also advised a World Health Organisation Board Member and Slovakia's Ministry of Health.

Michael Ginzo

Hofy delivers fully-assembled home offices to remote workers anywhere in the UK within five days. Ginzo co-founded the business just as the Covid pandemic began. The operation was sold for around £100m earlier this year.

Ed Hardy

Tuza helps small and medium-sized businesses save money on their card machines. Hardy co-founded the operation, so far raising more than £5m of investment.

Martin Heathcote

Heathcote runs parts of his family’s collection of agricultural businesses. He is a major shareholder and leads VeriGreen, the food recycling division.

Archie Hewlett

David Beckham, Ryan Reynolds and Justin Timberlake have all worn loafers made by Duke & Dexter. Hewlett founded the brand after opting not to take up his place on a psychology degree at Durham University and has so far raised more than £5m of investment.

Junaid Hussain

Iconic AI is harnessing AI to improve video game development and in July this year raised $4m of investment. Hussain is one of three founders and was previously an investor at London’s Kingsway Capital.

Elise Jenkins

Australian-born Elise Jenkins has raised over £2M investment for Opto Bio, a neurotechnology startup developing tiny implantable devices to increase healthy lifespan.

Olivia Jenkins

Jenkins named her jewellery brand after her late mother. Sales at London-based D. Louise are setting to hit almost £10m this year.

Alice Jones

Jones and her younger sister Maisie started their gymwear venture Sisters and Seekers from their parents’ garden shed. Their brand now turns over more £14m a year and has attracted celebrities such as Love Island’s Molly-Mae Hague.

Maisie Jones

Jones and her sister Alice launched the fast-growing sportswear label Sisters and Seekers with £2,000 they made selling vintage clothes on eBay as a hobby. Annual sales at their Welsh label have topped £14m and they now employ more than 50 people.

Natasha Jones

Metris Energy helps commercial property owners install and optimise their revenues from solar panels. Jones co-founded the operation after working in venture capital and has raised $2.5m of investment.

Sioned Jones

Jones is chief operating officer and a co-founder of BoobyBiome, a baby nutrition company started in 2019 that has raised about £3m of funding.

Jai Kanwar

Hungarian-born national Kanwar co-founded Zeus Labs. The London logistic platform harnesses artificial intelligence to save freight operators time and money as well as reduce their carbon emissions. Zeus Labs’ annual sales have grown to more than £8m.

Beren Kayali

Turkish-born Kayali co-founded Deploy Tech. The Welsh company makes low-carbon water tanks that can be rapidly deployed to disaster zones. Its containers were used after recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Deploy Tech has attracted almost $2m of investment.

Oliver Knight

Scan.com provides an online marketplace where people can arrange MRIs and other medical scans from private providers. Knight co-founded the operation with Charlie Bullock. Scan.com has already arranged more than 115,000 medical imaging appointments and raised $60m of funding.

Marian Kupculak

Marian Kupculak, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Sensible Biotechnologies with Miro, leads the development of the world's first cell-based platform for designing and producing high-quality mRNA, enabling next-generation mRNA medicines. Based in Boston, Oxford, and Bratislava, Sensible's cutting-edge technology, developed under Marian's leadership, has been validated by leading life science companies in Europe and the US. Marian holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Oxford.

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William Langley

Langley is a director of Langley Holdings, the diverse industrial group built up by his father Tony. Will has run the subsidiary Reader Cement Products since 2019, tripling profits to £1.4m on his watch.

Levi Levenfiche

PerfectTed attracted investment from all five of the Dragons from the BBC’s Dragons' Den. Levenfiche set up the health drink manufacturer with his brother Teddie. An investment round valued the business at £19.5m.

Teddie Levenfiche

PerfectTed sells energy drinks made with matcha, a Japanese type of tea. Levenfiche co-founded the business. Sales are expected to climb to £10m this year.

Cai Linton

Linton is a co-founder and the chief executive of Multus Biotechnology, a maker of serums for developers of cultivated meat - an alternative to conventional meat grown in labs. An investment round valued the operation at nearly £21m.

Etienne Louvet

Iona is harnessing drones and robotics to improve delivery services in rural areas. Louvet was inspired to start the firm after living in the French countryside during Covid lockdowns and has raised around $2m of investment.

Lydia Mapstone

BoobyBiome develops supplements and products to improve baby nutrition. Mapstone serves as chief executive and is a co-founder, helping land a further £1.6m of investment earlier this summer and taking funding so far to almost £3m.

Dom Maskell

Runna provides tailor-made training programmes for running enthusiasts. Maskell, once of McKinsey, set up the platform with his best friend Ben Parker. The pair have raised more than $10m of investment.

Sam Mayall

A former merchant navy deck officer, Mayall worked closely with the coastguard to develop Zelim’s life-saving technology. The Edinburgh-based venture sells systems detecting when crew members have fallen overboard and has raised $9.25m of investment.

Dylan McMahon

Lake District-based Kendal Nutrition makes a suite of infant nutrition products. McMahon is a director and co-founded the fast-growing baby milk arm, Kendamil.

Piers Millar

Kaikaku is harnessing robots to automate food preparation for restaurants. Millar co-founded the operation, helping raise £1.9m of investment.

Thibaut Monfort-Micheo

Born in Spain, Monfort-Micheo co-founded FlexSea. This London-based packaging manufacturer has developed a biodegradable alternative to plastic film made from seaweed. FlexSea has raised more than £3m of investment.

Maxwell Munford

OSSTEC is developing 3D-printed, orthopaedic implants and has raised funding at a valuation of £16m. Munford is chief executive and a co-founder.

Alexander Murdock

Thermulon develops insulating materials known as aerogels used in electric vehicles, the construction industry and by airplane manufacturers. Canadian-born Murdock is chief technology officers of the venture, helping raise more than $4m of investment.

Will Newett

Newett founded his house building firm before his 20th birthday. His Yorkshire-based business chalked up revenues of £16.2m in 2022-23.

Tara O’Driscoll

O’Driscoll teamed up with Lydia Mapstone and Sioned Jones to launched BabyBiome in 2019. The infant nutrition firm has raised around £3m of funding - including £1.6m in August this year.

Alessandro Ottino

Oriole Networks is a University College London spinout harnessing light to develop more environmentally sustainable computer chips and recently raised an additional £17m of funding. Ottino was one of the founders.

Kevin Pan

Pan co-founded Multus Biotechnology, a developer of cultivated meat - an alternative to conventional meat grown in labs. The London-based firm has raised £9.5m of funding.

Ben Parker

This seven-time Ironman triathlete co-founded the running programme service Runna with his best friend, Dom Maskell. The London-based operation has raised more than $10m of funding and signed up Olympic athletes to help structure users’ training schedules.

Will Pearson

Pearson is a founder of Ocean Bottle, a bottle and flask manufacturer that utilisers recycled plastic and recovers 1,000 plastic bottles for each product it sells. Investment of £7m has been raised and so far.

Marisa Poster

Poster co-founded the health drinks brand PerfectTed with Levi and Teddie Levenfiche. A fundraising has valued the business at £19.5m and its drinks are now sold by Waitrose and Tesco.

Raphael Peralta

Peralti and his CardiaTec co-founder Thelma Zablocki are creating large datasets to help pharmaceutical companies create treatments that better combat cardiovascular disease. The pair recently raised an additional £5m of new investment for their Cambridge University spinout.

Emilė Radytė

Lithuanian by birth, Radytė co-founded the women health biotech firm Samphire Neuroscience. So far around £2m of funding has been raised.

Kazi Abidur Rahman

Rahman is chief executive of the luxury perfume and oils retailer Sunnamusk. He co-founded the business with his brothers while he was still in his teens. There are now 36 shops in the group and turnover is expected to reach £20m this year.

Alexandra Rico-Lloyd

Rico-Lloyd dropped out of her university degree to grow The Bike Club, a subscription service that provides bicycles to children and sends larger models as they grow. There is now a fleet of 70,000 bikes and the group has raised £37m of investment.

Gianni Romano

Lyfcycle works with ethical fashion brands to allow customers to see where and how their clothes have been made. The Nottingham-based service has grown revenues to nearly £5m and signed up labels including Arco, Skopes and Tog24.

Arne Scheu

Valink Therapeutics concentrates on developing faster and more efficient antibody-based drugs. German-born Scheu co-founded the London-based biotech, last year securing around £6.3m of funding.

Luca Schnettler

Qumata analyses a person’s use of their mobile phone to determine how likely they are  to develop certain health conditions. German-born Schnettler founded the business after dropping out of university and has raised more than £22m of funding.

Mara Schmiedt

German-born Mara Schmiedt who is based in the UK has raised over $22M for Alluvial. The Delaware-based firm is a software development company providing enterprise-grade staking products and services, which are integrated and supported by companies like Coinbase and other cryptocurrency platforms.

Joe Seddon

Seddon used the last £200 of his student loan to launch Zero Gravity. The online service helps students from poorer backgrounds access British universities, employs 25 people and has attracted £4m of investment.

Neil Shah

Live-shopping service Tilt earlier this year raised $18m of funding. Shah co-founded the online fashion platform after working for Revolut.

Bradley Shipton

Shipton and his elder brother James have grown turnover to more than £10m at their Hertfordshire-based Luxury Personal Care. The firm creates in-house and personally branded cosmetics and other products.

Mati Staniszewski

Staniszewksi co-founded the ElevenLabs, a tech firm that harnesses artificial intelligence to create synthetic voices. A series of fundraisings have valued the operation at more than $1bn.

Olivia Stannah

Tuza helps connect small businesses to the most suitable payment provider. Stannah co-founded the price comparison service. Investment of more than £5m has been raised so far.

Jane Tkachenko

Tkachenko runs and owns Alaxa, a pharmaceutical company selling treatments for a range of cancers as well as over-the-counter medicines for less serious complaints. There were profits of £2.9m on £12.7m sales in 2022-23.

Eleanor Thatcher

Thatcher recently launched Juicy Apple, a cider created entirely using renewable energy. This is her first product as she becomes the fifth generation to run her family’s Somerset-based drinks group. Thatcher is now on the board of the company and has a brief to lower the business’s carbon footprint.

Clemente Theotokis

Zeus Labs uses artificial intelligence to help freight companies reduce administration costs and carbon emissions. Theotokis co-founded the operation, helping attract $2m of investment and grow annual sales to £8m.

Ivan Tregear

Tregear co-founded Kaikaku, a robotics start-up hoping to transform food preparation in restaurants. The operation has raised more than $2m of investment at a $15m valuation.

Réka Trón

Tron co-founded Multus Biotechnology, a developer of cultivated meat - an alternative to conventional meat grown in labs. The London-based firm has raised £9.5m of funding.

Tom Wallace-Smith

Astral Systems makes small-scale reactors creating the materials necessary for radiotherapy. The Bristol-based health tech firm has three active sites and has been working with the NHS and the Atomic Energy Authority. Wallace-Smith is a co-founder and serves as chief technology officer.

William W. Whatley

Metris sets out to turn commercial buildings into solar power plants. US-born Whatley set up the operation with Natasha Jones and the pair have raised more than $2.5m of investment.

Thelma Zablocki

CardiaTec is building large datasets to better understand heart disease. French-born Zablocki co-founded the Cambridge University spinout, earlier this year raising more than £5m in new investment.

Jack Zambakides

Zambakides and Olivia Jenkins have sold more than 350,000 earrings, necklaces and other pieces of jewellery to more than 100,000 customers. Sales at the brand D. Louise are set to exceed £10m this year.

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Junhao Zhang

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Born in China, Zhang set up the UK-based educational company after graduating in the UK that now has over 470 PhD-qualified teachers, making them the only PhD-qualified teaching team. With branches both in the UK and China, last year the company turned over almost £3m and now employs over 200 people.

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