by From sustainability to safety, these Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneurs are finding unique ways to preserve the natural environment and digital safety.
From Ian Martin, Tom Brewster And Rashi Srivastava
As lawyer and legal adviser, Nadia Khadim knows how difficult it is for companies to become data compliant and implement legally required cyber security measures. Now, through her Netherlands-based startup Naq Cyber, she helps small and medium-sized businesses that have “traditionally been forgotten by the cybersecurity industry” become digitally secure with her startup’s subscription-based security products and services. The 29-year-old entrepreneur, who was placed in foster care at the age of 14, is now the CEO of a $5.5 million startup.
GUERIN BLASK FOR FORBES
Khadim is one of the tech entrepreneurs recognized in this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list, an annual list of entrepreneurs under the age of 30 making a difference both socially and financially. This year’s list includes several founders who are building businesses while finding new ways to protect the planet and the people who live on it.
Privacy and online protection is a key focus for several listed companies beyond Khadim. Tamas Kadar, 29, and Bence Jendruszak, 28, are the co-founders of Budapest-based SEON, which has monitored online transactions for more than 5,000 merchants to help them prevent payment fraud by detecting fake accounts and tracking IP addresses for criminal behavior. The company brought in $12 million in 2022. Karel Kotkas28, founded the identity verification platform Veriff in 2015. In eight years, Kotkas has built the Estonia-based startup into a $1.5 billion unicorn with clients in sectors ranging from fintech to healthcare. at quantum cube, Wenmiao Yu25, Ramy Shelbaya29, and George Dunlop, 26, ensure that random numbers, which are a key element of encryption, are truly and truly random through their quantum random number generators. The startup, which grew out of Oxford University’s quantum optics laboratory, has raised a total of $5.8 million.
While some founders make businesses safe and sound, others seek to help businesses and individuals become more environmentally conscious. Twenty nine years old Konstantin Wilk is co-founder of the German bootstrap company Aqon Pure, which made $10 million in 2022 selling its eco-friendly, energy-efficient water purification system to residential buildings and plumbing companies. Patrick Reich27, is co-founder of Bonnet, an EV charging app with a network of 200,000 public charging points that drivers can access to charge their electric vehicles. Bonnet had sales of $3 million in 2022 and plans to hit $12 million in 2023. The company’s mission is to fight climate change by making sustainable transportation easy for everyone. Felix Harteneck29, co-founder of Inplanet, helps companies remove carbon from the atmosphere through a process called rock weathering, which uses silicates (silicon- and oxygen-containing minerals) to trap carbon dioxide underground.
This year’s list includes 11 women and 14 women entrepreneurs of color. Listees set up their businesses in different parts of Europe such as France, Austria, Estonia, Belgium and Hungary.
Female entrepreneurs on the list use technologies such as facial recognition, cloud software and artificial intelligence. Ahana Banerjee24, is the CEO and founder of a $15 million skincare app called Clear, which allows 9,000 users to track and share the progress of their skincare routines through selfie analysis with medical professionals, while also allowing them to shop and review cosmetic products. Ruxandra Pui, 28, is the co-founder of Digitail, which focuses on veterinary medicine and includes a cloud-based booking and management platform used by 700 animal hospitals and a pet parenting app that currently stores health records of 1.4 million pets. And from artist to entrepreneur Marion Carre27, supports museums and art galleries in building chatbots and digital experiences. Ask Mona lives in Paris and claims to have worked with the Louis Vitton Foundation and the Colosseum in Rome.
Every year we receive hundreds of online submissions for this list forbes Employees sort them out and send them to our judges. A sum of the judges’ scores is used to create the final list. This year, the list was reviewed by Jessica Schultz, a Stockholm-based partner at early-stage venture fund Northzone Ventures; Linnéa Kornehed Flack, alumna under 30 and co-founder of autonomous electric transport company Einride; Ismail Ahmed, founder of $5 billion money transfer app Zepz; and Oliver Lewis, co-founder of Rebellion Defense, which makes software for military missions in the UK and US
This year’s list was edited by Senior Writer Thomas Brewster, Europe News Editor Iain Martin and reporter Rashi Shrivastava. For a link to our full technology list, Click hereand for full 30 under 30 coverage in Europe, Click here.
