 "Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list: Which young Indians made the cut?")
Forbes has released the 9th edition of ‘30 under 30’ Asia list.
The company highlighted 300 young, talented individuals across 10 categories including the arts, finance, media and entertainment who are using their skills to reshape the Asia-Pacific region
The average age of the people on the list is 26.7. Around half the people on the list, 48 per cent, are either founders or co-founders. The under 30s have raised over $1 billion in funding.
But which Indians made it to the list?
What do we know about them?
Let’s take a closer look:
Akshit Bansal and Raghav Arora
Bhansal and Arora are co-founders of Statiq – an electric vehicle charging network startup.
As per NDTV, they came up with the idea for Statiq while navigating through the polluted streets of Bengaluru.
Bhansal and Arora moved to EV charging business after a ride-sharing venture did not take off.
The company on its website says it has over 1,200 EV charging stations.
As per Forbes, its stations can power electric cars, buses, trucks and three-wheelers.
Users can find charging stations via the company app. A recharge can take a mere 15 minutes.
The company says customers can book slots and even control a charge remotely.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe company said it had raised over Rs 200 crore in funding.
Arun Sreyas and Gautham Maheswaran
Sreyas and Maheswaran, two university friends, founded RACE Energy in 2019.
It is a deep-tech battery swapping company based in Hyderabad.
The company has developed swappable battery packs for auto-rickshaws.
The company says it facilitates around 1,100 swaps every day.
It has raised Rs 33 crore in funding, including from India’s GrowX Ventures.
Harshit Jain and Abhik Saha
Harshit Jain and Abhik Saha co-founded OnePlay in 2019.
The firm is a cloud gaming start-up headquartered in Mumbai.
It lets users play popular games such as like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Palworld across multiple platforms – and all without the need for expensive hardware.
Arth Chowdhary, Deyvant Bhardwaj and Oshi Kumari
In 2020, Arth Chowdhary, Deyvant Bhardwaj and Oshi Kumari founded insideFPV.
The drone start-up based in Surat manufactures a “plug-and-fly” unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which is far easier to use than its competitors.
It also sells drones and parts used to make them online.
It has thus far raised Rs 4 crore in funding including from Inflection Point Ventures.
Aalesh Avlani
Avlani, a Boston University Graduate, is a fintech entrepreneur and angel investor based in Mumbai.
Avlani co-founded Credit Wise Capital (CWC) in 2019.
The company, which specialises in giving out motorcycle loans, has customers in tier-2, 3 and 4 cities.
The company raised Rs 48 crore in seed funding.
The company uses a WhatsApp bot to determine a person’s credit score – thus simplifying the process and letting people without credit histories avail loans.
Ankit Jain and Narayan Lal Gurjar
Jain and Gurjar co-founded agriculture startup EF Polymer in 2018.
The company came up with a polymer-based water-retention product that comes in the form of powder.
Made from biodegradable materials such as banana and orange peels, the powder helps retain moisture and boosts crop yields by absorbing excessive moisture and then slowly releasing water into soil.
The company has raised Rs 32 core in funding from investors including Beyond Next Ventures.
Aditya Dadia
Dadia founded Mumbai-based startup AIwrite in 2022.
The company offers India’s insurance companies software that help it evaluate risk and come up with new offerings.
The company raised Rs 8 crore in funds from investors including Pidilite Industries’s executive vice chairman Apurva Parekh.
Aniket Damle
Damle is part of investment firm Blackstone’s Asia investment team.
He handles investments in India’s healthcare, consumer and industrial sectors.
He made his first deal in 2018 – when Blackstone teamed up with Sona BLW to create the EV-focused technology company Sona Comstar in 2018.
Damle in 2023 led $450 million exit in IBS Software.
He also is a mentor for students the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay – his alma mater.
Aryan Chauhan
Aryan Chauhan co-founded Zivov in 2021 along with his mother.
The company has made a sensor that diabetes patients can attach to themselves to keep tabs on their blood sugar levels.
The results, which come on Zivov’s app, allow users to see how different diets and treatments are helping.
Anuj Srivastava and Priyesh Srivastava
Anuj Srivastava and Priyesh Srivastava co-founded Bengaluru-based start-up OnFinance AI.
The company has developed NeoGPT – a ChatGPT-like product for the finance industry.
The product examines and analyses data, gives predictions and even does financial research.
Arpan Kumar Chandel
Chandel, whose stage name is King, first came to fame on the reality show MTV Hustle in 2019.
He has released many albums, but gained worldwide fame after Nick Jonas remixed his song ‘Maan Meri Jaan.’
New Life, his newest release, has cameos from artists like Gucci Mane.
Chandel was brand ambassador for Sony Audio last year.
He also launched his own fragrance Blanko.
Pavithra Chari
Chari is a classically-trained singer and composer.
She began her career along with Anindo Bose in the musical group Shadow and Light.
In 2023, she won a grammy for their collaboration with the 95-member supergroup Berklee Indian Ensemble.
Chari is also a member of the Anirudh Varma Collective.
Known for covering hits from films, she is also a Bharatnatyam dancer.
Kush Jain
Jain is the co-founder of Orama AI.
The firm uses a smart glove to assist the blind or visually-impaired in learning how to read Braille.
Jain was inspired to do so after realising the obstacles the visually impaired face after volunteering at a school in Bengaluru in 2018.
The firm, since its inception in 2022, has raised Rs 4 crore in funding.
Pranav Manpuria
Manpuria is the co-founder of autonomous driving startup Flux Auto.
The company, founded in 2017, is based in Bengaluru.
It is coming up with self-driving software for forklifts and warehouse robots.
The company has raised nearly Rs 48 crore from investors such as Asymmetry Ventures, Soma Capital and the Y Combinator.
Kunal Aggarwal
Aggarwal founded Credflow in 2019.
The firm, which developed cashflow management software, assists small and medium-sized enterprises in examining data and pushing out payment reminders.
It also gives credit to some users based on their cashflow.
It has raised Rs 72 crore from investors such as Stellaris Venture Partners and Omidyar Network India.
Gaurav Piyush, Mayank Varshney and Yash Sharma
Piyush, Varshney and Sharma cofounded Blitz in 2020.
The logistics startup previously known as Grow Simplee is based in Gurugram.
It provides customers same- or next-day delivery services via warehouses and fulfillment centers.
The firm raised Rs 12 crore in funding from investors led by IndiaQuotient.
Srinivas Sarkar and Kushagra Manglik
Sarkar and Manglik co-founded Coupl – a bank that serves couples without considering their marital status or sexual orientation.
The company, established in 2022, assists couples in better organising their finances via joint accounts and linked ATM cards.
The firm is backed by Y Combinator and Entrepreneur First Global Fund.
Yashvardhan Kanoi
Kanoi heads up investments at venture capital firm Alter Global.
The firm envisions itself as a link between Silicon Valley and startups in emerging markets.
Kanoi has made investments in companies across Southeast Asia, South Asia and Latin America including Ula, BukuKas, and CoLearn since 2019.
Kanoi was previously chief of staff at Jakarta-based fintech company Investree. He helped the firm their series C funding round.
He also worked as an investment associate at Gray Matters Capital – an edtech-focused firm.
Manish Maryada
Maryada co-founded fintech startup Fello in 2021.
The company makes investing more interesting for users by letting customers who have invested a certain amount through the app play games and win prizers.
The company’s app has been downloaded over 10 lakh times.
It has raised over Rs 40 crore in funding including from Courtside Ventures, Y Combinator, Kube Venture and Entrepreneur First.
Karan Ahuja
Ahuja is a Google research scientist.
Ahuja, who earned a PhD in human-computer interaction from Carnegie Mellon University, has developed projects that allow users to better control their smartphones via body-movement technology.
Ahuja in September will join Northwestern University as an assistant professor of computer science.
Chirag Jain and Rama Krishna Mendu
Jain and Mendu co-founded EndureAir Systems in 2018.
The drone start-up based in Noida has developed three UAVs.
One drone, powered by battery, can fly 15 kilometres while carrying 15 kilos.
The firm raised Rs 32 crore from investors such as the Dani family office and the cofounders of Addverb Technologies.
Rahil Gupta
Gupta co-founded Hop Electric Mobility in 2020.
He is currently the CTO of the electric motorbike startup Hop Electric Mobility.
The firm currently sells three models.
Its high-end Oxo bike can go as fast as 95 kilometers per hour and can cover 150 kilometers on a single charge.
The company has raised Rs 50 crore including from a publicly listed company in India.
Kavan Antanie
Antani co-founded IndieFolio in 2014.
The Mumbai-based firm links up designers, animators, content creators and video producers with clients for a commission.
It says it has 70,000 people and counts firms such as Paytm, Ogilvy, and Domino’s Pizza as clients.
With inputs from agencies
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