The 2018 Fortune 40 Under 40 list has been released with Instagram cofounder Kevin Systrom having knocked French leader Emmanuel Macron off of the top spot.
Trends come and go quicker than ever in the digital world, but photo-sharing social network Instagram remains one of the world’s most popular apps almost eight years on from its release. This year, the app has crossed the one billion user mark and has amassed a value of more than $100bn.
Go deeper with GlobalData
With a safe pair of hands at the helm in Systrom, the Facebook-owned company is going from strength to strength.
Systrom is joined on the 40-person list (there’s actually 54 individuals in total) this year by 34 new entries, all of which will be hopeful of dethroning Systrom in future years.
From billionaire tech founders to culinary creatives, here are the fresh faces on Fortune’s annual list:
4 – Wang Xing
Age: 39
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataOrganisation: Meituan-Dianping
Job title: Cofounder and CEO
Serial entrepreneur Wang Xing attempted to redevelop popular western social media startups like Twitter and Facebook for the Chinese market with little luck. However, he struck gold with Meituan, a Groupon-inspired voucher and discount website that is now valued at over $30bn. The company has since merged with Dianping to add meal delivery, hotel bookings and movie bookings to its range of offerings, with a $60bn IPO expected soon.
7 – Xu Li
Age: 36
Organisation: SenseTime
Job title: Cofounder and CEO
Xu Li is the CEO of one of the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startups. Based in Hong Kong, SenseTime is a leader in facial recognition, working with government and corporate organisations to provide face-tracking surveillance systems.
7 – Zhang Yiming
Age: 35
Organisation: ByteDance
Job title: CEO
Yiming is the man behind ByteDance, the parent company of China’s most popular news app, Toutiao. With more than 700 million users, the company has emerged as a leader in China’s tech scene. ByteDance bought Tik Tok last year for $1bn. The video editing/social media app is the most downloaded on the Apple App Store so far this year.
9 – Whitney Wolfe Herd
Age: 29
Organisation: Bumble
Job title: Founder and CEO
Wolfe Herd cofounded leading dating app Tinder back in 2012, but she has since become a thorn in the side of the Match Group-owned app. Wolfe Herd now leads Bumble, a clone of her first project on which women must talk first. Bumble now had 34 million users and has generated over $100m in revenue.
10 – Keith Cozza
Age: 39
Organisation: Icahn Enterprises
Job title: President and CEO
Cozza stands out in a tech-heavy list as the head of Icahn Enterprises, a $14bn investment conglomerate. Icahn is heavily invested in the auto, energy, food and real estate industries. Under Cozza, Icahn Enterprises recorded a record income of $2.4bn in 2017.
11 – Jordan Peele
Age: 39
Organisation: Monkeypaw Productions
Job title: Founder
Peele joins Fortune’s 40 Under 40 fresh from winning his first Oscar earlier this year in the Best Original Screenplay category. Peele is the man behind critically acclaimed horror film Get Out, which was one of 2017’s biggest box office successes.
12 – Jacinda Ardern
Age: 37
Organisation: New Zealand Government
Job title: Prime Minister
New Zealand’s been there and done that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is the highest ranking politician on this year’s list, having won over the voting public late last year. The former DJ has set about delivering on her promises this year, introducing welfare reforms and tackling the nation’s housing crisis.
13 – Sumaiya Balbale / Andy Dunn
Age: 37 / 39
Organisation: Walmart
Job title: Vice-president of e-commerce, mobile and digital marketing / senior vice-president of digital consumer brands
Balbale and Dunn have been picked out these two as vital figures in retailer Walmart’s push to transform itself into an e-commerce store that can compete with Amazon in the digital age.
Balbale was previously the CMO of Jet.com, an e-commerce company purchased by Walmart for $3.3bn in 2016. Dunn previously founded clothing line Bonobos, which was acquired by Walmart for $310m in 2017.
14 – Anjali Sud
Age: 35
Organisation: Vimeo
Job title: CEO
Sud oversees Vimeo, a video sharing platform that is part of a $13bn portfolio containing huge digital companies such as Match Group, CollegeHumor and Ask.com. The former investment banker is tasked with keeping up with the likes of Google’s YouTube in the video sharing space.
15 – Donald Glover
Age: 34
Organisation: N/A
Job title: Musician, actor, writer, director
Glover went to number one earlier this year with his hit single “This Is America”, in which he references mass shootings, police brutality and racial issues among other things. The music video has since been nominated for numerous awards, including MTV’s Music Video of the Year.
21 – Rihanna
Age: 30
Organisation: N/A
Job title: Singer, songwriter, actor, entrepreneur
Glover is joined by fellow entertainer Rihanna, who joins the list for her successes as an entrepreneur, rather than as a musician. Rihanna launched the Fenty Beauty cosmetics line last year which generated $100m in sales in its first 40 days. The Barbadian singer has since launched a lingerie brand catering to all body types and sizes.
23 – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Age: 28
Organisation: N/A
Job title: Politician
Ocasio-Cortez trumped veteran politician Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary vote in New York’s 14th congressional district earlier this year, in what was branded the biggest upset in the 2018 midterm elections. Given the district’s strong Democratic following, she is expected to become the youngest woman elected to Congress following November’s general election.
24 – Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt
Age: 31 / 33
Organisation: Robinhood
Job title: Cofounders and co-CEOs
Tenev and Bhatt are challenging the old guard of stock trading with their app, Robinhood. This allows individuals to invest in companies on the United States stock exchanges via their smartphones without paying commission on their investments. A recent funding round reportedly handed the company a $5.6bn valuation according to the Wall Street Journal.
25 – Pavel Durov
Age: 33
Organisation: Telegram
Job title: Cofounder and CEO
Durov’s multi-billion dollar startup faces pressure from governments around the world for offering an encrypted messaging platform that has been used by criminals to converse away from prying eyes, but despite its issues, Telegram continues to be one of the world’s most popular apps. The WhatsApp rival now boasts more than 200 million monthly users.
26 – Dave Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal
Age: 37 / 37
Organisation: Warby Parker
Job title: Cofounders and Co-CEOs
Gilboa and Blumenthal are improving the eyesight of those that need it most. The billion-dollar eyewear brand Warby Parker had donated more than one million pairs of glasses to those in need through its “buy one, give one” scheme.
27 – Sonia Cheng
Age: 37
Organisation: Rosewood Hotel Group
Job title: CEO
Since taking over as the CEO of luxury hotel group Rosewood in 2011, Cheng has overseen the company’s expansion from 19 hotels to 61 today. Under Cheng’s guidance, the group continues to thrive, with the company planning to add another 25 properties to its portfolio in the coming years.
28 – Michael Tubbs
Age: 27
Organisation: State of California
Job title: Mayor of Stockton, California
After being elected as the Mayor of Stockton, California in 2016 at the age of 26, becoming the youngest mayor in US history, Tubbs has set about proving that his young age is no indication of his ability to lead. Tubbs is challenging the norm and will soon introduce universal basic income in the city.
29 – Feng Zhang
Age: 36
Organisation: Beam Therapeutics
Job title: Cofounder
Zhang is a Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (better known as CRISPR) pioneer. Zhang was one of the first scientists to use gene editing technology on human cells, a practice that could lead to new treatments for a range of diseases and ailments.
Beam Therapeutics, a Crispr-focused startup launched by Zhang and his colleagues, has received $87m in funding to continue its studies into Crispr technology.
30 – Christina Tosi
Age: 36
Organisation: Milk Bar
Job title: Founder and CEO
Dessert visionary Christina Tosi has been serving up her unusual goodies like Cereal Milk ice cream from the Milk Bar Bakery in New York City since 2008. Last year she expanded around North America, bringing her treats to Washington DC, Las Vegas, and Toronto.
32 – Arlan Hamilton
Age: 37
Organisation: Backstage Capital
Job title: Founder
Less than 10% of all capital is given to women, people of colour and LGBT founders, but Arlan Hamilton is slowly but surely changing that. Her venture capital firm Backstage Capital has so far invested $4m in startups led by underrepresented founders, with another $36m to follow.
32 – Anu Duggal
Age: 39
Organisation: Female Founders Fund
Job title: Founding partner
Anu Duggal is helping the underrepresented women in tech to find the funding that they need. The Female Founders Fund invests in female-led technology startups, with more than $5m raised and invested so far. Another $27m is set to follow.
33 – Marc Stad
Age: 39
Organisation: Dragoneer Investment Group
Job title: Founder and partner
Stad is the founder of the Dragoneer Investment Group, a capital market company that has earned its place among the established investment firms with bold investments and deals with companies like Spotify, Alibaba, Snap Inc and Uber.
34 – Stephanie Lampkin
Age: 33
Organisation: Blendoor
Job title: Founder and CEO
Lampkin was unable to get a job with search giant Google after completing web development degrees at Stanford and MIT. Rather than letting bias beat her down, Lampkin founded Blendoor, a company helping to eliminate biases in the hiring process. Some of the world’s biggest companies, like Airbnb, Salesforce and Google, are now using Lampkin’s tech to improve their processes.
35 – Tristan Harris
Age: 33
Organisation: Center for Humane Technology
Job title: Cofounder
After ditching Google – where he served as the company’s design ethicist — due to becoming disillusioned with the tech world’s current practices, Harris has opened our eyes to issues such as smartphone addiction through his writings and talks.
35 – Eric Ries
Age: 39
Organisation: Long Term Stock Exchange
Job title: Founder and CEO
Ries is the founder of the Long Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), a platform that prioritises profitable long-term trading over small short-term gains. The exchange has yet to launch, with a long road of meeting rules and regulations ahead. However, the project is receiving attention and funding from Silicon Valley investors, which is a good indication of future success.
36 – Lynn Jurich
Age: 39
Organisation: Sunrun
Job title: Cofounder and CEO
Jurich is the CEO of home solar panel company Sunrun, which boasts a market cap of $1.7bn following its 2015 IPO. A leader in residential solar solutions, Sunrun is beating Elon Musk’s SolarCity for market share.
37 – Nate Nanzer
Age: 39
Organisation: Overwatch League
Job title: Commissioner
Esports, competitive video gaming, is becoming increasingly popular, with prize money growing and new leagues and tournaments springing up each day. Despite only launching in January, the Overwatch League is considered among the best.
Nanzer is largely to thank for that. He helped Blizzard to secure 12 franchises that each paid $20m to be a part of the inaugural season. Viewing figures have been promising so far and the industry is expected to continue to grow in the coming years.
38 – Heidi Zak
Age: 39
Organisation: Thirdlove
Job title: Cofounder and Co-CEO
Zak combined her experience in the tech and fashion worlds to create a forward-thinking bra retailer in 2013. Thirdlove asks customers to complete quizzes to figure out what bra works best for them, with its half-cup size offerings helping to make it a huge success among young internet shoppers.
39 – Geoffrey and Matthew Chaiken
Age: 36 / 32
Organisation: Blink Health
Job title: Cofounder and CEO / Cofounder and COO
The Chaiken brothers want to stop patients being charged a premium for access to vital prescription drugs. Through their Blink Health startup, the pair are using the online world to cut out the middlemen and find their users lower prices for their prescription medication.
40 – Rana el Kaliouby
Age: 39
Organisation: Affectiva
Job title: Cofounder and CEO
Kaliouby is one of the entrepreneurs behind Affectiva, an artificial intelligence startup that is teaching machines how to decipher human emotions. Affectiva technology has since found a number of practical uses, from assisting individuals with autism to allowing marketers to test and analyse their ads.
Kaliouby’s startup is now working with more than 25% of the world’s biggest companies.
