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When Marco Cancellieri was 21 years old, he decided to drop out of college to build Europe’s version of trading app Robinhood. Six years later, his company Trade Republic secured a valuation of $5 billion with more than $1 billion in funding. It manages some 35 billion Euros in assets today.
Cancellieri is just one of the many successful startup founders highlighted on the Forbes Under 30 Europe list, which, for the past nine years, has recognized 300 companies and individuals making strides to impact the economic and social landscapes in the continent.
Take Wayve’s Alex Kendall. Last year, the 2020 Under 30 alumni secured $1.05 billion in funding from Nvidia and Microsoft—the world’s largest companies—to build software that can make any car a self-driving car.
Then there’s Hall of Fame stars like Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who cofounded the Malala Fund to help young women gain access to education. And of course, Forbes was early to spot talent such as actor Millie Bobby Brown, who made the list in 2018 and continues to charm the screen with her role on Netflix’s Stranger Things and her own productions like 2024’s Damsel.
Members of last year’s Under 30 Europe list—including stars like actor Bella Ramsey and TV host Maya Jama—collectively raised over $1 billion, tackling everything from how elderly care works across the continent to climate change, and boasted a social media following of more than 262 million. They were selected from thousands of applicants, evaluated by Forbes staff and a panel of independent, expert judges on a variety of factors, including (but not limited to) funding, revenue, social impact, scale, inventiveness and potential.
Now Forbes is on the hunt for the next class of European changemakers. If you or someone you know sounds like you belong in this cohort of leaders, are based in Europe and are 29 or younger as of April 8, 2025, nominations for the 2025 Under 30 Europe list are now open here.
Happy nominating,
Alex and Zoya
Meet The Little-Known Billionaire Caught Up In The Baldoni-Lively Scandal
-Steve Sarowitz, the billionaire former CEO of online HR and payment processing company Paylocity, cofounded film studio Wayfarer with actor Justin Baldoni in 2019. Now, the two (who say they initially set out to create films with positive messages) are named in the viral lawsuit filed by Blake Lively accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on set of their film, It Ends With Us. Forbes dove into the $2.5 billion-worth studio financier here.
On Our Radar
–Meta goes fact check-free. Mark Zuckerberg, who made the 30 Under 30 list in 2012, announced that his social media conglomerate will change its current policy, which includes a third-party fact-checking program, to be more like Elon Musk’s X—including “community notes,” where users can leave comments on a post and “if enough contributors from different points of view rate that note as helpful, the note will be publicly shown on a post,” according to X. Read more about Zuckerberg’s reasons behind the new comment-section-like monitoring method here. (NBC)
-It seems like every week Forbes 30 Under 30 alum and cover star Alex Cooper is making headlines. This week, it was announced that she’s acquiring even more media land. Cooper’s Unwell Network is buying two new podcasts: “Going West,” a true crime show hosted by Daphne Woolsoncroft and Heath Merryman, and “Cheers,” a “lifestyle and culture” show hosted by Avery Woods. (The Hollywood Reporter)
-Though our little section of the internet here tends to focus on twenty and thirty somethings doing big things, it seems that much of the cohort of young millennials is struggling to figure things out. Nearly 9% of those 30 to 40 years old still live with their parents. Which doesn’t seem like a huge number, but compared to the 6% that did so in 1990, it’s just one of the metrics on the rise regarding the generation’s difficulty “growing up.” WSJ did a deep dive into a few who say their lives have yet to get started… despite being alive for nearly 40 years. (Wall Street Journal)
Creator Corner with Deja Foxx
The creator economy is thriving, and could reportedly be worth half-a-trillion dollars by 2027. Since the boom of content creation, the Forbes Under 30 list has recognized the individuals who have either built their businesses through social media or turned social media into their business. Hear from these entrepreneurs what it takes to make it on the internet.
Up this week: 2025 Under 30 Media lister, Deja Foxx, a digital strategist and content creator advocating for reproductive rights. She’s also the founder of GenZ Girl Gang, an online community platform, and the host of the interview series “Girls on the Ground,” where she covers women and gender-expansive movement leaders.
How do you use social media in your career today? Social media is, and always will be, a tool for me. Beyond likes and clicks, everything I do on these platforms must be in service of my larger purpose: creating community, showing other young women and girls what is possible, changing our narrative and culture for the better, or inspiring people to take tangible action on the issues they care about.
When did you make your first social media post? Was it intended to contribute to your career? Or was it used recreationally at first? I had my first viral moment at 16 years old in the midst of a very challenging personal time. I was working at a gas station and experiencing hidden homelessness after having moved out of my mom’s home due to issues of substance abuse. A video of a confrontation between me and my Senator in which I ask ‘Why he would deny me the American Dream?’ in response to his efforts to defund Planned Parenthood reached millions overnight.
It was neither recreational, nor was it about my career, but rather a strategic organizing move to create policy change.
Being a member of Gen Z, how do you see our generation shaping the future of the social space? We are the first generation to have our whole lives documented and to come of age online with constant feedback on everything—from how we look to what we think. This constant perception and pressure, combined with new avenues for violence and harassment, disproportionately affect teen girls and young women.
I fear we may lose out on a generation of women leaders who are bullied and intimidated out of the space they deserve in the public discourse. Despite this, I see girls showing up and standing up for each other and transforming the tools they are given on these social media platforms into the community building spaces they deserve.
What has been your key to success online? Any social media/posting rules you live by? Put people at the center of your process. You need to know who you create for. Beyond general insights like age, gender, or location, you should ask yourself: What do they talk about with their friends in the group chat? What do they worry about? Who do they want to be?
For me, this is a version of my younger self: A teen girl in Arizona who works after school at a gas station just to get by and can’t know quite yet just how big the world could be for her.
What’s your best piece of advice for others looking to build their social media presence today? It seems to me that a new, unavoidable fact of leadership, no matter your industry, is building and maintaining a strong personal brand online. Give yourself some grace and remember making content probably isn’t your fulltime job. Set goals you can stick to; put out content that feels low lift when you have to; and if you can, bring in collaborators to support you.
What’s the best way for young people to use social media to mobilize communities today? How can we continue to use online interactions to affect IRL change? These social media platforms are relatively new, but we can still apply tried and true changemaking strategies like relational organizing. That’s the idea that the people who care about you (your friends, family, neighbors and yes, followers), will care about what you care about—making you an important messenger no matter your follower count.
Thoughts on the upcoming TikTok ban? What impact will that have? Where will you take your TikTok-style content next? I have a complicated relationship with Tiktok. On one hand, In the aftermath of the fall of Roe v. Wade, I was able to reach millions with a video detailing my arrest at a protest and explaining ways to engage in civil disobedience. On the other hand, dozens of my videos talking about abortion were retroactively flagged for ‘grooming’ or ‘the sale of illegal goods’ putting my account on notice and slowing my reach when people needed that information the most.
Without a doubt small businesses and the creator economy will take a big hit, but this isn’t 2020. Youtube and Instagram now have both built vertical video products with algorithms built to extend our reach. For creators like me, no platform was ever perfect and I will continue to adapt and meet my audience where they are. We hold the power, not the platforms.
What’s your favorite social media platform? Pinterest is my safe space. No elaboration needed. The girls who get it, get it.
What’s the next thing (platform, trend, something else) coming in the social media/media industry that you’re getting ready for? The social media industry is complicated, especially from an advocacy stand point. While I recognize the power in using it to democratize who gets to create the narrative and to build community, it seems like every day I see major platforms making decisions that are at odds with my values and our democracy. So, I’m excited to explore alternative platforms that better represent my vision of the future.
One example is Diem, a search engine that feels like you’re asking questions in a girl’s bathroom at 1 a.m. (like what it’s like taking birth control to how to navigate a toxic relationship), which is committed to closing the gender information gap. Over the next 5 years I hope we continue to see values-based innovations like these that build a more feminist future on and offline.
A bit about you: What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work? I made the big decision to leave NYC and move back to my hometown in Arizona during the 2024 election because to take a hike in the desert, a drive through the mountains, or a moment to watch the sunset gives me the perspective that the world is so much bigger than anything going on on a screen.
You were on the road a lot this election cycle. What was your favorite experience from the last few months? I was the first Content Creator to ever speak at the DNC which was full circle for me after serving as the Influencer and Surrogate Strategist on the first Kamala Harris presidential run in 2020. There is something so special about seeing your vision, especially one others doubted or couldn’t see at the time, realized.
Last year I also had the opportunity to interview Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lady Jill Biden, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, as well as local candidates and movement leaders. In 2025, I’m doubling down on those efforts with the relaunch of my Girls on the Ground series from GenZ Girl Gang. You can watch the first episode here from swearing in day on Capitol Hill with Rep. Emily Randall, the first Queer Latina in Congress.
What’s a hope or prediction you have for 2025 as it relates to young people, global communications, policy, or any of the other industries you’re currently working in? I’ll be so real, I’m gearing up for a rough ride ahead in 2025. In these chaotic times I more often than not refrain from predictions, but I will leave you with this: Some times we win and some times we lose, but when we invest in people we never really lose.