FORBES Australia’s
30 UNDER 30 list 2025
Edited by Anastasia Santoreneos | Photography by Steven Chee
From pipe robots to Netflix heroes, 2025’s 30 Under 30 list is jam-packed with Australia’s brightest entrepreneurs, founders and stars, each making waves in their respective industries. Their success is not only reflected in funding (of which our founders have banked more than $150 million in capital), but also viewership, streams and sales.
In technology, AI takes centre stage. Take Relevance AI: Jacky Koh, Daniel Vassilev and Daniel Palmer have raised $42 million to date to help companies develop their own AI agents to automate tasks without coding. Then there’s Kai van Lieshout – the 23-year-old behind Lyrebird, an AI-powered clinical documentation platform that automates scribing and administrative tasks directly from patient-doctor conversations. It has just raised $12 million this June, valuing the two-year-old start-up at $50 million.
NBA star Josh Giddey features in our sporting category as one of Australia’s highest-paid athletes, thanks to a new four-year, US$100 million contract with the Chicago Bulls. One of Australia’s fastest sprinters – Gout Gout – also features in this category, after his historic sub-20-second time in the 200-metre sprint (the first Australian to achieve that) this year. He’s got some money behind him too: a $6 million contract with Adidas that’ll run until the end of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
In finance and venture capital, Mitchell Hughes and Jerry X’Lingson say they’re powering the next generation of student founders through their aptly named VC firm, NextGen, which, at the time of writing, has closed $2 million for its first fund. They plan to back 36 founders in three years, before launching their second fund, which they say could be about $20 million (but don’t quote them – they may seek more).
In music and the arts, we have Milly Alcock, who propelled herself from Sydney’s Inner West to the silver screen via a career-changing role as Rhaenyra Targaryen in the HBO fantasy series House of the Dragon (which Variety said averaged 29 million viewers per episode), before taking on the ambitious role of Simone DeWitt in the Netflix miniseries Sirens.
All in all, our 30 finalists have shown passion, drive and dedication to their craft and cause, and investors and audiences agree. Importantly, these 30 finalists have been chosen by the Forbes Australia team and a panel of independent, expert judges, based on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) funding and revenue, social impact, scale, innovation and industry potential.
The ages listed are as of December 31, 2024.
Buy a copy of Forbes 30 under 30 Magazine or tap here to become a Forbes member.
The Forbes 30 Under 30 selection process is rigorous. It begins with soliciting online nominations, where the public is encouraged to self-nominate or nominate a peer.
The Forbes editorial team will then assess all online nominations to find candidates, and background/fact-check each nominee. The team will also reach out to industry experts and list alumni, and of course keep tabs on current affairs to source further candidates.
From here, Forbes’ editorial team will create a long-list to present to a panel of independent expert judges, who are asked to assess candidates on various factors, including (but not limited to) funding and revenue, social impact, scale, innovation and industry potential.
Our judging panel helps the editorial team whittle its long-list down to a short list of 30. Most importantly, all final listers are 29 years or younger (as of the cut-off date, which for our inaugural list was 31 December, 2024).
NOTE: ALL DOLLAR VALUES ARE IN US DOLLARS (USD)
Production and reporting by Anastasia Santoreneos, Sam Hussey, Huw Reynolds, Sarah O’Carroll, Stewart Hawkins, Simon Hodge and Chris Purcell.
- Multiple nominations do not equate to a better chance of making the list. In fact, it can sometimes be seen as a red flag for our reporters
- Whether you are self-nominated or nominated by a peer does not matter – a well-written application that tightly explores your achievements does
- If you aren’t sure which category to nominate under, don’t panic. Our team will assess internally which category best fits your application
- All nominations are background and fact-checked
- No one finds out they have made the list until the day of publication
