Three Greeks and one Cypriot in the European list ’30 under 30 ‘2022

To say that Europeans have faced significant challenges in recent years would be an understatement. Following the coronavirus pandemic and its global repercussions, they were shaken again this year when Russia invaded Ukraine violently.

But in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, the 300 visionaries in total (30 in ten different categories) on the Forbes “30 Under 30” list for 2022 did not give up, innovating and raising a total of more than $ 2 billion. funding for their projects – more than double what last year’s participants raised – With this over-liquidity, it comes as no surprise that 80% of this year’s participants believe the European economy is mature enough to support entrepreneurship.

This year’s “class” of “30 under 30” drastically redefines 10 industries in almost 30 countries. It has emerged after the evaluation of thousands of international candidates and their selection by the magazine’s prestigious committee, with the “blessings” of which they belong to the community of young entrepreneurs and people who influence their industry, such as the singer-songwriter Adele, the director Spotify adviser Daniel Ek, actress Cynthia Erivo and athlete Marcus Rashford.

Some of this year’s entrants are already known, such as 27-year-old actress Simone Ashley, who “conquered” viewers as Kate Sharma in the second season of Netflix’s hit Bridgerton series, and 22-year-old Khabane (Khaby) Lame, the second most popular TikToker. after Charli D’Amelio, who has “stuck” 137 million followers.

There are, however, many more that may not be known yet, but will be soon. For example, 29-year-old James McIlroy, founder and CEO of EnteroBiotix, which specializes in bacterial therapy, an invasive procedure that transports germs from a healthy patient to a patient’s gastrointestinal tract. It has already raised about $ 23 million and plans to launch a phase 2 clinical trial by the end of the year to treat liver disease. Or the 20-year-old journalist Anastasiia Lapatina of the Kyiv Independent, her dramatic reports from the war front have shocked more than 600,000 followers on Twitter. Lapatina teamed up with colleagues Toma Istomina, Anna Myroniuk and Oleksiy Sorokin, who “by chance” founded the Kyiv Indepdent last fall after the sudden closure of the Kyiv Post where they worked.

The Greeks and Cypriots of this year’s list

Greek “color” in the list of “30 under 30” of Forbes is given this year by 2 Greeks – Stavros Papadopoulos, Alexandros Anthis and Marina Rafael-Vogiatzaki – and the Cypriot, Xenia Miskouridou.

Stavros Papadopoulos represents Greece in the field of Technology. The son of Greek immigrants in Germany, Stavros co-founded Lendis, a SaaS company that allows customers to manage everything in their office: laptops, iPhones, software, and even office furniture. The company recently raised $ 32 million in a Series A round of financing led by Keen Venture Partners and Circularity Capital, raising its total financing (including debt) to more than $ 90 million.

Alexandros Anthis represents our country in the category “Science and Health”. $ 500,000 to develop this technology through the start-up Veltist, whose findings and how the surgical adhesive works were published in the Journal of Advanced Functional Materials last year.

In the category “Arts and Culture” our country is represented by Marina Raphael-Vogiatzaki Marina, a member of the sixth generation of the Swarovski family, founded the sustainable luxury bag company Marina Raphael, in 2018, which has “conquered” celebrities such as Rita Ora and Jessica Alba. Her company operates with the goal of zero waste generation. The firm is expected to double sales this year, to $ 2.6 million.

Cyprus is represented in the “Science and Health” category by Xenia Miskouridou, a researcher at the University of Oxford, who aspires to use machine learning models aimed at social welfare and shaping public order. of coronavirus as a variant of concern and highlight its impact on Brazil, with its publication in the journal Science, which was used by policy makers such as the World Health Organization.

The list in numbers

However, the above are just a few of the unique new leaders included in this year’s list, as evidenced by the following data regarding the “30 under 30” ranking of 2022:

– Their average age is 27 years.
– 59% of them are founders or co-founders.
– 1% of participants are non-binary individuals, 41% are women and 58% are men.
– In total, they raised more than $ 2 billion.
– The United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland “host” the majority of their companies.
– London, Berlin, Paris, Munich, Madrid and Stockholm are respectively the cities where most of them are located.
The celebrities on this year’s list have a total of more than 439 million followers on social media.
– 70% of the participants consider it an advantage that they are under 30 years old.
– These young entrepreneurs work an average of 62 hours a week.