Forbes India 30 Under 30 2024: Meet our young disruptors and trailblazers

IIT Roorkee alumni Ankit Alok Bagaria and Abhi Gawri set up Loopworm right after graduation and are building it up to make it one of India’s largest biotechnology companies. The duo rear silkworms and black soldier fly larvae to produce Loop-Grub, Loop-Meal and Loop-oil, which is sold to animal feed manufacturers. Initially bootstrapped, the duo won $150,000 in grants and later raised $3.4 million in seed funding from Omnivore and WaterBridge Ventures. Apart from animal feed, they plan to enter the plant nutrition and cosmetics space. They aim to raise another round of funding next year.

Viraj Khanna never set out to be an artist. It happened by accident during the pandemic. It started with making collages out of 400 fashion magazines to keep the Instagram accounts of his family business—Anamika Khanna’s eponymous fashion label—going during the lockdowns. He then graduated to sculptures and paintings, and textiles and embroidery. “He was not creating out of some preconceived notions, but some sort of freedom. That was his biggest strength,” says Somak Mitra, director of Gallery Art Exposure. He has done shows at The Loft, Kolkata, and is now a part of a multi-artist show in Los Angeles.

Founded in July 2022, Mstack is a cross-border custom manufacturing platform specialising in speciality chemicals. Backed by Lightspeed, it has scaled up furiously over the last 18 months. “Shreyans Chopra’s vision of establishing a cross-border B2B-managed marketplace dedicated to speciality chemicals is bold and timely,” Bejul Somaia, partner at Lightspeed, says. The CA-turned-music entrepreneur-turned-B2B entrepreneur has traversed many paths to arrive at one that works for him.

A national topper in ICSE Class 10th boards, Spriha Biswas entered IIT-Bombay with an all-India rank of 1,720 but dropped out two years later. From building applications for over 20 early-stage startups, Biswas went deep into design thinking and extensively researched, prototyped, and tested products and services across India, the Middle East, and Africa. She became the chief product officer of India’s first voice-based AI for healthcare professionals, Augnito, in February 2020. She built three products with Augnito, which are used by doctors and clinicians at over 350 hospitals across 20 countries.

Ajinkya Dhariya has developed the world’s first patented sanitary pad recycling technology that recovers pulp and plastic from used pads for industrial applications. The mechanical engineer has the first-mover advantage in the market. PadCare Labs focuses on reshaping menstrual hygiene and waste management to solve the untapped pollution-causing sanitary waste problems, unhygienic menstrual practices and the well-being of waste pickers. Their technology, PadCare X, breaks down absorbent sanitary waste into high-quality byproducts. To date, it has recycled 138 metric tonnes of sanitary waste. It caters to companies like Meta, Pfizer, P&G, Thermax, Mercedes-Benz and Mahindra.

Mini Mines collects used lithium-ion batteries from pan-India and recycles them to extract lithium, cobalt, and nickel. This makes the scarce, expensive resource of lithium available in the country and reduces the reliance on traditional mining for cobalt and nickel. The raw materials are sold to battery manufacturers, enabling a circular economy for lithium-ion batteries. Founders Arvind Bharadwaj and Anupam Kumar claim they can extract enough lithium, cobalt and nickel from spent batteries to power 66 lakh EVs. The applications are many—including pharma, glass manufacturing, catalyst producers, and more. They have received a grant of $0.5 million from Oil India.

Rapture Innovation Labs’ Sonic Lamb headphones “offer the perfect conduit between people and music to deliver an eargasmic experience,” Navajith Karkera, co-founder and CEO, says. Founded in 2018 along with Jagath Biddappa, the duo uses patented hybrid driver technology that combines air and body conduction to allow listeners to hear and feel the music. It was one of the seven startups globally selected for the SoundTech accelerator programme by Sound Hub Denmark, the world’s largest international sound technology and innovation hub. With a price tag of Rs15,999, the duo claim 60 percent of their headphones are sold in the US.

Netra Ajjampur and Abhishek Durani bring a unique blend of skills to the table—Ajjampur’s execution prowess complements Durani’s ideation strength. With a passion for dynamic design, the architect duo founded Studio Sorted to fill a gap in India’s architecture sector—a youthful and creative spirit. Its portfolio includes branding, curations and workshops, residential architecture and interiors, and online design competitions, boasting a clientele including Toni & Guy, MG, Sony Music, Vahdam, JBL, and Theka Coffee. Mexican architect Gustavo Carmona, with whom Durani interned, says, “In a design world dominated by superficial work and distracted minds, their work presents an optimistic and joyful approach with unusual depth and sensibility.”

Christopher Richard, a product design grad from NID, explores the possibility of crafting every product that surrounds us with love and passion in a fusion of form and function. Today, Richard is an integral part of the award-winning design agency Studio Carbon, which works at the intersection of technology, systems thinking, and storytelling to realise a better future. Located in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, with operations in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, the studio has clients in the US, South Africa, Nigeria, the UAE, South Korea, and beyond. The studio has forged collaborations with Indian startups such as Pixxel, Dhruva Space, CynLr, InSpace and Isro, BSE, Titan, and Havells.

Anushka Rathod began exploring the power of social media during the initial months of the Covid-19 lockdown. Armed with a postgraduation in taxation, a CFA level 1 exam, and a few years of experience in investment banking and wealth management, she began by explaining simple industry strategies. Now, her social media handles and YouTube subscription number boast a combined 1.8 million followers. Her newsletter, ‘Crore Club’, commands more than 10,000 subscribers. Her style of simplifying complex financial subjects for her followers is unique.

Dipraj Jadhav is widely popular for blending visuals and background scores in perfect sync. He has a million followers on Instagram, 464,000 on Facebook, and 309,000 subscribers on YouTube. A turning point in his career was when Nucleya noticed the mashup he had made of Divine and Nucleya’s song Scene Kya Hai synced with a video of a fight between Ram and Ravan from Ramayan created by Ramanand Sagar. Nucleya approached Jadhav to create more mashups that were used for his concerts. He has worked as an assistant editor for movies and web series like Batla House, Marjaavan, and Rocket Boys.

Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra found themselves back in Mumbai when the pandemic hit. The duo were studying at Stanford and decided to take a year off instead of opting for online classes. What started as a WhatsApp group in an apartment in Mumbai to help elderly neighbours get groceries easily amid lockdowns is now one of India’s fastest-growing internet companies with 150 stores and a target of annualised sales of $200 million by April 2025. The recent unicorn is valued at $1.6 billion and raised $235.4 million in 2023, backed by StepStone, Nexus, and Oliver Jung, among others.

Varun Sanghi was thrown into the deep water before he knew how to swim by his father, a third-generation entrepreneur who founded CarTrade in 2009. Sanghi swam while swallowing the self-deprecating doubts about himself and his aim to succeed. He did his time, and in 2023, when Prosus put OLX India business on the block, junior Sanghi was leading CarTrade Ventures—a $100 million fund for M&A and incubation. He orchestrated the Rs520 crore acquisition and sealed the deal. The young gun is far from done and is gunning for glory.

Anupam Pedarla, Sashank Reddy Gujjula and Rahul Attuluri (32) met at a startup incubator. Their first job after college included Pedarla and Gujjula going to tier 2 and 3 colleges to create awareness about the latest technologies, the skills the students should acquire, and entrepreneurship. They gained an on-ground understanding of the challenges that students face, which led to the founding of NxtWave. The company builds a bridge between academia and industry. They aim to understand what companies expect from students and align the curriculum to that. With 1.5-2 lakh students on WhatsApp groups, NxtWave has helped over 1,700 companies hire their tech talent.

Lynkit’s team of 175 employees service 5,000 businesses that encompass 100,000 users, and tracking between 15,000 to 20,000 trips every day. The bootstrapped logistics company, founded by Uddhav Kumar, founder, and CEO, has been profitable from early on with its revenue in the ballpark of “a couple of million dollars,” he says. Kumar also runs Hummara Truck, a CSR initiative that helps truckers find jobs. Lynkit’s solutions include a tracking page of a courier company’s website, backend systems that help them get their parcels on time, dispatch their truck on time, know where their drivers are, and knowing which vehicle to place in which hub.

Since her debut film Kirik Party in Kannada in 2016, Rashmika Mandanna has made her mark in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi films. The actor has had a dream run in the last few years with hits such as Pushpa: The Rise, Sita Ramam (both Telugu), Mission Majnu, and Animal (both Hindi) to her name. In the pipeline are projects she’s chuffed about—Pushpa 2: The Rule, The Girlfriend (Telugu), and Chaava (Hindi), among others. Alongside her tinsel town dreams, Mandanna is also working on a business plan and is likely to soon turn entrepreneur.

Known mostly for her intense, hard-hitting roles in films Kuttey and Sajini Shinde ka Viral Video and the series Saas, Bahu aur Flamingo in 2023, Radhika Madan is keen to enter her “Govinda” phase—where she takes up more light, fun roles in commercial films. Her titular role in Sanaa, which is currently touring the festival circuit, will be released in India soon. Playing the role of an ambitious woman with unresolved mental trauma earned her the Best Actor award at the UK Indian Film Festival last year. In her next, she will play the lead alongside Akshay Kumar in the Hindi remake of Sudha Kongara’s Tamil film Soorarai Pottru

After recognising a gap in the Pret market, Viraj and Vishesh Khanna established AK-OK in 2020 to cater to aspirational customers of contemporary and edgy fashion. AK-Ok garments use high-end fabrics like silk and crepes, depending on the season, to make clothes that have easy, breezy and versatile silhouettes. The brand offers a fresh and edgy take on luxury apparel, making high-end fashion more attainable for a broader audience. The brand has a retail presence in Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Ludhiana, and more. Overseas, it is available in Los Angeles and London.

Coming from a family of tailors and garments entrepreneur, Tolambia, a NIFT-Jodhpur grad, won the best graduation project award for his collection inspired by the Rabari community of Gujarat. While studying MA Fashion Futures at the London College of Fashion, he collected data and prototyped it, to developed a patent pending technology for local circular recycling which recycles waste into HCD-TEX (Humanity Centred Designs-Textiles), the world’s first recycled material from mixed pre-consumer textile waste. His work has been presented globally at events like the Lakme Fashion Week, Woolmark Australia’s Impact Hub, COP28 in the US, and more.

Seethalakshmy Narayanan walked the talk at 29. She is the youngest-ever vice president of Premji Invest in its 17-year history, having led seven investments aggregating over $300 million. She has worked on deals involving GlobalBees, FirstCry and KreditBee earlier, and Lotus Surgicals and Mintifi in 2023. Seethalakshmy believes MSME financing, cross-border supply chain financing and wealth management will emerge as key growth areas for India. She plans to become a principal and then a partner over the next three to five years. And before she turns 40, she wants to open her own private equity firm.

Vishnu Acharya currently heads corporate strategy and M&A at Razorpay. He claims to have closed deals worth $200 million across over 12 acquisitions while expanding Razorpay’s business in new areas and markets. Three years ago, Acharya and the core team of Razorpay floated an angel fund, MarsShot, to back promising founders. After speaking to 400 founders, he invested in over 35 of them through the fund across Saas, consumer and B2B. Harshil Mathur, co-founder and CEO of Razorpay, says Acharya’s team will play an instrumental role as the fintech prepares for an IPO in the next two to three years.

Flatmates-turned-co-founders Abhishek Agarwal and Akash Sharma (31, co-founder and CEO) started Farmley to provide sustainable agricultural solutions at the grassroots. Farmley started as a wholesale company in 2017, primarily supplying dry fruits and nuts to retail ventures like Reliance and Grofers. In May 2020, it established itself as a B2C brand. With direct connections with over 5,000 farmers, it ensures its products meet the highest standards. Its five farm-gate processing units are close to the source of origin and ensure farmers get improved incomes. It now also provides over 100 healthy snacks like date bits, roasted makhanas and flavoured cashews.

To solve problems upstream in health care, Nadeem Ahmed pursued management after becoming a doctor. As a senior consultant at McKinsey, he looks at the Asia-Pacific region. His non-profit think tank is aimed at advancing global health equity by championing emerging technologies and fostering stakeholder collaboration. In 2022, he was among 100 chosen for the Global Leadership Challenge, a joint initiative of the University of Oxford and the St Gallen Symposium. “Having spent time at hospitals, caring for patients, he felt the need to focus on a wider canvas rather than limiting himself to a single hospital,” said Arun Diaz, angel investor and management consultant.

At 22, Aryan Chauhan is already building his second startup while on leave from the University of Pennsylvania, where he is pursuing the illustrious Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, which has an acceptance rate of less than five percent. His company, Zivov, which he co-founded with his mother, is trying to solve the problem of diabetes with a tech-first approach. It provides personalised remission plans and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices and draws insights from it. In India, Abbott currently has a near monopoly on CGM devices. Zivov’s proprietary tech scans the Abbott sensor and helps them provide the solution for less than half the cost.

The co-founders of EndureAir Systems build Made in India drones with ease of operation and customised solutions to cater to tricky terrains and situations. Their drones are used for surveillance, logistics delivery, disaster management, crowd control, precision agriculture, and video monitoring. They are rigorously tested in challenging terrains, from Khardung La, Ladakh, and Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh to the maritime conditions in Mumbai. The company has over eight patents and boasts a revenue of Rs2.26 crore. With Rs33 crore from Asian Paints’ Dani family and Addverb Technology co-founders, they aim to expand in the Middle East, Europe and North America.

Music has always been a part of Aditi Saigal’s life. Popularly known as Dot, the daughter of rock musician Amit Saigal and actor Shena Gamat, she attended Woodstock School for its music department and then the University of Bangor, UK, for a music and creative writing degree. Dot boasts two lakh monthly listeners on Spotify and has garnered a loyal fanbase, particularly for her songs in Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies, in which she also debuted as an actor. Her This album, Sea Creature on the Sofa, will be released next year.

Hunny Bhagchandani started Torchit to create innovations for people with disabilities. His first product, Saarthi, is a device to help blind and visually impaired persons find obstacles in their path; other products include Jyoti AI glasses with optical character recognition that supports multiple languages. Its VOIS smart gloves help hearing and speech-impaired people communicate without using sign language. So far, he has sold his innovations to over 150,000 people. Torchit has an investment of $600,000 with a blend of grants and VC investments and clocked a $710,000 revenue in FY23. It has partnered with over 300 non-profits and 70 corporates and organisations like Tata Trusts and the World Bank.

Twenty-four hours after Parul Chaudhary won a silver medal in the 3,000m steeplechase at the recent Asian Games in Hangzhou, she stood at the starting line of the 5,000m, in which she would clinch the gold. She became the first athlete in both women’s steeplechase and 5,000m in the Asiad. She also became the first Indian woman to win a 5,000m gold in the Asian Games. Jaiveer Singh, a former international athlete and the Haryana athletics coach, who has trained Chaudhary since 2021, says she would often practise harder than his male wards but would trip at competitions. But that losing streak is now broken.

Sumit Antil carries the confidence of being a world record holder and gold medallist Paralympian. Antil has been breaking and setting new national records since the first national championship he entered. The first time he broke the world record in the F64 category of para javelin throw was at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Italy in 2019. Then he won gold at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics. In 2023, he made the farthest throw in Para Games history at 73.29m, set a new world record and won the gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games. “New athletes are learning from him to focus less on medals and more on breaking world records and make India proud,” says Arun Kumar, his coach.

Jyothi Yarraji is now the country’s fastest hurdler and has won a silver at the recent Asian Games. James Hillier, athletics director of the Reliance Foundation, says he believes “she is by far the best”. She has overcome chronic injuries with the help of Hillier. In the first competition with Hillier as her coach, she recorded a timing of 13.79 seconds; this August, it went down by a full second—an impressive margin in sprint events—when she clocked 12.78 at the World University Games in Chengdu, 0.01 seconds short of the Olympics qualification mark.