131INDIVIDUALS MADE THE 2024 HURUN CHINA UNDER30S, LOWEST NUMBER IN 7 YEARS.

HANGZHOU THE MOST POPULAR ‘UNDER30S CAPITAL’IN CHINA FOR THE FIRST TIME IN EIGHT YEARS. SHENZHEN SECOND, OVERTAKING BEIJING FOR THE FIRST TIME

95OR 73% ARE SELF-MADE

THE AVERAGE VALUE OF START-UPS WAS CNY280MN.11ARE WORTH MORE THAN US$100MN

SOFTWARE & SERVICES LED THE WAY WITH 33%, ESPECIALLY AI AND ENERGY DATA SERVICES.

EDUCATION & TRAINING ANDCONSUMER GOODSSECONDAND THIRD

SERIES A WAS THE MOST POPULAR FINANCING ROUND FOR THESE START-UPS, WITH AN AVERAGE CUMULATIVE FINANCING OF CNY39MN.19% HAVE RAISED MORE THAN CNY100MN.

FINANCING WAS MAINLY USED FOR R&D (80%), HIRING (73%) AND MARKETING (57%)

AVERAGE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 250

ENGINEERING MAJORS SUCH AS COMPUTER SCIENCE AND AI MOST POPULAR COURSES FOR HURUN CHINA U30S

HURUN RESEARCH INSTITUTE RELEASES THE HURUN CHINA UNDER30S 2024 IN ASSOCIATION WITH CHANGSHUKUNCHENG LAKE

HURUN RESEARCH INSTITUTE RELEASES THE HURUN CHINA UNDER30S 2024 IN ASSOCIATION WITH CHANGSHU KUNCHENG LAKE

(8 May 2025, Changshu) The Hurun Research Institute today released the Changshu Kuncheng Lake · Hurun China Under30s 2024, a list of China’s most successful entrepreneurs aged 30 and under. This is the eighth year of the list.

Changshu Kuncheng Lake is a High-tech Zone located around Kuncheng Lake in the city of Changshu, just outside of Shanghai.

This year, 131 individuals made the list, the lowest number since 2018. The average age was 28, with 79% male and 21% female. They come from 37 cities. 58% offered physical products and 42% software or services. 73% were B2B businesses, and 27% consumer-focused.

95 are self-made entrepreneurs. Software & Services led the way, covering emerging areas such as AI and Energy data services. Education and Consumer Goods ranked second and third respectively. The average age of the self-made businesses was 5.1 years, meaning they set up at the age of 23 and are 28 today. They started out with CNY12mn on average, and their last round was a Series A round, with a cumulative financing of CNY39mn. Today they are worth CNY280mn and have 250 employees, on average. 8% have already listed. 35% of these Under30s have an overseas study background, with the USA, the UK and Australia being their most popular study destinations.

36 are NextGen, with an average age of 29. These NextGen Under30s are mainly in Industrial Equipment, Chemicals and Healthcare. 70% have an overseas study background, led by the USA, Australia and the UK. Economics was their preferred subject.

The Chairman and Chief Researcher of Hurun, Rupert Hoogewerf, said:

“Hurun is all about promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research. I started out in 1999 by telling the story of the China economy through the stories of its most successful entrepreneurs, the Hurun China Rich List. Next up was the Hurun Unicorn Index, telling the stories of the most exciting start-ups in the world. The Hurun Uth (pronounced ‘Youth’) Series started in 2017 by identifying the most successful young entrepreneurs aged 30 or under, the Hurun China Under30s. Since then, we have expanded to include the Under25s, Under35s and Under40s. The idea is to give these brilliant young entrepreneurs recognition, helping them to get the attention of investors, local governments and strategic partners, and thereby helping them develop faster and go further.”

“The young entrepreneurs on the Hurun China Under30s list are involved in areas with huge potential for future development, such as AI, Healthcare, Robotics, the Low Earth Orbit economy, Cross-border e-commerce and MR. I am delighted to release the Hurun China Under30s 2024 in association with Changshu Kuncheng Lake in Suzhou. We hope that this list will help more people understand what these outstanding young entrepreneurs are up to, and will inspire these pioneers to achieve greater success, and set an example for founders who hope to make the Hurun Under30s in the future.”

“The popularity of AI continues to rise, but now new opportunities have emerged in areas such as AI hardware, large language models and specific intelligence. Compared with previous years, China's U30s on the list this year are more into vertical AI than general AI. They are breaking down AI technology into more subdivided fields, such as retail and chemical industries. Young entrepreneurs are paying more attention about how to use AI to solve bottlenecks in specific industries.”

“Hangzhou led the Hurun Under30s for the first time, in the same year as its 'Six Little Dragons' have garnered global attention, led by DeepSeek, the Black Myth developer Game Science, robotics firms Unitree and DeepRobotics, Neuralink challenger BrainCo, and spatial intelligence firm ManyCore.”

“In the past three years, the proportion of Hurun Under30s with a masters or PhD has doubled to 45% and the number of Tsinghua University alumni has also doubled to 14%.”

“What surprised me was that among this year’s Hurun U30s, 35% studied overseas, of which 26% have bachelor's degrees, 50% master's degrees and 24% PhDs, mainly from the US, and followed by the UK and Australia.”

“Many entrepreneurs have shared with me that starting a business is very difficult, but when it works, it is really worth it. For these U30 entrepreneurs, creating social value and realizing personal dreams are the primary driving forces for setting out on their own. Few people start businesses for the sake of financial freedom. This shows that while personal wealth is important on the road to successful entrepreneurship, there are still more critical factors at play.”

“The rolemodels the Hurun China Under30s look up to is interesting. Overall, it was Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and a serial entrepreneur. Next up was Lei Jun, who has garnered massive respect for how he has grown his Xiaomi brand, especially with the addition of EVs this past year. Jack Ma was back up to third, with Steve Jobs in fourth place. Duan Yongping, a well-known investor and considered to be a driving force behind brands like Oppo, vivo and Pinduoduo, also made the Hurun China Under30s Top 5 rolemodels for the first time.”

“The NextGen have a unique and important position in the economy. Take Lee Shau Kee of Henderson, one of the four major families in Hong Kong, who has just passed away. His two sons and one daughter have inherited US$20bn and now need to manage and use it well. How to help this NextGen succeed has become a topic of great concern.”

“This is the eighth year of the Hurun Under30s. Over the past eight years, the Hurun U30s has unearthed many outstanding young entrepreneurs, including Wang Xingxing of Unitree Robotics (in 2020), Xu Yi of BiliBili (in 2018), Nie Yunchen of Heytea (in 2017), etc... We are very honored to witness the growth and breakthroughs of these young founders. Take Wang Xingxing, for example, he then became a Hurun U35s in 2023 and one of the youngest Hurun U40s in 2024. Over the past eight years, many of these founders have gone on to great things. More than 20 of them have become high-profile Unicorns, including Heytea, Keep, Kr Space, Water Drop, Hello Inc, MEGVII, Infer Vision, HeyGears, Medlinker, etc.”

“This year’s U30 cohort is the smallest on record, from a maximum of over 300 to just over 100 this year. The main reason for the drop is that startups have found it harder to raise funds, especially compared with the high point of 2021. Another reason is that for the Under30s and each of our Uth series, the cohort size tends always to be bigger in the early years since we have to include many of the young founders accumulated over previous years.”

This is a brief summary of the Chinese-language press release. For the full press release in Chinese, please see www.hurun.net.

By Industry

Geographical Distribution

Hangzhou rose 3 places, becoming the capital for Hurun U30s in China for the first time, since the Hurun list began in 2017. Shenzhen was second, overtaking Beijing for the first time. Hong Kong broke into the Top 10 for the first time and it is the fifth time that Suzhou has made the Top 10.

Financing Rounds of the Self-made U30s

Major expenditure of financing of the Self-made U30s

Company Value of the Self-made U30s

Most Active Early Stage Venture Capitalists

Degree & Majors

Rolemodels of the Hurun China U30s

Which industries are they optimistic about?

Historical Data

Methodology

Hurun China Under30s is a list of the most brilliant young entrepreneurs in China pioneers aged 30 and under. This year's list was all born after 1 September 1993. They have to be founder, co-founders or core CXO of the business, which has to have a value of more than US10mn. For NextGens, they have to manage sales or investments of more than double the cut-off, ie more than US$20mn.

The Hurun Uthseries (pronounced ‘Youth Series’) includes the Under25s, Under30s, Under35s and Under40s. If a founder under the age of 25 starts a billion-dollar business, they will first be selected for the U25, then for the U30, U35, and U40.

There are four main sources of candidates. The first is recommendations from well-known investors and industry experts. The second is the Hurun database we have established over more than 25 years. The third is desktop research, and the fourth is self-nominations of candidates.

Hurun China Under30s 2024, in association with Changshu Kuncheng Lake

About Changshu High-tech Zone (the“CNZ”)

Changshu High-tech Industrial Development Zone (the “CNZ”) is located in the core area of the Yangtze River Delta. It has an administrative area of 138 square kilometers and a regional population of 214,000. It is the first national university science park among similar cities in China and the only branch of the World Union College (UWC) in China Mainland. The four pillar industries of automobiles and core components, intelligent equipment manufacturing, new-generation information technology, and modern service industry have grown and thrived, while the five emerging industries of new energy, life sciences and health, new materials, low-altitude economy, and artificial intelligence are booming. 32 Fortune Global 500 companies have invested in 58 projects here. In 2024, the regional GDP reached 51.13 billion RMB, with a growth rate of 6%, and the general public budget revenue reached 4.399 billion RMB, with a growth rate of 5%. In the latest comprehensive ranking of national high-tech zones in China, the CNZ ranked 57th.

About CSSD (Changshu) Kuncheng Lake Park

Jointly established by the People’s Government of Changshu City, Changshu High-tech Industrial Development Zone (the “CNZ”) and China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Development Group（the“CSSD”), CSSD Kuncheng Lake Park has a total planned area of 46.4 square kilometers. It is accelerating the development of the industrial pattern of "One Lake, Two Bays, Three Axes, and Ten Islands". UWC + Innovation Island is located in the central area of CSSD Kuncheng Lake Park, covering an area of about 191 mu, overlooking the 18-square-kilometer Kuncheng Lake. The total construction area is approximately 208,000 square meters. UWC + AI Innovation Island has exclusive access to 20,000 petaflops of computing resources, with international Internet access and high-speed WiFi coverage. Using "AI+" as the industrial engine, it accelerates the agglomeration of high-end innovation elements and the economy of first stores and first launches. It is striving to build an innovation-leading area with effective support in computing power and algorithms, comprehensive expansion of scenario empowerment, and in-depth participation of global innovation resources.

About Hurun Inc.

Promoting Entrepreneurship Through Lists and Research

Oxford, Shanghai, Mumbai

Established in the United Kingdom in 1999, Hurun is a research and media group, promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research. Widely regarded as an opinion-leader in the world of business, Hurun generated 8 billion views on the Hurun brand in 2024, mainly in China and India, and recently expanding to the UK, US, Canada and Australia.

Best-known for the Hurun Rich List series, telling the stories of the world’s successful entrepreneurs in China, India and the world, Hurun’s other key series focus on young businesses and entrepreneurs, through the Hurun Unicorns Index, two Hurun Future Unicorns indices, the Hurun Uth series and the Hurun Pioneers series.

Hurun has grown to become the world’s largest list compiler for start-ups, ranking over 3000 start-ups across the world through its annual Hurun Global Unicorns Index (startups with a valuation of US$1bn+), and two Hurun Future Unicorn Indexes: Gazelles, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within three years, and Cheetahs, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within five years.

The Hurun Pioneering Young Startups and Entrepreneurs series focuses on startups set up within the last ten years and founders aged 45 or under.

The Hurun Uth series includes the Under25s, Under30s, Under35s and Under40s awards, representing the cream of each generation of young entrepreneurs who have founded businesses with a social impact and worth US$1m, US$10m, US$50m and US$100m respectively.

Other lists include the Hurun 500 series, ranking the most valuable companies in the world, China and India, the Hurun Global High Schools List, ranking the world’s best independent high schools, the Hurun Philanthropy List, ranking the biggest philanthropists and the Hurun Art List, ranking the world’s most successful artists alive today.

Hurun provides research reports co-branded with some of the world’s leading financial institutions and regional governments.

Hurun hosts high-profile events across China and India, as well as London, Paris, New York, LA, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, Luxembourg, Istanbul, Dubai and Singapore.

For further information, see www.hurun.net.

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