Meet Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Europe Class Of 2022, Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard Classmate Is Trying To Build A Global Startup Factory And More For Small Business Owners

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In case you missed it, we launched Forbes’ seventh annual 30 Under 30 Europe list last week. The 300 visionaries spotlighted on the list are young entrepreneurs and leaders who have transformed business and society.

While the ongoing global pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have taken a toll on the European market, these honorees remain positive: Some 80% of listees believe the European economy is ripe for entrepreneurship, and collectively they’ve raised more than $2 billion in funding for their ventures—more than double the amount raised by last year’s honorees. Speaking of numbers, this year’s class represents 10 industries across nearly 30 countries, and 59% are founders or cofounders.

These entrepreneurs join past Under 30 game-changers including singer-songwriter Adele, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, actress Cynthia Erivo and athlete Marcus Rashford. Some of this year’s listers are already household names, like Simone Ashley, who played Kate Sharma in the second season of Netflix’s hit series Bridgerton.

Also named to this year’s class is James McIlroy, the founder and CEO of EnteroBiotix, which is improving upon fecal transplantation, an invasive procedure that moves microbes from a healthy patient to the gut of someone who’s sick. He has raised around $23 million and plans to launch a phase 2 clinical trial focused on liver disease by the end of the year. Then there’s Anastasiia Lapatina, a journalist at The Kyiv Independent whose on-the-ground reporting on the Russian invasion has moved her more than 600,000 Twitter followers. She is joined on the list by her colleagues Toma Istomina, Anna Myroniuk and Oleksiy Sorokin, who fortuitously founded the Kyiv Independent last fall after their former employer, the Kyiv Post, abruptly shut down.

To see the full list, click here, and explore the categories, from Social Impact and Technology to Retail & Ecommerce and Manufacturing & Industry. Here’s a deeper dive into the class of 2022. Keep your eye on these Under 30 listees—they’re innovators who will make a difference in the world.

Story Spotlight

Meet Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard Classmate Who Is Trying To Build A Global Startup Factory

By investing in hundreds of startups at the earliest stages and targeting overlooked markets, Magnus Grimeland and Antler are putting their own twist on the entrepreneurial dream. Grimeland started his global early-stage venture capital firm in 2017 with $500,000 in capital from his time in the fashion industry. Today, Antler manages about $500 million in assets and has invested in more than 450 startups.

Key quote: “Let’s find these people and be the best possible partner to them from day one—invest in really strong teams and founders, not in companies. Our role is backing and supporting great people.” —Magnus Grimeland, Founder and CEO, Antler

Must-Reads Across Forbes

Sila, a battery materials startup cofounded by one of Tesla’s earliest engineers and backed by Mercedes-Benz, is building a massive factory in Washington state to make battery anodes that use silicon instead of graphite. The company says this will make electric vehicle battery packs more energy-efficient and cheaper.

Biofourmis, a startup developing digital therapeutics and artificial intelligence to remotely monitor patients, said its valuation hit $1.3 billion after raising a $300 million Series D funding round led by General Atlantic. The Boston-based company said CVS Health joined the round, along with existing investors, and also announced that Omar Ishrak, chairperson of Intel and former CEO of Medtronic, will chair its board. This round brings the company’s total funding to $445 million.

In other startup news, San Francisco-based Convex has raised $25.7 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Netlify and existing investors including Neo and solo investor Elad Gil. The round values the 1.5-year-old developer software startup at $128 million.

While the holiday shopping season is months away, it’s important that small businesses and retailers plan ahead and begin preparations early. Holiday season marketing takes up a big portion of a business’s annual budget and small business owners need to take into account their website and social media strategy, as well as email marketing and inventory. Here is how Main Street can prepare.

Tax season is in the rearview mirror, but it’s essential to the success and stability of small businesses to have an efficient bookkeeping process in place all year round. Tracking financial transactions helps prevent the risk of unexpected cash flow problems. These steps will help small business owners keep their books up-to-date.