From dealmakers at large funds to founding partners of new firms and industry-changing non-profits, these young leaders are helping to shape the future of venture capital.
By Alex Konrad, Dean Sterling Jones and Alex York
When Alana Goyal reached out to prolific tech investor Elad Gil for advice on how to break into venture capital at an established firm, he proposed a bolder plan: take $600,000 of his money to start investing on her own. It paid off. Today, the Base Case Capital founder has raised three funds totaling $90 million, while investing in more than three dozen startups like IT services company Supabase and data warehouse business Census.
“The best part about my job is that I have 37 founders running around that are constantly making great things happen,” Goyal, 27, told Forbes. It’s a sentiment shared by her fellow investors on the 30 Under 30 list in Venture Capital for 2024, which recognizes young leaders backing the next generation of industry-defining tech companies.
Many, like Goyal, caught the entrepreneurial bug themselves, working on new funds big and small. Sam Peurifoy, 29, is a founding partner at blockchain-focused firm Hivemind Capital, with $1.5 billion in assets, while Adarsh Bhatt, 27, and David Ongchoco, 28, have backed more than 50 startups at their firm Comma Capital. Ana Carolina Mexia Ponce, 28, and Maria Gutierrez Peñaloza, 28, cofounded Nido Ventures, which launched as an angel syndicate and is now transitioning into a fund focused on Latine founders, with $7 million in assets and 16 investments to date. And Tiana Tukes, 28, and Jackson Block, 28, launched LGBT+ VC, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing LGBTQ access to venture capital through education and advocacy.
Others are pushing records at their firms in terms of having impact at young ages. At Lux Capital, Grace Isford, 27, is the youngest partner in her firm’s history, due in part to her contributions to an AI portfolio that includes eight investments headlined by buzzy generative AI video startup Runway, now valued at $1.5 billion. Sai Senthilkumar, 28, is the youngest partner in Redpoint Ventures’ storied history after sourcing and leading $300 million in investments in companies including Alchemy, Cribl, Monte Carlo Data, Orca Security, Snowflake and Timescale. And Evan Hahn, 28, is the youngest person of color in a senior team member role at Insight Partners; he’s closed the most deals of anyone under 30 at the large-sized firm to date.
Then there’s Jack Lipstone, 22, who started his investment career at the age of 15, when an investment in Snap’s public offering put him in the pages of The Wall Street Journal. Now a partner at Chapter One, he’s led 11 investments in blockchain, AI, distributed systems and fintech, including generative AI startup Tome, which raised $43 million earlier in 2023.
While AI is a common theme among the young standout investors, healthcare has proven a fertile focus area, too. Vivien Ho, 29, also the youngest partner at her firm, Pear VC, leads deals in that area and climate tech. Sruthi Ramaswami, 29, is a later-stage healthcare specialist at Iconiq Growth, a $15 billion-in-assets firm. Ramaswami is also the cofounder of Neythri Futures Fund, a $10 million fund for female and diverse founders that has invested in more than 15 companies.
Our own planet and the possibilities of outer space are also areas of investment optimism. Sophie Purdom, 29, created Planeteer Capital to help close a climate funding gap. And Rohan Pujara, turning 24, has backed multiple startups looking at Earth and beyond at Valhalla Ventures, the firm he co-founded, like satellite business K2 Space and space mining startup Starpath Robotics.
The Under 30 list spotlights funders and founders aged 29 or younger as of December 31, 2023, and who have never before been named to a North America, Europe or Asia 30 Under 30 list.
Following a public nomination process, each list is judged by a panel of industry leaders. In Venture Capital, the 2024 list was judged by Midas List investor Adeyemi Ajao, cofounder of Base10 Partners; Molly Fowler, CEO of Dorm Room Fund; Midas List investor Lauren Kolodny, a founding partner of Acrew Capital and an Under 30 list alum; and Midas List investor Ben Sun, cofounder of Primary Venture Partners.
Of those named to the final list, 56% identify as people of color and 47% are women.
This year’s list was edited by Alex Konrad, Dean Jones and Alex York. For a link to our complete Venture Capital list, click here, and for full 30 Under 30 coverage, click here.
