From new fund managers to incubation experts, these young venture capitalists are funding the future, one tech startup at a time.
By Alex Konrad, David Jeans and Dean Sterling Jones
When film student turned graphic designer Molly Mielke decided to launch her venture capital firm Moth Fund in 2021, she raised some eyebrows. “I definitely don’t look like a model VC,” Mielke, 24, said. “I started to specialize more and more in helping tech companies at the earliest stages tell their stories.”
Mielke’s persistence paid off. She now counts billionaire investor Marc Andreessen, Coinbase cofounder Fred Ehrsam, AI investor Daniel Gross and Cendana Capital among the backers of her $6 million first fund at Moth Fund. Mielke has invested in 36 businesses so far, such as electric scooter firm Infinite Machine and robot dishwasher company Armstrong, writing checks of up to $250,000. She’s expected to raise a second fund in upcoming months, according to a source with knowledge of her plans.
Tim Tadder for Forbes
Mielke’s experience may be unique, but her entrepreneurial streak is shared by many of the standout young investors on the 30 Under 30 list in Venture Capital for 2025. Selected by a panel of leading industry judges, these young leaders of the venture industry are supporting a new generation of breakout tech companies.
Venture capitalists are known above all for writing checks, deploying the funding that startups often need to grow to maturity. But several of this year’s Under 30 cohort are taking a more hands-on approach. Michelle Aguinis, 29, leads strategy and operations for Menlo Labs, a startup studio inside of Menlo Ventures. She’s helped launch eight companies, including Squint.ai, a cloud cost-optimization platform. At Neo, Emily Cohen, 26, leads the Neo Accelerator, a three-month program that works closely with 20 early-stage startups each year. Greylock partner Corinne Riley, 29, spun up a similar program at her well-known firm.
At Bain Capital Ventures, partner Rak Garg, 28, launched BCV Labs, an AI-focused accelerator behind six startups including Contextual AI, which provides tools for improving the use of large language models, and Prophet Security, building AI tools for security operations. Deerfield Management principal Talia Askowitz, 26, Outsiders Fund principal George Easley, 29, and Zeal Capital Partners principal Emily Zhen, 28, have all helped incubate their own fledgling startups.
Partner Mark Xu, 24, founded his own student startup incubator while attending Harvard; a polymath who has studied violin at Juilliard and worked on drug discovery, he spent time at a hedge fund and blockchain startup before joining Lightspeed Venture Partners. At another large firm, NEA, Alex Sharata, 29, cofounded mobile app security startup, Fractal, which was acquired while still in his early 20s. And Scribble Ventures partner John Smothers, 28, once cofounded an ecommerce business that reached millions in revenue.
Artificial intelligence is an important focus area for several list makers. In addition to Garg at Bain Capital Ventures, there’s Leonis Capital partner Jenny Xiao, 26, who worked at OpenAI as a researcher after receiving her PhD in the field from Columbia University. Alt Capital partner Elaine Dai, 29, and GSV Ventures partner Claire Zau, 27, each lead their firm’s investing in the field.
And while the list focuses on U.S.-based investors, this impressive Under 30 group hail from all over the globe. Zehra Naqvi, 25, an investor at Headline Ventures and author of the popular ‘The Z List’ newsletter, previously worked on an ecommerce brand in Hong Kong. Taha Ziaee, 29, is a principal at BOND originally from Pakistan. And IVP partner and former League of Legends world-ranked player Yuri Lee, 29, was born in Seoul and raised in Budapest.
The 30 Under 30 list spotlights funders and founders aged 29 or younger as of December 31, 2024, and who have never previously been named to a North America, Europe or Asia 30 Under 30 list.
Each list is judged by a panel of industry leaders after an open submission process. In Venture Capital, the 2025 list was judged by Beth Ferreira, general partner at Serena Ventures; John Locke, partner at Accel and an Under 30 alum from the Class of 2014; Reshma Sohoni, a Midas List investor and cofounder and managing partner at Seedcamp; and Trae Stephens, a Midas List investor and general partner at Founders Fund.
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 David Jeans. For a link to our complete Venture Capital list, click here, and for full 30 Under 30 coverage, click here.
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