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Cities like New York, San Francisco and Boston are hot hubs for startup innovation. But what about Phoenix? It’s known as the Silicon Desert for a reason, as both major national companies—like PetSmart and U-Haul—and startups—like Mesquite Fresh Street Mex and MiiHealth AI—are headquartered in the city. This week, Forbes published a 30 Under 30 Local List to highlight young leaders across the state of Arizona.

Take Ahmad Alatrash, the 28-year-old founder of Mesquite Fresh Street Mex. He brings in $13 million in annual revenue for his fan-favorite tacos, burritos and bowls. The company began as a to-go-only location, but quickly expanded to more than 10 dine-in locations across the Phoenix metro area. Alatrash was featured on this year’s Under 30 Local Arizona list, along with Jacob Lester, 28, who founded MiiHealth. Lester’s AI company makes a conversational AI medical assistant called DAINA. The bot speaks with patients before an in-person visit to answer their questions in real time, and captures clinical histories and notes for providers. MiiHealth started with a 300-patient Mayo Clinic cardiology pilot. Now, Lester says he’s commercializing the startup with clinical and research use cases in health systems around the country.

Lester isn’t the only AI founder on the local list: Shaun Karakkattu of Tomorrow in Focus uses AI and other emerging technologies to produce content about today’s most important global stories—like Imagine Land 2040, an AI-powered film created for the United Nations. Plus, Arizona State University dropout and 20-year-old founder Dhravya Shah launched Supermemory, a software startup that helps AI systems remember past interactions with users. He’s raised more than $3 million in funding from firms including Susa Ventures, Browder Capital and SF1.vc to build the platform.

Aside from tech, sports is another undeniable industry in the Grand Canyon State. Sports celebs made the list, too: like Corbin Carroll, the 25-year-old outfielder for the MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks. He made history in 2023 as the first rookie to record 25 home runs and 50 stolen bases, and has since been a two-time All-Star (in 2023 and 2025). Satou Sabally is, too, a three-time WNBA All-Star. After being drafted second overall in 2020 to the Dallas Wings, she joined the Phoenix Mercury in 2025 and led them to the WNBA Finals later that year.

Continuing on the trends of food, tech and sports, Forbes Under 30 has even more to announce. This week, we kicked off our three-year stint in Arizona with a press conference where we announced a few of the stand-out speakers for our annual 30 Under 30 Summit taking place from April 19-22. Those include none other than Chef Tini Younger (who counts more than 15 million followers on social media for her delicious recipes), founder of tech platform Napster Shawn Fanning, and LSU basketball star and emerging musician Flau’jae Johnson, among others (and more to be announced soon). To learn more about the summit, check it out here.

More next week,

Alex & Zoya

The Under 30 Summit is Calling! Are You Coming?

If Under 30 is on your radar, this belongs on your calendar. For the first time, Forbes is heading to Phoenix, AZ from April 19–22 to unlock that southwest energy at the 2026 Forbes Under 30 Summit. Register Today!

Legal AI Startup Legora Eyes $400 Million Raise At $5 Billion-Plus Valuation

Legora, a legal tech startup, was already valued at $1.8 billion when cofounder Max Junestrand made the 2026 Under 30 list in December. After two rounds in 2025, the company is reportedly out raising again.

Lister Lowdown

-2018 Under 30 alum Kumesh Aroomoogan, previously cofounder and CEO of Accern, announced that his new startup, ZeroDrift, came out of stealth. Backed by a16z Speedrun, ZeroDrift is targeting clients in financial services with an AI platform that enforces real-time compliance—or, in other words, software that checks company messages for rule violations before they’re sent. This is Aroomoogan’s latest move after his exit from Accern, which helped hedge funds and asset managers access insights on public companies. Accern was acquired by Palo-Alto based startup Wand in early 2025 (read about the acquisition here).

-If you think of Suits’ Harvey Specter whenever you hear about Harvey—the legal AI startup founded by U30 alum Winston Weinberg—you’re certainly not alone. (The character did inspire the company’s name.) In a fitting twist, Gabriel Macht, who plays Specter on the show, is now joining the startup as a brand ambassador! While it’s not uncommon for consumer brands to have celebrity ambassadors, it is less common for tech startups. But don’t get us wrong: We’re thrilled.

-An OG U30 alum is still in the news (to no one’s surprise): Billionaire Joshua Kusher, from the 2012 Forbes Under 30 list, just raised a $10 billion Fund X at Thrive Capital. Thrive has backed the biggest companies of our time, from OpenAI to SpaceX and even Kim Kardashian’s Skims, counting more than $25 billion in assets under management. The new fund will back AI startups, along with a focus on robotics, space and life sciences.

Under 30 Checklist

What young people should know about this week, according to Forbes editors.

-Lots to catch up on with the Epstein files. Victoria’s Secret billionaire Lex Wexner, who was named as a co-conspirator in a 2019 FBI document, testified before Congress this week. Here’s everything we knew about his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein.

-Get familiar with the prediction market boom. You’ve heard of Kalshi and Polymarket, both Under 30 alum-founded prediction markets that are boasting multi-billion dollar valuations. Now VCs are throwing money at these college grads to build more prediction markets.

-The Winter Olympics wrap up this Sunday. Want a niche stat to casually drop at brunch? Here’s a look at the highest-paid athletes competing in Cortina and Milan—and how they built their fortunes.

Under 30 On-Air: This Founder Raised $25 Million For Clients. Now She’s Betting on Long Form Content In The Age Of AI

Alex Daly, 2016 Under 30 alum and founder of comms agency Daly, sat down with U30 editor Alex York to discuss the shifting media landscape, emphasizing the growing power of niche communities and individual creators over traditional institutions. Watch it here.