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Alexandr Wang, cofounder of Scale AI
CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK FOR FORBES
Forbes officially launched its yearlong series celebrating America’s 250th birthday. The bold first milestone: honoring the greatest innovators shaping the nation’s future.
On Wednesday, we unveiled the Innovator 250, a list that reaches far beyond inventors alone. It recognizes business leaders, trailblazers and cultural icons whose ideas, influence and impact are redefining what’s possible in America.
To select this list, Forbes reporters and editors nominated more than 1,000 candidates. An esteemed panel of outside judges—including Breyer Capital founder Jim Breyer, tech journalist Kara Swisher and innovation expert Rita McGrath—then evaluated and narrowed the field.
In the spirit of innovation, we submitted the finalists to ChatGPT and Gemini, asking each to rank them using the same criteria. Taking all of these into account, Forbes editors decided the ultimate ranking.
The list spans generations and industries, from tech geniuses like Bill Gates to cultural icons like Kris Jenner who have spent decades building transformative brands. It also includes roughly a dozen alumni of our Under 30 list—entrepreneurs who made their mark early and have since risen to join the ranks of the 250 most influential living innovators in America.
Take Palmer Luckey, who came in at spot no. 33. Our 2015 cover star, the homeschooled native Californian sold his virtual reality headset startup—Oculus VR—to Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion. Now, Anduril, his defense tech company, is valued at some $30 billion and working on outfitting the military with AI. Then there’s Alexandr Wang (2018), whose startup Scale AI has become one of the hottest in the space—enough so for Mark Zuckerberg (2012) to have Meta purchase a 49% stake in Scale for some $14 billion. Wang, currently one of the youngest self-made billionaires, ranked 200 on the list; Zuckerberg took spot no. 37.
Speaking of Meta: Dustin Moskovitz (2012) ranked in the top 150, credited with building Facebook’s early tech and later founding the popular project management software Asana. And Instagram’s Kevin Systrom (2012) obviously made the cut, too.
Whitney Wolfe Herd (2017) revolutionized dating twice–first by cofounding Twitter and then Bumble–which put her at the 176th spot. And business doesn’t always look traditional: branding mastermind (and 2012 alumnus) Taylor Swift claimed the final spot with her “Rockefeller-style vertical integration” and claimed the final spot.
These are just some of the star Under 30 alums that are counted amongst the greatest minds of our time (Editor’s note: we’re eager to see which newcomers from our list will make it next).
See the full list of America’s top 250 innovators here. Any guesses who claimed spot No.1?
More next week,
Zoya & Alex
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. From immersive experiences to meaningful connections, this is where momentum builds and ideas move forward.
CARLY SHARP
The Gen Z creator will harness his offbeat comedy–and 5.5 million followers–to sell the European gummy brand to U.S. customers.
-ElevenLabs, founded by Under 30 Europe listers Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dabkowski, raised $500 million at an $11 billion valuation this month. The voice AI company’s latest round was led by Sequoia Capital and brings the startup’s total funding to $781 million.
-2025 AI alumna Cecilia Shen announced this month that her company, Utopai Studios, acquired Seoul-based production company Alquimista Media. Utopai partners with directors, film studios and filmmakers to produce scene sequences and generative sets. This acquisition will give Utopai East (a joint venture by Utopai Studios and investment firm Stock Farm Road) immediate access to Alquimista’s pipeline of 15 scripted television series and feature films already in development.
-30 Under 30 Europe Media & Marketing alum Tag Warner announced last week that he is stepping down from his role as CEO at Gay Times. He’s been with the company for seven years, and currently maintains his Chair position.
-Anthropic is approaching a $350 billion valuation. The company is reportedly in the final stages of a $20 billion funding round, just five months after raising $13 billion. Investors like Altimeter Capital Management, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and more are expected to participate. The capital will fuel continued deployment of coding agents and more. (TechCrunch)
-There’s a new sheriff in town. In honor of the March issue of Vogue hitting news stands this month, the fashion giant’s new head of editorial content, Chloe Malle, sat down with Today’s Jenna Bush Hager to talk about her new role. They dove into life as a working mother, what it takes to be a successful nepo baby, and how Malle was actually the author of Wintour’s Masterclass (so maybe she has more to teach than she even realizes). (Today)
-Multiple new polls have been released reflecting the American public’s perception of the President. 51% of registered voters in a Mark Penn poll say Trump is doing a worse job than Biden, and an NBC News poll says 49% of adults strongly disapprove of how President Trump has handled border security and immigration. Though Biden comes out on top in all three reported polls, it’s still by a relatively close margin. (Axios)
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