From electric vehicle charging services to more efficient maritime shipping to next-generation traffic barriers, these young entrepreneurs are finding new ways to power and move people and goods.
By Alan Ohnsman, Jeremy Bogaisky and Emma Kinery
Not long after they started selling electric vehicle chargers to property managers in 2019, Xeal cofounders Alexander Isaacson, 28, and Nikhil Bharadwaj, 28, ran into a problem. If the devices lost internet connection or a server went out, they couldn’t process payments—leaving drivers stranded and irate. In response, the Penn State alums built a payment system that bypasses the internet via cryptographic tokens and smartphone apps. It’s allowed them to place chargers in places with lousy Wi-Fi connectivity, like big apartment buildings and campus housing. Backed by $54 million from investors, Xeal has installed thousands of chargers in more than 60 metro areas and forged partnerships with real estate developers like Brookfield, AvalonBay and Harrison Street. Says Isaacson: “Our goal is to accelerate the self-sufficient smart city.”
Isaacson and Bharadwaj are part of this year’s 30 Under 30 list in Transportation & Mobility, a group of young entrepreneurs overcoming obstacles for EV charging or logistics with tech solutions, data and artificial intelligence, as well as finding ways to accelerate the shift to cleaner transportation, make progress in aerospace and even improve physical infrastructure.
Take Archie Scott III, 29, for example. The Ohio University-trained engineer developed an idea for lighter, easier-to-use traffic barriers to protect highway road repair crews. He founded Asynt in 2021 to make that a reality. Scott designed the company’s main product, the Ape Barrier, out of fiberglass composites to replace traditional heavy concrete barriers. It’s engineered to absorb more energy in the event of an impact, is 80% lighter than a concrete barrier and is easier to transport. As a result, Asynt’s barrier can be installed and removed much faster. The barriers are designed to be usable for up to 20 years, aren’t affected by road salt and don’t crumble like concrete. They’ve been successfully crash-tested and are already approved for use in Ontario, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
Then there’s Sarah Hamer, 27, and Elle Smyth, 26, cofounders of recently founded Retail Ready. Their Atlanta-based supply chain software startup helps manufacturers that ship products to retailers including Amazon, Target and Walmart ensure they’re following rules set by those massive retailers, reducing the risk of the compliance violation fees that cost producers billions of dollars annually. The software platform Smyth and Hamer created automates retail compliance, using AI and machine learning to identify and correct shipping violations.
Often ideas for companies arise from first-hand experience. Daniel Pelaez, 26, got the idea for Cyvl after working in the Public Works Department of his hometown of Southbury, Connecticut, filling potholes, replacing street signs and removing road hazards. “I noticed there was no digital source of truth to track the physical environment for this town,” he said. So joined by fellow Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduates Noah Budris, 26, and Noah Bachenberg, 26, they created Cyvl to rapidly map and digitize infrastructure using vehicles outfitted with low-cost sensors. The startup’s goal is to help repairs and upgrades of roads, tunnels, bridges and rail networks go faster and more efficiently. It’s raised more than $9 million so far and signed up over 200 municipalities as customers.
Qiming Weng, 29, originally thought he might become a doctor, but instead got accepted into Y Combinator at just 18 with an idea for an education tech company. Soon after selling that startup, he saw an opportunity to help cities build publicly owned electric bike-share systems and founded Drop Mobility to do exactly that in 2017. “We build an integrated solution: the apps, backends, vehicles and services that cities need to launch their own e-bike share systems,” he said. So far, the Toronto-based startup has partnered with 50 municipalities in 15 states, including New Orleans, Kansas City, Albany, New York, and Sonoma County in California and raised $7 million from backers including Haystack and Trucks Venture Capital.
Aerospace is another exciting opportunity. Adam Kall, 28, and Austin Morris, 28, for example, are designing spacecraft to remove orbital debris and provide logistics services at Kall Morris, the company they founded in 2019. The startup built a multi-armed robotic device dubbed REACCH that’s designed to capture debris in space. In September it was transported to the International Space Station for a demo of its abilities to pick up objects in microgravity. The company is also building a spacecraft, Laelaps, which will convey REACCH into orbit. The company aims to test the complete system in 2027. The company has more than $5 million in funding from Defense Department contracts and private investment.
Rebecca Mayer, 29, a principal research scientist at Northrop Grumman, is also focused on improving spacecraft. Her focus is on lighter, next-generation composites for rocket casings and nozzles and finding better ways to make those materials. The work she’s doing supports NASA’s plan to modernize the Northrop Grumman-produced booster stage of the new Space Launch System, with weight savings from the use of composites. It’s to be used on the upcoming Artemis II mission to orbit the moon. It will be the first crewed lunar flight to include a woman and person of color.
To find the best of the best in Transportation & Mobility, Forbes reporters Jeremy Bogaisky, Alan Ohnsman and Emma Kinery combed through hundreds of nominations submitted online or generated by our own reporting. To be considered for the list, all candidates had to be under the age of 30 as of December 31, 2024, and have never before been named to a North America, Europe or Asia 30 Under 30 list. We then sent the top candidates to our team of expert judges to help us choose the final 30.
This year our judges were Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo; Ray LaHood, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation; Mark Moore, CEO of Whisper Aero; and Levi Conlow, cofounder and CEO of Lectric eBikes and an alum of the 2022 Under 30 list.
This year’s list was edited by Jeremy Bogaisky, Alan Ohnsman and Emma Kinery. For a link to our complete 2025 Transportation & Mobility list, click here, and for our full 30 Under 30 coverage click here.
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