AI founders dominate 2026 Sunday Times 40 Under 40 Rich List

AI founders feature throughout The Sunday Times 40 Under 40 Rich List for 2026.

This year’s 40 Under 40 list showcases British talent across fashion, business and technology as well as music, sport and entertainment – and a third of them built their fortunes through AI startups.

The list is topped again by the Duke of Westminster, who inherited his title and a vast land and property portfolio aged 25. He oversees holdings spanning 12 countries and is valued at nearly £10 billion. 

The 40 hold a combined wealth of £26.2 billion – 26% less than in 2025, largely because one of last year’s billionaires is now too old. Of the 47 individuals named, two are Polish, two are Danish, one German, one a New Zealander and one has joint British and Albanian citizenship.  

Artificial intelligence and fashion dominate this year’s ranking of Britain’s most successful young wealth creators. Nearly a third (13) of those named in the fourth edition of 40 Under 40 owe their places to one of the burgeoning crop of London-based AI startups. 

For example, ElevenLabs, the synthetic voice developer backed by the Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey, is now worth £8.1 billion — three times as much as 12 months ago — pushing the Polish techies Piotr Dabkowski and Mati Staniszewski (pictured), both 31, into joint third.  

Making the top 10 are Alex Kendall, founder of driverless car tech firm Wayve, which is worth $9bn after raising more than $1.5bn recently and this week signed a Government contract; and Herman Narula, founder of virtual worlds firm Improbable.

Wayve co-founder Amar Shah is 18th, while Victor Riparbelli and Steffen Tjerrild of Synthesia are 25th. Barney Hussey-Yeo, founder of FinTech Cleo, features in 30th.

Daniel Knight, founder and game director of Southampton-based Kinetic Games – the independent studio behind the hit horror game Phasmophobia – and now Kinetic Publishing is worth £160m.

Guest BBC Dragon Susie Ma of Tropic Skincare re-enters the list with a £100m fortune.

Fashion also remains a powerful source of young wealth, with 11 fashion entrepreneurs making this year’s 40 Under 40. The richest is Ben Francis, 33, who dropped out of Aston University to focus on his sports brand Gymshark, learning to make hoodies after taking sewing lessons from his mother and grandmother. Francis also sits in 191st place on the overall Rich List.  

Who topped 2026 Sunday Times Rich List?

Self-made fortunes far outstrip inherited wealth: 34 of our 40 entries made their fortunes themselves. Importantly, the business founders featured here have already generated more than 15,500 jobs, analysis of the latest accounts of their companies show. 

There are four sets of brothers: Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham, founders of InsurTech Marshmallow; Tom and Phil Beahon, founders of Castore; Ryan and Reece Broadhurst, founders of ARNE; and Mike and George Heaton, founders of Represent. 

Other stars include Harry Styles, Dua Lipa, Rory McIlroy, Anthony Joshua  and Tyson Fury, the ‘gypsy king’ boxer and reality star who debuts at No.29 with an estimated wealth of £162 million. 

Robert Watts, compiler of The Sunday Times Rich List: “The diversity of our 40 under 40 list is striking. There are some with PhDs, others who left school with grades they’d rather forget. 

“There are overnight success stories who quickly built businesses worth £1 billion, others who quietly toiled away paying themselves minimum wage salaries for years before striking gold. 

“These digital native entrepreneurs grew up in an age when launching a business became easier. Many of their companies were started with limited cash — often little more than a phone, a laptop and a good idea. 

“We know many of our readers find these largely self-made stories inspiring and believe our country needs more of these wealth creators to help power our economy – not less.”

The post AI founders dominate 2026 Sunday Times 40 Under 40 Rich List appeared first on BusinessCloud.