How many new AI billionaires minted this year?

It took 25 years of hard work to turn the Report into a money making machine. I didn't make my first billion till I was almost 55. Now some snot nosed compuer geek waltzes in an grabs my thunder before he's 25?

Life is unfair!

Here's how many AI billionaires were minted this year

Artificial intelligence became a billionaire-making machine in 2025, with founders as young as 22 securing nine-figure valuations

By Niamh Rowe, Quartz Media

Updated Friday 12:13 PM

In 2025, artificial intelligence became a billionaire-making machine.

Investors poured more than $200 billion into AI startups during the year, capturing roughly half of all global venture funding — up from a 34% share in 2024 — according to startup data firm Crunchbase.

As a result, more than 50 individuals building the infrastructure, models, and applications bringing AI to market became billionaires on paper, Forbes reports.

The geography of this wealth creation was global: While many new billionaires emerged from established U.S. hubs, Chinese AI firms — particularly those with competitive open-source models trained with far less compute — also catapulted founders into the billionaire club.

Here's who topped the list.

Edwin Chen, CEO Surge AI

With an estimated net worth of $18 billion, Edwin Chen, CEO of data labelling firm Surge AI, is the wealthiest of the new AI billionaires. In less than five years, Surge AI has grown to a $24 billion valuation, with clients such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, Anthropic, and Mistral. Chen, a U.S.-based CEO, is estimated to have a 75% stake, making him the wealthiest newcomer on this year’s Forbes 400 list, and at 37, he was also the youngest person listed.

Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor, cofounders of Sierra

Next up are Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor, the U.S.-based cofounders of Sierra; the startup aims to replace human customer service with AI agents for large companies like The North Face and electric vehicle maker Rivian. The duo are worth an estimated $2.5 billion each, joining the billionaire club in September when Sierra raised $350 million in a round that valued the company at $10 billion.

Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midh, cofounders of Mercor

Following them are U.S. founders Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha of Mercor, worth $2.2 billion each. Age 22, the trio became the youngest self-made billionaires of all time when Mercor, founded in 2023, raised $350 million, valuing the company at $10 billion. Mercor recruits experts and PhDs to evaluate and label data on behalf of AI companies like Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic, as they train their models.

Anton Osika and Fabian Hedin, cofounders of Lovable

Behind them: Anton Osika and Fabian Hedin, cofounders of Swedish startup Lovable, worth an estimated $1.6 billion each. Lovable, a so-called 'vibe coding' startup, allows users with no software experience to create websites and apps via prompts. The pair became billionaires in December after raising $330 million at a $6.6 billion valuation.

Lucy Guo, cofounder of Scale AI

Closely following them is Scale AI's cofounder Lucy Guo, from the U.S. Age 31, Guo became the world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire this year — usurping Taylor Swift — when Meta acquired around half of the data labeling behemoth.

Big Tech executives also raked in AI wealth

The top 10 wealthiest U.S. tech founders and CEOs added more than $550 billion to their combined net worth this year, the Financial Times reported, taking their net worth to $2.5 trillion in cash, equity, and other investments, according to Bloomberg data, with the S&P 500 climbing more than 18% this year.

Topping the list is Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, defending his status as the world's richest person. His net worth soared nearly 50% in 2025, to $645 billion. This year, Musk secured a $1 trillion pay deal with Tesla shareholders — the largest remuneration package in history — while the valuation of his rocket company SpaceX soared to $800 billion.