Since 2016, Forbes Israel has published its annual 30 Under 30 list, spotlighting Israel’s most promising talents under 30. The exclusive roster, curated from thousands of nominations and recommendations, has documented over 600 alumni who have achieved remarkable success across diverse fields – from tech, science and business entrepreneurship, through media and communications, military and security, to leisure, culture and sports.
Nearly a decade after the list’s launch, two of its most distinguished alumni, Roy Reznik (Wiz) and Alex Bouaziz (Deel), are reaching an extraordinary milestone: they’ve been included on Forbes’ prestigious list of the 40 richest young billionaires under 40.
Roy Reznik (37), selected for Forbes Israel’s 30 Under 30 in 2016, ranks 27th on the young billionaires list with an estimated net worth of $2.2 billion. Alex Bouaziz (32), selected for the list in 2022 (and featured on the cover), ranks 31st with a net worth of $2 billion. Both were chosen for the 30 Under 30 as young and promising entrepreneurs, and over the years they’ve delivered on that promise, becoming billionaires through brilliant tech entrepreneurship that led to the creation of powerhouse companies in cybersecurity and fintech.
From Startup to Mega-Deal: Roy Reznik’s Journey
Reznik cofounded cloud security company Wiz in 2020 alongside three partners – Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak and Yinon Costica. All four founders served together in elite IDF technology units and had already proven themselves as successful entrepreneurs when they sold their first cloud security company, Adallom, to Microsoft for over $320 million in 2015.
Reznik and his three partners’ massive success came with the founding of Wiz, which focused on cloud environment security, gained tremendous momentum in virtually no time, achieved stunning profitability, and became one of the world’s most promising cybersecurity companies – at one point recognized as the fastest-growing startup in history. In 2024, Reznik and his partners entered Forbes’ global billionaires list for the first time after completing a $1 billion funding round at a $12 billion valuation. The mega-deal – Google’s $32 billion acquisition of Wiz, the largest exit in Israeli tech history and one of the biggest deals in global tech – made the four founders even wealthier, with a net worth of $2.2 billion each.
From MIT to Building an HR Empire: Alex Bouaziz’s Story
Alex Bouaziz, a French-Jewish immigrant to Israel, founded Deel in 2019 with Shuo Wang, an entrepreneur of Chinese descent he met at the prestigious MIT. The company developed a platform enabling businesses to hire employees and freelancers worldwide while handling all bureaucratic aspects – from creating contracts tailored to local regulations in 150 countries, through payroll and benefits management, to payments in over 120 currencies.
“The way people work is fundamentally changing, and the work models that were common before Covid will not return in the foreseeable future,” Bouaziz said in an exclusive interview with Forbes Israel for his selection to the 2022 30 Under 30. “We founded Deel because we believe bureaucracy around payroll and payments shouldn’t prevent businesses from building international teams.”
Deel, headquartered in San Francisco but maintaining strong ties to Israel with numerous employees there, has experienced meteoric growth in recent years. From a simple payments app, it evolved into a comprehensive global HR system surpassing $500 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and employing approximately 5,000 people across 150 countries. The company was valued at $17.3 billion in its latest funding round in October 2024 – a stunning achievement for a company founded just five years ago.
A New Generation of Young Billionaires
Reznik and Bouaziz join a prestigious roster of 71 billionaires aged 39 or younger who built their own fortunes, according to Forbes’ annual ranking. This matches the record previously set in 2021, amid the Covid-era stock market boom. The number of young billionaires surged this year primarily due to the AI boom – nearly half of the 27 new billionaires added to the list since March made their money in AI.
All but 11 of the young billionaires made their money in technology (48) or finance and investments (12). Just under half (32) are American, with citizens of China, India, Australia, Sweden and Canada rounding out the top six. Eight are women.
The list is topped by Edwin Chen, founder of AI company Surge AI, with a net worth of $18 billion. Other notable billionaires include Evan Spiegel, founder of Snapchat ($2.5 billion), and Alexander Wang, founder of Scale AI, 49% of which was acquired by Meta ($3.2 billion).
The combined wealth of the 71 young billionaires stands at $218 billion – a staggering sum, yet only about half the total fortune of the “2021 young billionaires roster,” which stood at $444 billion, largely thanks to Facebook (now Meta Platforms) founder Mark Zuckerberg, who alone contributed $97 billion to the collective wealth of that year’s list members.
The “40 Under 40 Self-Made Billionaires” list is based on Forbes’ annual World’s Billionaires List published each April, with Forbes Israel partnering in valuation assessments for most Israeli and some Jewish members of the prestigious ranking.
