Over the past decade, the founder archetype has shifted from someone in their 20s to someone a little older. The average age of a “unicorn” founder – an entrepreneur who creates a startup valued at more than $1 billion – has steadily increased to 33 in 2024, as investors turned to seasoned veterans to navigate a complex market. However, a new report from global venture capital firm Antlertaking a close look at the unicorn phenomenon, suggests that the boom in artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reversing this trend, enabling a new generation of twenty-somethings to build large companies at unprecedented speeds.
According to Antler”The Anatomy of Greatness“, published on January 7, the arrival of generative AI has created a distinct before and after in the startup ecosystem. As the broader founder population ages, the average age of AI unicorn founders has fallen from a high of 40 in 2020 to just 29 in 2024.
“We see that potentially 25 is the new 30” Fridtjof Bergéco-founder and chief commercial officer of Antler, said Fortune in an interview. “Smart people now have the ability to use a lot of the tools presented to them…maybe you will have to rely less on networks or less on industry-specific expertise.”
While cautioning that it’s probably too early to draw a decisive conclusion about this space, he added “if you’re someone who’s pretty confident, who works quickly, who’s not afraid to try things and then iterate quickly,” then the current AI space is a great choice because it’s a “constant iteration.” Berge added that he thinks a “fundamental shift” is happening when it comes to the age of AI founders and their urgency to move things forward. He said he sees “a willingness and willingness to constantly iterate on what works…I think that’s really the key for successful founders in 2026.”
Do more with less
The driving force of this youth movement, as Berge says, is efficiency. In the previous era of unicorns dominated by software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, scaling required massive capital injections to hire large teams for coding, sales, and operations. Today, AI allows Lean teams to automate low-skill tasks and analysis, fundamentally changing the economics of starting a business.
“We’re also seeing something quite interesting, which in many cases means they’re doing more with less,” Berge explained. “Maybe you can do now with a hundred thousand (dollars of funding) what you could do before with a few million dollars.”
This efficiency reduces “time to unicorn,” the number of years it takes to reach a billion-dollar valuation. While the historical average for startups has held steady at around seven years, AI companies now reach this milestone in just 4.7 years on average. The report highlights extreme cases like Swedish AI company Lovable, an Antler portfolio company, which reached unicorn status in just eight months.
A change from the “Supernova” of 2021
The report compares current AI-driven growth with the “supernova” of 2021, which gave birth to a record 512 unicorns. Bergé said Fortune where low interest rates and investor FOMO were behind much of that explosion, admitting that it was a bit too much of a good thing for the venture capital industry: “The unicorn explosion” may not be the most surprising story, “but it’s really mind-boggling,” he said, drawing a contrast between the recent and previous era defined by the abundance of capital, while the current wave is defined by technological capacity.
courtesy of Antler
Berge acknowledged that many valuations that year were driven by speculation. In contrast, today’s young AI founders often support their high valuations with significant early revenues. While cautioning that his report does not focus on individual funds, Berge said he thinks many people in the venture capital space will think 2021 was a bit excessive.
“But I also think people are very happy and maybe relieved that, you know, starting at the end of 2023, there’s a new kid on the block, AI, which makes everyone excited again,” he said. In many cases, he added, he now sees companies with revenues exceeding $10 million, even $100 million. “There are a lot of real transactions behind a lot of these companies.” He again mentioned his portfolio company Lovable, which grew from 1 to 100 million dollars in just eight months.
World class
This democratization of tools also leads to a democratization of geography. Ten years ago, multibillion-dollar companies were concentrated in just 30 cities across eight countries. Today, they come from more than 300 cities in 45 countries.
“It’s quite mind-boggling,” he said, once again expressing surprise at the developments in the venture capital space. “And I think countries and cities that want to be competitive in the future need to have a startup scene, they need a tech scene. And at least many of them have the potential to build that,” he said, pointing to Berlin, Stockholm, London and Dubai as future startup hubs. He could have mentioned many other cities as well, he added, underscoring the broader point that Right now, cities and countries have a rare window to consolidate themselves as serious tech hubs.
As barriers to entry crumble, the “move fast and break things” philosophy of the early social media era has returned, but with higher stakes and faster tools. For the venture capital industry, this data serves as a warning: The next industry-defining giant will likely be built by a 25-year-old with a laptop, operating at a speed that traditional business models can barely keep up.
“Those that have really hit the product market are adapting… taking less time to become unicorns,” Berge said. “It’s everything that goes on behind the scenes of building a business that is now accelerating.”
However, one factor remains irrelevant: the vast majority of founders come from American universities such as Stanford and Harvard.
“It’s pretty amazing what American universities have produced in terms of results and big companies,” Berge said, “not just in the United States, but obviously founders who come with their Ivy League degrees to other countries.”
