Two UCL Computer Science alumni have been named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list for 2025, continuing a growing trend of recognition for UCL Computer Science graduates as rising leaders in technology and innovation.
This year’s honourees are among 12 UCL alumni and students featured across nine categories in the 2025 list. The Forbes Europe list celebrates young entrepreneurs and creatives driving change and solving global challenges.
2025 Honourees
This year, two CS PhD candidates – Rokas Bendikas (UCL Artificial Intelligence) and Maria Stamatopoulou (UCL Computer Science) – were recognised for their work with Laelaps AI, a robotics startup tackling security challenges using autonomous robotic patrol agents.
Their UCL research focused on reinforcement learning, robot perception and navigation, and imitation learning – the core technologies behind the Laelaps platform.
Laelaps AI’s solution is designed to operate independently in dynamic outdoor environments, patrolling sites across different industries without human intervention. This approach provides a scalable, cost-effective alternative to traditional security guards or CCTV-based systems.
Rokas and Maria were recognised for turning their academic research into a successful commercial venture.
Being recognised by Forbes is a humbling milestone for both me and Laelaps AI. Our mission is driven by a simple belief: no life should be put at risk to protect others. That’s why we’re working to enhance physical security through autonomous robotics. I’m grateful to UCL Computer Science for providing access to a wide range of robotic platforms during my PhD – experience that gave me the hands-on skills and confidence now shaping Laelaps AI.
European resilience has never mattered more, especially for someone coming from Lithuania. This recognition is a sign we’re on the right track, and I’m proud to be part of the UCL community during this journey.
Their work exemplifies the successful translation of deep tech research from UCL labs into real-world innovation that enhances safety and operational efficiency.
Our legacy of Forbes 30 Under 30 success
Rokas and Maria's success follows a growing number of UCL Computer Science alumni recognised by Forbes 30 Under 30 in recent years.
2024
Social Impact
- Flinn Dolman (MSc Computational Finance, 2018) went on from his studies at UCL to co-found Lawhive – a London-based company that combines AI with a network of human lawyers to provide legal help for a fraction of the cost of a law firm.
Technology
- Dr Abdel Mahmoud (MSc Computer Science, 2017 & MBBS Medicine, 2021) and Dr Zahid Mahmood (MSc Systems Engineering Management, 2021) met at UCL and went on to start Co:Helm - an AI-powered co-pilot to help American medical workers deal with insurers' prior authorisations in minutes, rather than hours.
2023
Social impact
- Ashu Savani (UCL MEng Computer Science 2019) was recognised for his social impact along with his co-founder at TryHackMe. A fast-growing cybersecurity training platform with over 1.6 million global users and over $10 m (£8.2 m) in annual revenue, TryHackMe helps aspiring ethical hackers and defenders learn cyber through interactive, gamified, and affordable learning platform. 80% of TryHackMe's content is currently free to users.
2022
Technology
- Raza Habib (MSc Machine Learning and Computational Statistics 2016) is a PhD Student in Machine Learning at UCL and co-founder and CEO of AI startup Humanloop which helps businesses to solve problems through human-artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation. Humanloop was spun-out with assistance from UCL Business (UCLB).
- Johannes Landgraf (MSc Computer Science 2017) is cofounder and co-CEO of the developer-led open source startup Gitpod
2020
Social Entrepreneurs
- Kimeshan Naidoo (MSc Computer Science) was named in the Social Entrepreneurs category for co-founding Unibuddy, an educational technology platform connecting prospective students with university ambassadors. We will be featuring Kimeshan in our Alumni Profiles feature in the near future.
We wish continued success to all who have been recognised for their successful endeavours.
Further reading
• UCL 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30
• 2024 list
• 2023 list
• 2022 list
• 2021 list
• 2020 Forbes Europe – Social Entrepreneurs
