The Class Of 2022 Enters A Shaky Workforce. This Under 30 Startup Wants To Help.

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As the class of 2022 loads their twin XL sheets and overpriced textbooks into their parents’ SUVs, they’re met not just with the existential questions of fresh grads (What am I doing with my life? How do I excel at my job?) but also with questions that have been dominating the news cycle: Do I even want to be in an office? What happens if my company starts laying people off? Will I find better professional prospects if I land a job now or in a few months?

One Under 30-founded startup wants to help alleviate this sense of dread: Gen-Z recruiting company RippleMatch. The startup announced this week that it had raised a new $45 million Series B round from investors such as Goldman Sachs (whose analysts are not known for their workplace satisfaction) to be the new LinkedIn for young professionals. Read about RippleMatch here.

Speaking of young talent, the Forbes newsroom just gained some of its own: a new class of 35 interns who are learning the ropes of journalism, including recent Baruch College graduate Anthony Tellez, who will be helping us write exclusive Under 30 scoops in this newsletter for the remainder of the summer.

The Forbes Fintech 50 2022

Introducing the year's most innovative startups in personal finance, investing, payments and crypto.

This Week's Money Moves

By wrangling tutors to teach users English via app, Cambly has been profitable for five years and become quite fluent in venture capital, raising $60 million at a reported $250 million valuation. (Forbes)

After 28-year-old Carlos Mark Vera endured three unpaid government internships, he made it his life’s mission to get future interns paid. Because of him, the White House and Congress have decided to pay their interns. This is how he got to where he is today. (Forbes)

In other 28-year-old news, fashion designer Nicole McLaughlin’s tongue-in-cheek designs—like “shoeshi” (shoes made from sushi) and “bragel” (yes, a bra made from two bagels)—have landed her partnerships with companies like Puma, Calvin Klein, Prada and Hermes. Her aim: to make a bold statement on consumption. (New York Times)

Farfetch and Goop investor Felix Capital raised $600 million to be the venture fund for the “creative class.” What’s the fund now looking to back? “Brands that will resonate with a certain audience or sub-community,” says founder Frederic Court. (Forbes)

Post Malone, who made the Forbes Under 30 Music list in 2019, just dropped his fourth album, Twelve Carat Toothache. “[It] tries to escape the formulas undergirding his earlier works and the pressures of being the life of the party,” writes critic Craig Jenkins. (New York)

Compliance automation company Vanta hit a $1.6 billion valuation thanks to the scrappiness of 35-year-old founder Christina Cacioppo, who cut costs at every turn with moves like serving employees Costco coffee in the office. (Bloomberg)

As the financial health of most universities goes from bad to worse, San Diego’s National University is gushing cash and expanding nationwide. The rest of higher education should take notes. (Forbes)

Microsoft is disclosing its pay ranges in all job postings. How will current employees react? Who will take a job after learning they’re getting the salary floor? Or ceiling? We feel the tea warming here. (Forbes)

Under 30 alum (and former Forbes employee) Jessica Wolf has gone founder: She’s announcing that she’s raised $1.6 million for her life and executive coaching company Skye. “I realized I could help people reach the next level by having a coach and illuminate their talents,” says Wolf.

How Two Africans Overcame Bias To Build A Startup Worth Billions

A pair of twentysomethings from Uganda and Ghana thought there was a fortune to be made bringing transnational financial services to Africa’s 1.2 billion people. With 5 million users, San Francisco-based Chipper Cash is just getting started.

Now Open: Forbes Under 30 2023 Nominations

Do you know someone creating the next Instagram, Stripe or Spotify? Nominate them (or yourself!) today.