British AI Chip Founder Becomes Europe’s Youngest Self-Made Billionaire

In 2017, James Dacombe dropped out of high school to found brain monitoring startup CoMind. Four years later, he took a Thiel Fellowship to skip college and build his first startup. Now the 25-year-old is Europe’s youngest self-made billionaire thanks to his two-year-old chipmaking company Olix, as well as an undisclosed stake in CoMind—which he still runs separately.  Founded in 2024, Dacombe’s London-based Olix tripled its valuation in six months to $3.3 billion in early August, after raising $312 million from investors including NYC-based investment firm Fundomo, Nasdaq-listed chip designer Arm, American quant fund Hudson River Trading and Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings. The UK government’s Sovereign AI fund also backed Olix in the round. The new round pushes Dacombe, who owns an estimated 30% of the company, into the three comma club. He also has a 12% stake in CoMind, which raised $102.5 million in August 2025 but did not disclose its valuation. Olix and CoMind did not respond to Forbes’ request for comment. Dacombe is one of eleven self-made billionaires in the world who have yet to turn 30 and one of just four from outside the U.S. By Alicia Park, Reporter and Iain Martin, Forbes Staff Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices