40 Under 40

Rank

Frank Wang

SHENZHEN, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 14: (CHINA OUT) Frank Wang, founder of DJI, with new product Inspire 1 at DJI on February 12, 2015 in Shenzhen, China. DJI is a Chinese technology company manufacturing flying cameras, flying platforms, flight controllers for multi rotors, accessories for helicopters, camera gimballs and ground stations. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images)Photograph by ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images

Age
35
Title
Founder and CEO
Company
DJI

Frank Wang founded Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) in his dorm room in Honk Kong just nine years ago. Now it’s the world’s largest consumer drone business, with an estimated 70% of global market share. Skyrocketing demand for DJI’s Phantom drone—an engineering marvel targeted to at-home enthusiasts, ready to fly right out of the box with an integrated camera—earned it a spot in the Apple Store in September. The FAA, which only this January opened up the U.S. skies for commercial operators, has so far approved ten times more DJI drones than its competitors. In May, Wang raised $75 million from Accel Partners at a lofty valuation of $8 billion. Even as regulators double down on safety and security concerns (yes, it was a DJI drone that crash-landed on the White House lawn earlier this year), Wang expects to pilot DJI to $1 billion in sales this year.