Fresh-faced tech billionaires invade Forbes Rich List

Snapchat, Dropbox and WhatsApp founders among those to strike it filthy rich in 29th edition of Forbes Billionaires List

24-year-old Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel has led a fresh-faced invasion of Forbes' 2015 Billionaires List.

A record 46 billionaires under the age of 40 featured in Forbes' 29th annual guide to the world's stinking rich, which was topped once again by Bill Gates.

Spiegel and his Snapchat co-founder, Bobby Murphy, were the youngest of them all, at just 24 and 26 respectively. Both have amassed fortunes of $1.5bn (£1bn) on the back of their mobile application's success, placing them at joint 1,250th on the list, which featured 1,826 billionaires in total.

Their appearance made 30-year Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (pictured), who leapt five places to number 16 thanks to his $33.4bn fortune, look positively long in the tooth.

Zuck remains the world's richest man under 40, however, and was the third youngest in the list overall.

WhatsApp founder Jan Koum, who is 39 years old, placed 208th courtesy of his $6.6bn fortune while 31-year-old Dropbox doyen Drew Houston also made the cut, with an estimated $1.2bn in the bank.

Thirty-six-year-old Garrett Camp and 38-year-old Travis Kalanick, the founders of car-hailing service Uber, were among 23 new billionaires, ranking joint 283rd courtesy of their $5.3bn fortunes.

Bill Gates' wedge thickened by $3.2bn since last year to $79.2bn, enabling him to edge out Mexican telecoms magnate Carlos Slim Helu ($77.1bn) and American investor Warren Buffett ($72.7m) as the richest person on the planet, a title he has held for 16 of the past 21 years.

Oracle founder Larry Ellison (pictured), whom Forbes said was "arguably the first Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur to live large and fast" remained in fifth with estimated reserves of $54.3bn.

Autonomy founder Mike Lynch was the only UK tech billionaire, according to Forbes, with an estimated fortune of $1bn.

The Hinduja Brothers, who own multinational conglomerate Hinduja Group, were the highest-ranked Brits courtesy of their $14.5bn fortune.

There are eight female billionaires who made their fortune from tech, including current HP chief Meg Whitman, who is worth an estimated $2bn.

Despite the fall in oil prices and the weakening euro, Forbes said the ranks of the world's super-rich expanded yet again, with the list's 1,826 entrants boasting a combined wealth of $7.05tn, up from $6.4tn a year ago.