Luana Lopes Lara, world's youngest self-made woman billionaire: Her surprising net worth revealed

In today’s AI-era-driven economy, where career paths are undergoing an unparalleled paradigm shift, an emerging entrepreneur is making waves as the world’s youngest self-made billionaire.

Luana Lopes Lara’s trailblazing journey is a testament to her success in developing a prediction-market startup, Kalshi.

At just age 29, Lara has clinched the title of world’s youngest self-made billionaire, as reported by Forbes.

Who is Luana Lopes Lara?

Luana Lopes Lara was born in Brazil and received her early education at the prestigious Bolshoi Theatre School, where she endured a level of competition that she now claimed was “more intense than MIT.”

In Austria, she performed as a professional ballerina, cultivating the discipline and precision that would one day fuel her startup, Kalshi, to shake up the world.

Lara also thrived in academia, excelling in school and winning a national Olympiad medal.

This led her to MIT in the U.S. to study computer science, where she met her future co-founder, Tarek Mansour.

Luana Lopes Lara's net worth revealed

Luana Lopez Lara and her business partner, Tarek Mansour, joined the global billionaires’ list after their company, Kalshi, raised $1 billion in a new funding round.

The round was led by Paradigm and backed by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Y Combinator, according to Forbes.

The deal values Kalshi at $11 billion, pushing both co-founders, Lara and her MIT classmate Tarek Mansour, into billionaire status, with each now holding an estimated 12% of the company—to a net worth of $1.3 billion apiece.

Her life partner and co-founder, Tarek Mansour, shared the news on X (formerly Twitter) that Kalshi has raised $1 billion at a $11 billion valuation.

The post went viral and, so far, has garnered over 7 million views, with users praising their startup, Kalshi.

What is Kalshi?

Kalshi was co-founded by MIT graduates Luana Lopes Lara and Tarek Mansour in 2019.

Kalshi is a New York City-based US financial exchange and prediction market, which allows users to trade on future events ranging from elections and sports to pop culture moments.

Prior to the latest funding round, Kalshi was valued at $5 billion in October. Since July, its trading volume has spiked eightfold, reaching $5.8 billion by November.

A major milestone came in 2020 when Kalshi earned approval from the CFTC, shorthand for Commodity Futures Trading Commission—the U.S. federal agency responsible for regulating derivatives markets—making it the first federally regulated platform in the prediction market space.

Today, the idea that founding a platform where people could trade on the outcome of real-world events has not only made Lara the world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire, but it has also propelled prediction markets to the forefront of global finance.