Meet Luana Lopes Lara: From Ballerina To World's Youngest Self-Made Woman Billionaire

Luana Lopes Lara, a 29-year-old Brazilian entrepreneur, has made history as the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire. Her prediction market platform, Kalshi, recently reached an $11 billion valuation, catapulting her to billionaire status. Lara's rapid rise surpasses Scale AI's Lucy Guo, who had recently overtook Taylor Swift's ranking, Forbes reported. 

Early Life, Ballet and Education

Born in Brazil, Lopes Lara trained as a professional ballerina at the prestigious Bolshoi Theatre School, an experience she described as even more intense than MIT. She performed professionally in Austria for a period after high school. Inspired by her mother (a math teacher) and father (an electrical engineer), she excelled academically, and won several gold and bronze medals in national and regional science/math Olympiads in Brazil.

She moved to the United States to pursue higher education, earning degrees in computer science and mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). During her time at MIT, she interned at top financial firms including Bridgewater Associates, Citadel, and Five Rings Capital, gaining experience in quantitative trading.

Founding Kalshi and Billionaire Status

Lopes Lara and her cofounder, Tarek Mansour (also an MIT graduate), conceived the idea for Kalshi during their internships in New York City in 2018. They noticed a gap in the market for a platform where people could trade directly on the outcomes of real-world events. Talking to Forbes, Lara said, "We saw that most trading happens when people have some view about the future and then try to find a way to put that in the markets."

The pair pursued federal approval to operate as a designated contract market, which involved significant regulatory challenges and legal battles with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). They eventually won a pivotal lawsuit in September 2024, enabling regulated US election trading.

Kalshi's value has seen explosive growth, rising from a $2 billion valuation in June to $11 billion in December 2025 following a $1 billion funding round. This funding round pushed both cofounders into the billionaire ranks. Lopes Lara holds an estimated 12% stake in Kalshi, giving her a personal net worth of approximately $1.3 billion.