A 29-Year-Old Brazilian Who Became the Youngest Woman in the World to Build Her Own Fortune
ECONOMYIMMIGRATION
Luana Lopes Lara, co-founder of Kalshi, reaches a $1.3 billion net worth and surpasses Taylor Swift in Forbes ranking
Luana Lopes Lara, a 29-year-old Brazilian entrepreneur, has made history as the youngest woman in the world to build her own fortune. She is the co-founder of Kalshi, a U.S.-based prediction market platform now valued at $11 billion, and her personal wealth is estimated at $1.3 billion.
According to Forbes, Lara has surpassed pop superstar Taylor Swift in the ranking of the youngest self-made women billionaires worldwide.
Her trajectory is remarkable. Before entering the tech industry, Lara was a professional ballerina in Austria, trained at the Bolshoi Theater School in Joinville, Brazil, and won medals in Astronomy and Mathematics Olympiads. She later moved to the United States, where she studied Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). During internships at major companies, she met her future business partner, Tarek Mansour.
Together, they founded Kalshi in 2019. The platform allows investors to trade on the probabilities of future events — from election outcomes to sports results.
Since its launch, Kalshi has surpassed $5.8 billion in transactions, placing Lara among the youngest billionaires in the world and positioning her as a symbol of Brazilian talent making waves on the global stage.