Who is Luana Lopez Lara, the youngest millionaire in the world, and how did she achieve her fortune of $1.3 billion?

Magazine Forbes Highlight the successful career of Luana Lopez Larayoung woman Brazilian to 29 years oldwho went from being talented ballerina To become one of the founders of the computer company that broke all records. story “The youngest self-made billionaire in the world“, as specified in the prestigious publication.

His mother, a mathematics teacher, and his father, an electrical engineer, were great inspirations for him. Since she was a child she had a dual career, on the one hand the world of classical dance, and on the other hand her desire for it. To be “the next Steve Jobs.”

During high school he trained there Ballet He attended the demanding program of the Brazilian Bolshoi Theater School every day. When he returned home he devoted himself to his other side and studied to compete in academic competitions.

He won the gold medal at the Brazilian Astronomy Olympiad and the bronze at the Santa Catarina Mathematics Olympiad. After graduating from high school, she went on to work for nine months as a professional dancer in the classic film Swan Lake Austria.

At the age of 18, he began his path towards his other passion and traveled to the United States to begin his career there Computer engineering At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts Institute of Technology.).

At university he struck up a friendship with Tariq MansourShe grew up in Lebanon, and they began to form a duo in practical jobs. They were part of the same group of international students and both sat in the front row of the class.

In 2018, they were selected for an internship at Five Rings Capital in New York, and participated in the daily work routine. In the midst of that experience, they came up with an idea.Create a prediction market“.

“We have seen that most Stock market operations It happens when people have A vision for the future “Then they try to find a way to translate it to markets,” Lopez Lara explained. Forbes.

Together with Mansour, they created a project and applied to the startup accelerator p combinator, It was accepted in 2019. A long legal battle began, because the rules and legislation of prediction markets had gray areas that made it difficult to determine the steps that should be followed.

They needed federal approval to operateI contacted more than 40 law firms. All the lawyers they consulted refused To take up the case.

They told them they were too young and dismissed their startup as a small startup run by teenagers.

“We took a huge risk,” Lopez Lara recalled in the interview. “We spent two years without a single product, without being able to launch or create anything, and if they didn’t organize us, the company would simply collapse.” Forbes.

“We really wanted to do things right, because we have vision It was to build The largest financial platform in the world. He added, “Under no circumstances can we accept work unofficially.”

In the midst of the Corona virus pandemic, the young woman was residing in London, and Mansour in Beirut. From their homes, they continued searching for a lawyer to guide them, and finally found the recommendation they needed.

“There are few better exercises for overcoming rejection and moving forward than being a professional dancer,” Luana commented. His perseverance and calm have been key to this process, full of uncertainty and intersecting with the context of global quarantine.

In November 2020 They have obtained a license from the CFTC (US Commodity Futures Trading Commission) to operate as a Defined Contracts Market (DCM).

“Kalshi” is the name they chose for themselves Market forecasting companyWhich means “everything” in Arabic, and is a symbol of what this project represents for the young duo. And they were right, because it completely changed their lives.

“Kalshi allows its users to bet on the outcomes of future events: elections, sports matches, and even events related to popular culture,” they describe on their website.

Its forte is sports betting, with a 90% user engagement rate on this topic. But there are other proposals, with a diversity that similar companies do not offer, and that is the added value of the company.

Questions like “Will Donald Trump release any of the Epstein files?”; “Who will be the next winner of the US presidential election?”; “Will Bitcoin surpass $100,000 again this year?”; These are some of the questions in which participants invest the most money.

Since they received legal approval, the business has begun to grow at an unprecedented rate, with the volume of operations increasing by 1,000% compared to the previous year. Currently exceeds 1,000 million US dollars weekly.

In just six years the startup became valuable 11 billion US dollars. They have entered into agreements with platforms like Robinhood and Webull, and alliances with companies ranging from the National Hockey League to online platform StockX.

In January, Donald Trump JrThe son of the President of the United States joined the Kaleshi Advisory Board, giving them national visibility.

In less than six months legacy Net co-founders, who retain 12% of the company, have quintupled. Everyone currently has one luck My employees 1.3 billion US dollars.

Although they still face challenges at the regulatory level due to subsequent lawsuits, the guys continue to lead the way in this area with their company. López Lara’s life story caught the attention of Forbes because he had no prior inheritance or family lineage related to computing.

Her travels to Europe as a dancer, the financial and emotional support from her family to ensure her academic training, and her first work experiences were essential in moving closer to her dream.

At the age of 29, in December 2025, she became an icon in the magazine’s ranking, as the world’s youngest billionaire. Go to Lucy Guo31, co-founder of Scale AI, was ousted last April Taylor Swift.