Luana Lopes Lara, 29 years old, graduated in computer science from MIT, helped transform Kalshi into a company valued at $11 billion. She had experiences at Bridgewater Associates and Citadel, which accompanied the first steps of her journey in the technology sector. During high school, she balanced her school routine with ballet training at the Bolshoi Theatre School in Brazil. She describes this period as the most demanding of her life due to the extreme discipline applied in training.
The rigor included intense exercises, such as holding the leg up while teachers held lit cigarettes under her thigh to test physical endurance. Even with the heavy load, Luana excelled academically. She won a gold medal in the Brazilian Astronomy Olympiad and a bronze in the Santa Catarina Math Olympiad. After completing high school, she spent nine months as a professional ballerina in Austria before deciding to abandon her artistic career and move to the United States.
From ballerina to entrepreneur
The shift to the technology field occurred after her decision to enter the North American market. The idea for Kalshi arose during a walk after a day of interning, when she and her partner, Tarek Mansour, reflected on how financial decisions depended on predictions about future events. Both identified the opportunity to create a regulated market for trading probabilities related to elections, economic indicators, and cultural events.
The future of news is here: market based, real-time, and accurate.
CNN 🤝 Kalshi https://t.co/EtWkW5kRaP
— Luana Lopes Lara (@luanalopeslara) December 3, 2025
Founded in 2018, Kalshi received authorization from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in November 2020 to operate as a designated contracts market. The approval allowed the platform to establish itself as one of the few legally recognized in the prediction segment. From this, the company began an accelerated growth cycle. In less than six months, its valuation multiplied by five to reach $11 billion.
The billionaire rise
The funding round of $1 billion included investors such as Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Y Combinator. The investment raised Luana and Mansour's individual net worth to approximately $1.3 billion each. With this valuation, Luana became the youngest self-made billionaire in the world, surpassing all previous records. She also became the first woman to reach this level without inheritance.
The achievement solidified her position among the leading figures of the new generation in the technology sector. The rapid growth of Kalshi reinforced the impact of prediction platforms in financial markets. Luana's case is often cited as an example of a successful transition between completely distinct areas. Her journey combines discipline acquired in ballet with strategic vision in entrepreneurship.
The article Brazilian becomes the youngest billionaire in the world to build her own fortune was first seen on BeInCrypto Brazil.
