Luana Lopes Lara is a Brazilian technology entrepreneur and, as of late 2025, the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire at age 29. Born in Brazil to a family of educators and engineers—her mother taught mathematics and her father was an electrical engineer—she excelled in both the arts and sciences.

As a teenager, she trained at the prestigious Bolshoi Theatre School, managing a grueling schedule of morning academics and evening ballet workouts. After working as a professional ballerina in Austria, she moved to the U.S. to enroll at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she earned an engineering degree in computer science and mathematics.

• Core Company: Kalshi (Prediction market platform).
• Founding: Met co-founder Tarek Mansour at MIT in 2018; brainstormed the idea during late-night walks in New York.
• Academic Honors: Gold medalist in the Brazilian Astronomy Olympiad.

Luana Lopes Lara’s career is defined by her successful effort to bring regulated prediction markets into the financial mainstream. In 2018, she co-founded Kalshi, a platform that allows users to trade on the outcomes of real-world events ranging from elections to sports.

Under her leadership, Kalshi became the first prediction market to receive regulatory approval from the CFTC in the United States. In late 2025, the platform secured $1 billion in funding, valuing the company at $11 billion. This milestone officially made her a billionaire with an estimated 12% stake in the firm.

• Strategic Achievement: Built the first federally regulated 'event contract' exchange.
• Innovation: Utilizing AI models to vet and structure hundreds of prediction contracts simultaneously.