Luana Lopes Lara Net Worth

Luana Lopes Lara has an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, Luana Lopes Lara profile (figures as of October 20, 2026). That is up from $1.3 billion in 2026.

Luana Lopes Lara is a Brazilian entrepreneur known for cofounding Kalshi and serving as its COO. The platform runs prediction markets, letting users trade on outcomes tied to sports, politics, entertainment awards, and more. Forbes says she is the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire. Before building Kalshi, she studied computer science at MIT and worked as a quantitative trader at Citadel Securities. She also performed professionally in Austria in a season of Swan Lake after high school.

Her wealth is tied mainly to her ownership in Kalshi. Forbes says she owns an estimated 12% stake in the company. Kalshi got federal approval in 2020 to operate in the U.S., then made history in 2024 when it won approval for contracts on the presidential election. That opened a new lane for the business. In December 2025, Kalshi reached a $11 billion valuation after a $1 billion funding round backed by major investors and firms.

How Luana Lopes Lara built her wealth

Lara's money comes from Kalshi, the prediction market company she cofounded with Tarek Mansour in 2018. As COO, she helped build a platform where users can bet on many kinds of real-world outcomes, including sports games, political elections, and entertainment awards. Forbes ties her fortune to that business and says she owns about 12% of the company. Her background in computer science at MIT and quantitative trading at Citadel Securities also fits the type of finance-focused product Kalshi offers.

Funding helped turn Kalshi into a much larger company. Lara secured backing from angel investors including Charles Schwab and Henry Kravis, along with firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, CapitalG, and Paradigm. A key moment came in December 2025, when Kalshi hit a $11 billion valuation after a $1 billion funding round. The company had already won federal approval in 2020 to operate in the U.S., giving it a base to grow from.

What moved the Forbes estimate

Forbes valued Lara at $1.3 billion on the 2026 World's Billionaires List. That estimate followed Kalshi's sharp rise in value and Forbes' view of Lara's stake in the business. The company had already crossed an important legal milestone in 2024, when it received federal approval to let users bet on the presidential election. Forbes notes this marked the first legal election contracts in the U.S. in over a century, putting Kalshi in a unique position.

By October 2026, Forbes' real-time tracker put Lara at $2.6 billion. The same Forbes tracker listed her at $2.6 billion as of October 20, 2026. The jump from the annual list points back to Kalshi's scale, investor support, and its place in prediction markets. Forbes also describes Lara as self-made, and her rise stands out because it came through a company she helped launch and run rather than through inheritance.