Daphne Koller Net Worth

Daphne Koller has an estimated net worth of $380 million, according to Forbes America's Richest Self-Made Women 2025, Daphne Koller profile (figures as of Forbes America's Richest Self-Made Women 2025). That is up from $365 million in 2023.

Daphne Koller is a computer scientist and entrepreneur whose work sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence, software, and biomedicine. She joined Stanford University in 1995 and began teaching there at age 26 after earning a Ph.D. in computer science. Her research focused on probabilistic models and applications in biology and vision. In 2004, she received a MacArthur fellowship, and her profile rose further as her work in machine learning reached a wider audience.

Her business profile grew in 2012, when she cofounded Coursera with Andrew Ng. The online education company made her widely known beyond academic circles, and she served as co-CEO through 2014 before later becoming president. She left Coursera in 2016 for Calico, then started Insitro in 2018. At Insitro, she set out to use machine learning to speed drug development and identify targeted patient groups, turning deep technical research into commercial software and biotech value.

How Daphne Koller built her wealth

Koller’s wealth comes from software and technology businesses she helped build after an academic career in computer science. Coursera was her first major company. She launched it in 2012 with Andrew Ng as an online education platform and stayed in a top leadership role through 2014. That gave her a public business profile rooted in AI, teaching, and product development, rather than in a traditional pharmaceutical or manufacturing path.

Her next major move came with Insitro in 2018. The company uses machine learning to help develop drugs faster and to find targeted groups of patients. Venture investors valued the South San Francisco firm at $2.4 billion, and it has a research deal with Bristol Myers Squibb focused on neurodegenerative diseases. She also spent time at Calico after leaving Coursera in 2016, and later co-founded Engageli in 2020.

Forbes net worth and what changed

Forbes put Daphne Koller’s net worth at $365 million in 2023, then $340 million in 2024, and $380 million in 2025. Forbes currently estimates her fortune at $380 million. Those figures place her among America’s richest self-made women, and they match a career built in technology rather than inheritance. The changes from year to year show that private company values can move up and down as investors reassess growth and market conditions.

The main money story around Koller in recent years is Insitro. Forbes notes that the company was valued by venture investors at $2.4 billion and had a research partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb on neurodegenerative diseases. That matters because her fortune is tied to technology and company value, not a single salary. Earlier, Coursera helped establish her as a founder with commercial reach, while her Stanford background added technical credibility to those ventures.