What is Luana Lopes Lara’s Net Worth?
Luana Lopes Lara, a Brazilian-born entrepreneur and former professional ballerina, has built an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion through her role at Kalshi, the federally regulated prediction market she co-founded in 2018 with MIT classmate Tarek Mansour. As chief operating officer, Lopes Lara helped turn the platform into a marketplace where users buy and sell contracts based on real-world outcomes, from elections and sports to economic data, entertainment awards, and major public events.
Lopes Lara has played a central role in shaping Kalshi’s product strategy, daily operations, and broader expansion. The company secured approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2020 to operate as a designated contract market, opened to the public in 2021, and later notched a major legal victory that cleared the way for contracts tied to U.S. elections. Interest surged during the 2024 presidential race, and trading activity accelerated further as sports contracts and brokerage partnerships broadened Kalshi’s reach. Following a string of major venture capital financings, Kalshi was valued at $22 billion in 2026. With a reported stake of roughly 12% in the privately held company, Lopes Lara ranks among the youngest self-made billionaires in the world and is considered the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire.
Early Life and Ballet
Born in 1996 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Luana Lopes Lara displayed unusual range from an early age. She excelled in math and science competitions, earning medals in Brazilian mathematics and astronomy contests, while simultaneously committing herself to the demanding world of classical ballet.
Her ballet education took her to the Bolshoi Theatre School in Joinville, Brazil, the celebrated Russian company’s only training institution outside Russia. Lopes Lara spent about eight years there, immersed in a rigorous routine of technical classes, rehearsals, academics, and performance preparation.
After completing that training, Lopes Lara briefly pursued dance professionally in Austria. She performed with the Salzburg State Theatre, including in a production of “Swan Lake.” But despite years spent preparing for a life on stage, she ultimately decided that her future belonged not in ballet, but in mathematics, technology, and markets.
At 18, Lopes Lara stepped away from ballet and moved to the United States to enroll at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
MIT and Finance Internships
At MIT, she studied computer science and joined a network of students drawn to mathematics, technology, markets, and quantitative finance. She earned her degree in 2018.
During her summers as an undergraduate, Lopes Lara gained experience at some of the most influential names in finance. She interned at Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities, where she was exposed to the research methods and trading infrastructure used by major institutional investors.
She also worked at quantitative trading firm Five Rings Capital with fellow MIT student Tarek Mansour. The two had already met at school, but their time in New York strengthened their friendship and working relationship. They frequently discussed the limitations of conventional financial products and why ordinary people had few direct ways to trade or hedge against specific real-world events.
Founding Kalshi
Lopes Lara and Mansour founded Kalshi in 2018. The name comes from an Arabic word meaning “everything,” reflecting their ambition to create markets around nearly every measurable future event.
On Kalshi, users can buy “yes” or “no” contracts tied to questions such as whether inflation will exceed a certain level, which political party will win an election, or whether a team will win a game. Contract prices range between one cent and 99 cents and can be interpreted as the market’s estimate of an outcome’s probability.
The founders believed these contracts could serve two purposes. Traders could attempt to profit from their knowledge of a subject, while individuals and businesses could use the contracts to hedge against risks not covered by traditional financial products.
Rather than launching first and dealing with regulators later, Lopes Lara and Mansour pursued federal approval before opening the platform. The process took nearly three years. In November 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission designated Kalshi as a regulated contract market, making it the first federally regulated American exchange devoted primarily to event contracts.
Kalshi launched publicly in July 2021.
Election Markets and Legal Battle
Kalshi initially offered contracts involving economics, weather, entertainment, and other events, but political markets represented one of the founders’ largest ambitions. The CFTC rejected the company’s attempt to offer contracts based on which party would control Congress, arguing that the contracts involved gaming and raised public-interest concerns.
Kalshi sued its own regulator in 2023, an unusually aggressive move for a young financial company whose business depended on maintaining federal approval. Many of the company’s investors and advisers opposed the strategy because a loss could have damaged Kalshi’s entire business.
In 2024, a federal judge ruled that the CFTC had exceeded its authority when it blocked Kalshi’s congressional-control contracts. After further appeals, Kalshi was allowed to open election trading during the 2024 campaign.
The victory established Kalshi as the leading regulated election prediction market in the United States. Its prices became widely cited as alternative indicators to polls and conventional forecasting models.
Growth and Billionaire Status
Kalshi’s valuation increased rapidly following its election-market victory. The company raised $185 million at a $2 billion valuation in June 2025. Six months later, it raised $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation from investors including Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CapitalG, ARK Invest, and Y Combinator.
In May 2026, Kalshi raised another $1 billion at a $22 billion valuation. The round was led by Coatue, with additional participation from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Paradigm, Morgan Stanley, and ARK Invest.
Lopes Lara and Mansour were each estimated to own approximately 12% of Kalshi following the financing. A 12% interest in a company valued at $22 billion is worth roughly $2.64 billion.
Role at Kalshi
While Mansour serves as Kalshi’s chief executive and public spokesman, Lopes Lara serves as chief operating officer and concentrates heavily on the company’s daily execution. Her responsibilities have included product development, compliance, hiring, internal management, and scaling the platform’s operations.
The founders have maintained an unusually flat corporate structure in which much of the company reports directly to one or both of them. Mansour has described himself as focused primarily on long-term strategy, while Lopes Lara is more closely involved with translating those ideas into operating systems and finished products.
All net worths are calculated using data drawn from public sources. When provided, we also incorporate private tips and feedback received from the celebrities or their representatives. While we work diligently to ensure that our numbers are as accurate as possible, unless otherwise indicated they are only estimates. We welcome all corrections and feedback using the button below.
