Who is Lucy Guo? Meet the youngest self-made female billionaire who surpassed Taylor Swift
Know about Lucy Guo: As the youngest self-made female millionaire, Lucy Guo has dethroned music icon Taylor Swift and swept the IT and business worlds. Guo, a former Carnegie Mellon college dropout, co-founded Scale AI, an AI data-labelling startup currently valued at an incredible $25 billion.
Her wealth was fueled by her 5 per cent interest in the company. Her story, which includes coding in Fremont as a child, receiving a Thiel Fellowship, and starting new businesses like Passes, combines creativity, tenacity, and controversy.
Her ascent is a testament to the revolutionary potential of the AI boom and the increasing influence of women in technology. One issue still stands as critics and headlines swirl: What can aspiring businesspeople take away from Lucy Guo's quick rise?
Who is Lucy Guo?
Meet Lucy Guo, a 30-year-old internet entrepreneur who recently overtook Taylor Swift on Forbes' most recent list to become the youngest self-made female billionaire in history.
American engineer and social media influencer Lucy Guo, a true embodiment of entrepreneurial spirit, co-founded Scale AI in 2016 and was let go in 2018. She started Passes, a rival to OnlyFans, in 2022.
Guo's ownership of Scale AI has made her the youngest self-made female billionaire as of 2025. She spent several years' living as a digital nomad' before purchasing a $6.7 million Miami apartment in 2020, where her parties led to disputes with nearby residents. In 2022, the New York Post called her Miami's most popular party girl.
Lucy Guo's education qualifications
Guo was brought up by Chinese immigrant parents who were electrical engineers in Fremont, California. She started learning to code at a young age. She taught herself programming as a teenager and made money by creating bots for the online game Neopets and making money off of the in-game items.
After being chosen for the Thiel Fellowship, a two-year $100,000 stipend that encourages young people to explore entrepreneurial endeavours rather than finish their education, Guo left Carnegie Mellon University in 2014, where she had been enrolled to study computer science.
Lucy Guo's net worth
According to Economic Times data, Guo's estimated 2025 net worth is $1.3 billion. Guo's substantial profits as a software entrepreneur and social media influencer account for the majority of her 2025 net worth.
Also Read: Who was Bill Atkinson? The Man who helped Steve Jobs build the Macintosh computers, dies at 74
Lucy Guo's career
Guo joined Quora, where she met Alexandr Wang, following stints at Facebook and Snapchat, where she was the first female designer for the firm. In 2016, they co-founded Scale AI together. Wang was the CEO, and Guo oversaw production design and operations. He was 19, and she was 21
Guo kept a 5% ownership in the business, although she quit following a rumoured argument with Wang only two years later. Her equity is valued at approximately $1.2 billion, as Scale AI is currently approaching a $25 billion valuation.
She is the only female under-40 billionaire on Forbes' list, yet the majority of her wealth came from a business she no longer works for.
Guo started Backend Capital, a startup fund dedicated to helping elite engineers after Scale AI. She made a comeback to the business scene in 2022 when she established Passes, a platform for content creation marketed as a family-friendly substitute for OnlyFans. By 2024, the platform generated $40 million in a Series A round and lets creators keep up to 90% of their profits.
Passes is currently involved in a legal dispute, nevertheless. According to a class action lawsuit filed in February 2025, which names two of the platform's executives and cites Guo's alleged role in circumventing internal safety controls, the company failed to stop the spread of child pornography.
Guo has refuted every accusation, referring to the case as "a defamatory attempt" to coerce her and the business into paying $15 million.
On Forbes' list of America's Richest Self-Made Women, Swift is currently rated 21st, and Guo is currently ranked No. 26. With a net worth of $22.3 billion, co-founder of ABC Supply Diane Hendricks is the richest person on the list.
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