Lucy Guo has officially entered the exclusive billionaire club, becoming the youngest self-made woman billionaire at the age of 30, surpassing Taylor Swift. According to Forbes, the milestone comes as her former company, Scale AI, nears the completion of a tender offer slated for June 1. The deal enables early employees and investors to sell shares and values the nine-year-old firm at a staggering $25 billion—a remarkable 80% increase from its $13.8 billion valuation just last May.
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The artificial intelligence company, co-founded by Guo in 2016, is often described as doing “the picks and shovels” work of AI—labelling data used to train intelligent systems. Scale’s clients include the US government and OpenAI.
From middle school coder to billionaire
Guo’s journey is a classic tech success story. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and began coding in middle school, reported Forbes. She studied at Carnegie Mellon University but dropped out to become a Thiel Fellow, an initiative by billionaire Peter Thiel that funds promising young entrepreneurs.
According to Forbes, after working at Quora—where she met Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang—and a short stint at Snapchat, Guo co-founded Scale AI in 2016. She later transitioned from the company to pursue new ventures, launching Backend Capital, a VC firm, and investing in now-billion-dollar startups like Ramp.
New ventures and legal setbacks
{{/usCountry}}According to Forbes, after working at Quora—where she met Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang—and a short stint at Snapchat, Guo co-founded Scale AI in 2016. She later transitioned from the company to pursue new ventures, launching Backend Capital, a VC firm, and investing in now-billion-dollar startups like Ramp.
New ventures and legal setbacks
{{/usCountry}}In 2022, Guo founded Passes, a subscription-based content platform akin to Patreon and OnlyFans. The platform has attracted high-profile users such as gymnast Olivia Dunne, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, and DJ Kygo. Over three years, Passes raised $50 million and is now valued at $150 million.
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However, last month, Passes came under scrutiny when a lawsuit accused the platform of hosting child sexual abuse material (CSAM). A Passes spokesperson told Forbes the company “refutes any claims that it approved or condoned the posting of underage explicit content,” and clarified that all underage creators had been banned before the suit was filed.
Changing of the guard
With this development, Guo overtakes pop icon Taylor Swift, 35, who held the youngest self-made woman billionaire title since Forbes crowned her in late 2023. Globally, just over 100 women have built 10-figure fortunes on their own. Of the six under 40, half are American citizens.