Taylor Swift, often called the queen of music, has lost her title as the youngest self-made woman billionaire. That spot now belongs to Lucy Guo, a 30-year-old entrepreneur who has quietly built a tech empire.

According to Forbes, Lucy Guo reached billionaire status just as her old startup, Scale AI, is getting a massive boost in value. The company is nearing a new deal that will allow early employees and investors to sell their shares. This deal, expected on June 1, values Scale AI at $25 billion,  an 80% jump from its $13.8 billion valuation in May last year.

Who is Lucy Guo?

Lucy Guo co-founded Scale AI in 2016. The company plays an important role in the AI world by organizing data to help train machine learning models. Its clients include big names like the U.S. government and OpenAI.

Guo grew up in the Bay Area and is a first-generation Chinese-American. She started coding when she was in middle school. She later went to Carnegie Mellon University but didn’t stay long. Instead, she joined the Thiel Fellowship, a program that gives young entrepreneurs $100,000 to skip college and build startups.

The program was started by Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and a well-known investor who is also connected to former U.S. President Donald Trump. In 2021, Thiel even introduced his mentee, JD Vance, to Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Before launching Scale AI, Guo worked at Quora, where she met Alexandr Wang, her co-founder. She also spent some time at Snapchat.

After leaving Scale, Guo didn’t slow down. She started a venture capital firm called Backend Capital and invested in rising startups like Ramp, which is now worth billions.

In 2022, Lucy Guo launched Passes, a platform similar to OnlyFans that helps creators earn money through subscriptions. The platform has already raised $50 million and is valued at $150 million.

Some big celebrities are already using Passes, including Olivia Dunne and basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal.

 

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