Who is Lucy Guo? The tech star who just surpassed Taylor Swift on the billionaire list
Tech entrepreneur Lucy Guo has officially overtaken Taylor Swift to become the world¡¯s youngest self-made female billionaire. With a net worth of $1.3 billion, her rise from coding in childhood to co-founding Scale AI and launching her own ventures marks one of Silicon Valley¡¯s most unconventional and compelling success stories.
Lucy Guo, 30, has just earned a new title, the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world, according to Forbes. With an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion, largely fuelled by her early stake in Scale AI, Guo now sits among the world¡¯s most powerful and intriguing tech entrepreneurs.
Who is Lucy Guo? The tech star who just surpassed Taylor Swift | Credit: Instagram/guoforit
Her 5% stake in Scale AI, which she co-founded in 2016, is now valued at around $1.2 billion. Though she exited the company just two years after its founding, her role in shaping its early growth and operations has left a lasting imprint.
A childhood filled with codes for Lucy Guo
Born in Fremont, California, to Chinese immigrant parents, Guo started coding by the time she was in second grade. Encouraged by her own curiosity, even when her parents hesitated about her entering the male-dominated tech industry, she was creating bots for online games and earning real money before most kids knew what programming was.
She enrolled in Carnegie Mellon for computer science but left in 2014 after receiving the prestigious $100,000 Thiel Fellowship, which supports young entrepreneurs in building businesses instead of completing university.
From scale AI to startup stardom
After stints at Facebook, Snapchat, and Quora, Guo co-founded Scale AI alongside Alexandr Wang. She led operations and product design, while Wang served as CEO. Though creative and business differences led her to leave in 2018, her retained equity has since made her a billionaire.
Who is Lucy Guo? The tech star who just surpassed Taylor Swift | Credit: Instagram/guoforit
Post-Scale, she launched Backend Capital and later founded Passes, a content platform positioned as a more family-friendly alternative to sites like OnlyFans. In 2024, Passes raised $40 million in Series A funding.
Facing challenges amid success
In early 2025, Passes became the subject of a class action lawsuit alleging the platform failed to prevent harmful content. Guo, named in the suit, denied any wrongdoing and described the case as a defamatory attempt to extort money from her and the company.
Guo splits her time between Los Angeles and Miami. Known for commuting by electric skateboard and collecting Pok¨¦mon cards, she balances her intense work ethic with an unapologetically bold lifestyle. While she acknowledges that her online presence can appear abrasive, those close to her say it is part of a confident, no-nonsense personality.
Currently ranked No. 26 on Forbes¡¯ Richest Self-Made Women list, just five spots behind Taylor Swift, Guo¡¯s story is proof that innovation, resilience, and vision can redefine the rules of tech and business.
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