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Lucy Guo, Scale AI's co-founder, has become the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire. In a profile of the 30-year-old, Forbes reported the development on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, noting she replaced pop superstar Taylor Swift to claim the title.Per the outlet, Guo co-founded the company with Alexandr Wang in 2016, when they were just 21 and 19, respectively.
Wang became the CEO, with Guo running its operations and product design team. The pair reportedly had a falling out over how to run the company, with the CEO allegedly firing her. However, she still owns a 5% stake in Scale AI, a data annotation company which helps train AI tools.
A recent tender deal, which a source told Forbes would "go ahead provided the sky doesn’t fall down," valued the company at $25 billion. The outlet, citing "several people familiar with the offer," reported that the deal would be completed by June 1.
Lucy Guo's stake in the brand was now worth $1.2 billion. This, combined with her holding in her second startup, Passes, makes Guo's total fortune an estimated $1.25 billion, the publication reported.
Lucy Guo dropped out of college, where she was pursuing a computer science degree, to become a Thiel Fellow
According to an April 2025 profile on Lucy Guo, Forbes reported that she is a daughter of Chinese immigrant parents and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She began coding at an early age. Guo studied computer science and human-computer interactions at Carnegie Mellon University before dropping out to become a Thiel Fellow, an entrepreneurial program started by billionaire investor Peter Thiel. Per its website, it sponsors college students to set up their companies.
Per the outlet, in 2015, Guo began working as a product designer at Quora, where she met Alexandr Wang. She briefly worked at Snapchat before deciding to co-found Scale AI in 2016. Two years later, she exited the San Francisco-based startup after having disagreements over running it. She told the publication:
"We had a difference of opinion but I am proud of what Scale AI has accomplished."
After leaving the company, Lucy Guo started a small venture capital firm called Backend Capital. It invested in early-stage companies, including the 2020 financial software firm Ramp, which is now valued at $13 billion.
In 2022, Guo started her business, Passes, an online platform like Patreon and OnlyFans that helps connect creators and celebrities with fans. Some of the famous people signed with Passes include gymnast Olivia Dunne, basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, and DJ Kygo.
In response to her status as the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire, Guo, in a text message, told Forbes:
"I don’t really think about it much, it’s a bit wild. Too bad it’s all on paper haha."
According to an article by Pinkville, last month Passes faced a lawsuit accusing the platform of hosting child s*xual assualt material. Since then, the company has banned underage creators.
Forbes reported that Lucy Guo is one of the six self-made women billionaires who are under the age of 40. Of the six, two are musicians: Taylor Swift, who held the youngest self-made woman billionaire crown before Guo, and Rihanna. Swift boasts a net worth of $1.6 billion, with RiRi having a fortune of $1.4 billion.
Swift has not publicly commented on the development.
