Who Is Lucy Guo: The Tech Prodigy Who Just Dethroned Taylor Swift? (Image: X/lucy_guo)
A 30-year-old tech entrepreneur, Lucy Guo, has officially surpassed pop icon Taylor Swift to become the youngest self-made woman billionaire, according to Forbes.
The milestone comes as her former company, Scale AI, gears up to complete a major tender offer that pegs its valuation at a jaw-dropping $25 billion.
Guo’s journey from middle school coder to tech billionaire is the kind of Silicon Valley success story that legends are made of.
The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Guo began coding before most of her peers had even learned algebra. After enrolling at Carnegie Mellon University, she dropped out to become a Thiel Fellow, securing early backing from billionaire investor Peter Thiel—a move that would fast-track her rise in tech.
She co-founded Scale AI in 2016 alongside Alexandr Wang, a company that quietly powers the world’s leading artificial intelligence platforms by doing what’s often described as the “picks and shovels” work of AI: labeling massive datasets to train intelligent systems.
Today, Scale AI serves high-profile clients including the U.S. government and OpenAI, and its latest valuation marks an 80% leap from just a year ago.
Though Guo stepped away from the company in its early years, her stake continues to grow in value as the firm scales new heights.
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But Guo didn’t stop at one success. She went on to launch Backend Capital, a venture capital firm backing early-stage tech companies, including unicorns like Ramp and in 2022, she founded Passes, a digital content subscription platform likened to Patreon and OnlyFans.
Passes, which has raised over $50 million and boasts users like Olivia Dunne, Shaquille O’Neal, and DJ Kygo, recently came under fire when a lawsuit alleged the platform was used to host child sexual abuse material.
A company spokesperson has denied any wrongdoing and clarified that all underage creators were banned prior to the filing.
Despite the legal hiccups, Guo’s entrepreneurial footprint continues to grow, and with it, her influence in the male-dominated tech and venture capital spaces.
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Her latest feat dethrones Taylor Swift, who held the title of youngest self-made woman billionaire since 2023 after a record-breaking global tour and music empire.
As of now, fewer than 110 women worldwide have built billion-dollar fortunes without inheritance, and among those under 40, only a select few are American. Lucy Guo is not just on that list—she’s now at the top.
