Introduction
There are a handful of well-known men who come to mind when one thinks of the wealthiest self-made billionaires in the world. Mark Zuckerberg is responsible for the creation of Facebook which is worth approximately $60 billion. When Sergey Brin and Larry Page were twenty-four and twenty-five years old, respectively, they founded Google. Both of them are now worth over $100 billion, which places them among the wealthiest people in the world.
Since the early days of technology start-ups, which were responsible for the creation of some very rich people, the landscape of the industrial landscape has shifted once more, with a multitude of industries creating billionaires. Many of the world’s youngest self-made billionaires have made their fortune in industries such as e-commerce, cryptocurrency, and other emerging sectors. This new generation of billionaires and entrepreneurs is being shaped by the rise of these industries.
This article provides a list of the self-made billionaires who are the youngest at their respective ages. Read on to discover more about these people and their incredible success stories.
The World’s Youngest Self-Made Billionaires
The list of the youngest self-made billionaires is comprised of individuals who have accomplished the remarkable feat of amassing a net worth of over one billion dollars through their entrepreneurial efforts at a young age. This exclusive list honors individuals who have demonstrated exceptional business acumen, innovation, and strategic thinking, allowing them to establish and grow successful ventures that have significantly contributed to their wealth. The people on this list come from a variety of industries, including technology and finance, as well as consumer goods and entertainment, and their stories serve as inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs all over the world. The presence of these young self-made billionaires demonstrates the ability of individuals to achieve extraordinary financial success through dedication, creativity, and determination.
1. John Collison
Age: 31
Net Worth: $9.5 billion
Source of Wealth: Founding Stripe
John Collison, who was born and raised in Limerick, Ireland, into a family of hoteliers, began his career in technology at an early age. Collison and his older brother Patrick founded the company Shuppa together. Shuppa was a company that developed analytical tools that were compatible with eBay. In 2007, Shuppa was rebranded as Auctomatic, and then in 2008, it was sold to Live Current Media for more than $5 million. As a result of this transaction, the Collison brothers became self-made millionaires.
In 2009, while the brothers were still students at MIT (Collision had dropped out of school to focus on his businesses), they established the payment processing and financial services company Stripe. They obtained the initial funding for the company from various venture capital companies as well as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. In 2016, following an additional round of investment in Stripe, which pushed the company’s value above $9 billion, John Collison achieved the status of a billionaire.
2. Alex Attalah
Age: 31
Net Worth: $2.2 billion
Source of Wealth: Becoming the first NFT billionaire
Alex Atallah was born in Colorado to a parent of American and Colombian descent. His mother was born in the United States. After receiving his degree from Stanford University, Atallah began his career in the software industry as a programmer for the company Palantir. In 2018, he collaborated with Devin Finzer to establish OpenSea in New York City.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a form of digital asset that can be aligned to and collected like real-world objects like works of art. OpenSea has become the most prominent marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). OpenSea’s revenue increased from $95 million in February 2021 to just under $3 billion by September of the same year, contributing to the company’s rise to a value of $13.3 billion. This growth occurred during the boom in the value of NFTs. Atallah has stated that he will be leaving his position as CEO of OpenSea in July 2022.
3. Sam Bankman-Fried
Age: 30
Net Worth: $8 billion
Source of Wealth: Co-founding FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange
Sam Bankman-Fried, better known by his initials, SBF, was regarded as mathematically talented from an early age and went on to graduate from Stanford University in 2014 with a degree in physics. Sam was born on the Stanford University campus to two law professors. His parents were both professors at the university. After completing an internship at Jane Street Capital during his academic career, Bankman-Fried went on to work as a trader for the company before founding the trading firm Alameda Research. He continues to hold a controlling interest in the business.
Alameda Research shifted its emphasis to trading cryptocurrencies, and in 2019, Bankman-Fried established a separate cryptocurrency derivatives firm known as FTX. By the beginning of 2022, FTX had an average monthly trading volume of $10 billion, and Alameda Research was trading cryptocurrencies as its primary focus. Bankman-Fried embraces the philosophy of “earning to give” by committing to donate a significant portion of his wealth over the course of his lifetime. His net worth experienced a significant decline as a result of the cryptocurrency crash that occurred in 2022, which had a significant impact on his wealth.
4. Andy Fang
Age: 29
Net Worth: $1.1 billion
Source of Wealth: Co-founding DoorDash
Andy Fang is yet another person who grew up in San Francisco and went on to graduate from Stanford University. He became friends with fellow students Evan Moore, Stanley Tang, and Tony Xu while he was attending the university. DoorDash is a food delivery application that was developed by the team in 2012. After observing that local restaurants were unable to accept deliveries, the team was motivated to create what is now the largest platform of its kind in the United States. DoorDash held its initial public offering (IPO) in December 2020, and it raised over $3.3 billion. Fang is working in the capacity of Chief Technical Officer for the company.
5. Stanley Tang
Age: 29
Net Worth: $1.2 billion
Source of Wealth: Co-founding DoorDash
Stanley Tang is another one of DoorDash’s founding members. His share of the company is somewhere around 4% at the moment. Before receiving initial funding from Y Combinator in the amount of $120,000 as part of their start-up accelerator program, DoorDash’s co-founders, including Tang, Andy Fang, and others, delivered meals themselves. Between the years 2013 and 2017, Tang worked as the Chief Product Officer for DoorDash. Since then, he has been leading the robotics and artificial intelligence division of the company, which is known as DoorDash Labs.
6. Gary Wang
Age: 28
Net Worth: $5.9 billion
Source of Wealth: Co-founding FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange
After receiving his degree from MIT, Gary Wang joined forces with Sam Bankman-Fried to establish the cryptocurrency exchange FTX in the year 2019. Wang was not only one of the company’s founders but also holds the position of Chief Technology Officer. Wang had previously held a position at Google, where she assisted in the development of algorithms to aggregate millions of flight prices. At the moment, Wang owns approximately 16% of FTX and 18% of its operations that are based in the United States.
7. Austin Russel
Age: 27
Net Worth: $1.6 billion
Source of Wealth: Founding automotive sensor firm Luminar Technologies
Austin Russell, who was born in California and was recognized as a child prodigy, developed his first patent at the age of 13 when he invented a new kind of groundwater recycling system. In 2015, he was put in contact with laser entrepreneur Jason Eichenholz, who went on to provide him with the financial backing he needed to launch Luminar.
After winning a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship Award given to exceptional young businesspeople, Russell left college in 2012 to pursue his entrepreneurial goals full-time. Russell dropped out of Stanford University in 2012 and worked covertly to establish Luminar Technologies until 2017. Before that, he had attended the university for a few months to take some physics classes. The lidar technology is being created by this company so that it can be utilized in the production and operation of autonomous vehicles. When Luminar Technologies went public in the year 2020, Russell’s one-third share of the company instantly increased in value to more than $2 billion.
8. Ryan Breslow
Age: 27
Net Worth: $2 billion
Source of Wealth: Founding e-commerce company Bolt
Ryan Breslow, who is ranked third on the list of the richest people in the world, has spent the majority of his life in the business world. He began his career by bagging groceries and soon after began developing e-commerce websites for a variety of companies. Breslow enrolled at Stanford University but left in 2014 to concentrate on founding Bolt.
Bolt has made a name for itself as a one-click checkout company that aims to make conducting e-commerce easier for newer companies. Since then, the company has begun to collaborate with larger retailers and had a market capitalization of $11 billion as of the beginning of 2022. It is said that Breslow keeps a stake in the company equal to twenty-five percent. In addition to Bolt, Breslow is the founder of Eco, a company that specializes in the cryptocurrency industry and makes it easier to use digital assets in day-to-day transactions.
9. Henrique Dubugras
Age: 26
Net Worth: $1.5 billion
Source of Wealth: Co-founding Brex, a corporate financial services company
Henrique Dubugras spent his childhood in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, where he was born. He won a hackathon in 2012 with a program he designed for online dating, and by the time he was fourteen, he had designed and programmed his very own video game, even though his parents had refused to give him money to buy one.
In 2012, Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi first connected through a heated debate on Twitter. Pagar.me, the payment processing company that Dubugras and Franceschi founded in 2013 and later sold, was acquired by another company in 2016. Both Dubugras and Franceschi moved to the United States to attend Stanford University, but they withdrew from the program in 2017 to focus on launching their new company, Brex. This enterprise was initially a virtual reality company; however, its founders later pivoted and began concentrating on providing corporate payment cards and other services geared toward the financial management of technology companies.
Brex has been steadily gaining ground, as evidenced by the accumulation of investment capital across several seed funding rounds. In January 2022, the company Brex was valued by private investors at $12.3 billion.
10. Pedro Francheschi
Age: 25
Net Worth: $1.5 billion
Source of Wealth: Co-founding Brex, a corporate financial services company
Henrique Dubrugas, Pedro Franceschi’s close friend and co-founder of Brex, displayed a similar aptitude for coding to that which Pedro Franceschi exhibited. Franceschi taught himself how to code with the help of Google, and he started jailbreaking iPhones in his home country of Brazil. At the age of fourteen, Franceschi created a window management software for iPads and started working in a variety of software engineering jobs shortly thereafter. Pagar.me was established in 2013 by two individuals, who initially met each other online and argued about which coding program was superior. Both had their applications to Stanford University resubmitted in 2016, but they ultimately decided to withdraw to focus on Brex instead. Franceschi resides in Los Angeles, America, which is also the location of Brex’s headquarters.
11. Rihanna
Age: 35
Net Worth: $1.4 billion
Source of Wealth: Music, Cosmetics
During the Super Bowl in February, Rihanna performed a halftime show that garnered 121 million viewers, making it one of the most watched in history. It had been more than five years since she had last performed live, and it came just two months after she had released new music as part of the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. She is introducing a new partnership called Fenty X Puma, and she is estimated to have a thirty percent ownership stake in the lingerie line Savage X Fenty. The majority of her wealth comes from her makeup line, Fenty Beauty, which she co-owns with the French luxury goods firm LVMH (which is run by Bernard Arnault, the wealthiest person in the world). Sales of this line doubled in 2022, which contributed significantly to her fortune.
12. Whitney Wolfe Herd
Age: 31
Net Worth: $1.5 billion
Source of Wealth: Bumble
On the list of people who have made a billion dollars by the age of 30 or younger, Whitney Wolfe Herd is currently in first place. This young celebrity, who is only 31 years old, is one of the co-founders of the dating app known as Bumble. This app became a publicly traded company not long after it had skyrocketed to unprecedented levels of popularity. Recent developments have resulted in an increase in the total fortune of the company to 1.5 billion. In addition to that, the company’s stock increased to 67% during its debut on the trading market. This app, known as Whitney Herd, provides women with the independence to avoid receiving unwanted messages.
13. Friederike Braun-Luedicke
Age: 37
Net Worth: $1.3 billion
Source of Wealth: Medical device company
The 12% share of the medical device company is held jointly by Friederike Braun Luedicke and her sister. Both of the sisters work together to run this well-known pharmaceutical company that operates all over the world. Surgical instruments are the company’s primary area of focus when it comes to product development. Her success with the company helped her amass a fortune estimated at approximately $1.3 billion and placed her on the list of the world’s youngest female billionaires.
14. Anna Kasprzak
Age: 32
Net Worth: $1 billion
Source of Wealth: Shoe business
Together with her mother Hanni and brother Andre, Anna Kasprzak manages the family-owned shoe business. The Danish shoe manufacturer is the world’s largest production center, and their products are sold in more than ninety countries. More than 2200 shows are available through the ECCO, which also includes websites. This business was started by her grandfather, Karl Toosbuy, who passed away many years ago. Dressage is another discipline that Anna competes in. She took part in the Olympic competition in Rio de Janeiro in 201 and finished in 14th place. In addition to that, she is the manager of the private dressage storehouse in Haderslev.
15. Caroline Hagen Kjos
Age: 37
Net Worth: $2.1 billion
Source of Wealth: Canica AS holding company
Caroline was promoted to the position of chairman of the holding company Canica AS. Recent transactions have resulted in Caroline Hagen holding the maximum number of stakes in this company. Her total wealth increases as a result of the stakes, and she becomes the world’s youngest female billionaire. Additionally, the company entered into a merger agreement with the ICA group as well as with the Dutch retailer. This young woman has a net worth of approximately $2.1 billion, which places her as one of the youngest female billionaires in the world.
16. Elisabeth Furtwaengler
Age: 29
Net Worth: $1.3 billion
Source of Wealth: Burda Media Group
In addition to this, Elisabeth Furtwaengler is solidifying her place atop the list of the youngest female billionaires. She is the daughter of Hubert Burda, the most famous publishing magnate and actress, and Maria Furtwaengler, a doctor. Her grandmother was Maria Furtwaengler. She is a shareholder in the Burda Media Group to the extent of 25%. Her portfolio includes approximately 600 different types of media products from more than 24 different countries.
Magazines such as Elle, Bunte, Focus, and Harper’s Bazaar are included in these products. In addition to this, she holds the record for being the youngest person on the Burda Media Group’s board of directors. She was a singer who appeared on stage and performed. Additionally, Elisabeth attends school at the Music Conservatory in California.
17. Clemente Del Vecchio
Age: 18
Source of Wealth: Luxottica
Net Worth: $3.5 Billion
After Leonardo Del Vecchio passed away in June 2022, the world was suddenly graced with the presence of a new teenage billionaire. There is no evidence that Clemente, the youngest heir to the Del Vecchio family, plays any part in the operations of Luxottica. This company owns Sunglass Hut, Ray-Ban, and Oakley, amongst other brands.
18. Kim Jung-yuon
Age: 19
Source of Wealth: Online Gaming
Net Worth: $1.7 Billion
Kim Jung-youn was able to inherit a portion of her late father’s holding company, which in turn owns approximately half of the massive online gaming company Nexon. It is not widely known that either of the Kim sisters plays an active role in the business; they prefer to keep a low profile.
19. Kevin David Lehmann
Age: 20
Source of Wealth: Drugstores
Net Worth: $2.3 Billion
At the age of 14, he received from his father a 50% inheritance in the German drugstore chain Dm-Drogerie Markt. It remained the responsibility of a trustee until the day he turned 18, at which point he became a billionaire. Neither Lehmann nor his father is actively involved in the day-to-day business operations of the $14 billion-dollar company.
20. Kim Jung-min
Age: 21
Source of Wealth: Online Gaming
Net Worth: $1.7 Billion
After their father, Kim Jung-ju, passed away in February 2022, Jung-min and her younger sister, Kim Jung-youn, each inherited approximately one-third of their family’s assets. These inherited assets included a fifteen percent stake in the video game developer Nexon. Nexon was established in 1994 by Jung-ju. It is best known for developing the massively multiplayer online games Kingdom of the Winds and MapleStory.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the list of the youngest self-made billionaires exemplifies the incredible possibilities that can be achieved through innovative thought, hard work, and entrepreneurial spirit. These individuals have demonstrated that one does not need to be young in order to amass a significant fortune and make an impact in a variety of fields. Their experiences motivate people to have faith in their own capabilities, to test the limits of their comfort zones, and to pursue their interests with unyielding commitment. This list, which is constantly being expanded with new entries, is a living testament to the power of human ingenuity and the opportunities that lie in wait for those who are brave enough to pursue their most ambitious dreams and work hard to achieve their goals.