The Hurun Research Institute on Tuesday unveiled its 2026 ranking of the world’s 10 youngest self-made female billionaires. Out of a broader group of 150 self-made women in the billionaire class, only 10 are under 40, while three are under 35, and just a single individual is under the age of 30.
Leading this elite group of 10 is 28-year-old Kylie Jenner, founder of Kylie Cosmetics, with a $1.2 billion wealth. While Jenner remains the youngest, Luana Lopes Lara of Kalshi Financial Services with $1.3 billion and Lucy Guo of Scale AI with $1.3 billion both secured billionaire status before reaching 32, generating their wealth within the fintech and AI sectors.
“The 2026 cohort of the world’s youngest self-made women billionaires is defined by a decisive shift toward technology and artificial intelligence, with eight of the ten based in the USA, the sole exception being Lu Yiwen of jewellery retailer DR (China) and Melanie Perkins of Canva (Australia),” the Hurun Research Institute said in a statement.
The other women in the list include Wang Shuo of Deel Software & Services with $1.3 billion wealth, Taylor Swift (Music) with $1.6 billion, Robyn Rihanna Fenty (Music) with $1.5 billion, Mira Murati of Thinking Machines Lab with with $1.2 billion, Daniela Amodei of Anthropic with $3.7 billion, Lu Yiwen of DR Retail with $1.6 billion, and Melanie Perkins of Canva Software & Services with $6.5 billion.
Notably, three members of the top 10 — Lucy Guo (Scale AI), Mira Murati (Thinking Machines Lab), and Daniela Amodei (Anthropic) — attained their fortunes directly through artificial intelligence. This shift establishes AI as a major new engine for wealth creation among young women.
Simultaneously, the institute released the comprehensive “Hurun Richest Self-Made Women in the World 2026” report.
The findings highlight 150 self-made female billionaires across 20 nations. Among them, 115 saw their net worth rise, including 60 newcomers, while 50 experienced declines or remained stagnant, resulting in 15 departures from the list. Collectively, their wealth surged by 52%, climbing from US $310bn in 2023 to US $470bn in 2026, with 63% of these fortunes tied to publicly traded firms.
Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, said: “The number of self-made women billionaires has doubled in 10 years to a new world record of 150. The drivers reflect a remarkable convergence of China ‘going global’, a surging AI economy, and a global healthcare wave that has together created wealth at a pace we have not seen since the list began fifteen years ago. What makes the Hurun Richest Self-Made Women in the World 2026 so compelling isn’t just the numbers; it’s the stories behind them.”
According to the institute, only 20% of the world’s self-made women billionaires come from countries outside of China and the US, led by the UK, Singapore, Russia and India.
“What is remarkable is how wealth creation for women has changed so dramatically. Over 80% of this year’s list were not on the list 10 years ago, evidence that women are finding unprecedented opportunities to build large businesses, reflecting a transformative shift in the entrepreneurship ecosystem,” Hoogewerf said.
