Luana Lopes Lara

Some Lesser Known Facts About Luana Lopes Lara

• While practising as a ballerina in Rio, Luana Lopes Lara reportedly worked hard, often for 13 hours a day, as her ballet teachers were strict.

• At Bolshoi Theatre School in Brazil, her teachers held lit cigarettes under her thigh to see how long she could keep them near her ear without getting burned.

• According to her, Luana Lopes Lara attended academic classes from 7 a.m. to 12 noon. After that, she trained in ballet from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.

• She faced strong competition from other dancers, who would hide glass pieces in each other’s shoes to cause trouble.

• In 2013, she graduated from MIT.

• After that, in January 2014, Luana Lopes Lara began working as a ballerina at the Salzburg State Theatre in Salzburg, Austria. She worked there till April 2014.

• From September 2014 to May 2015, she worked as an undergraduate researcher at MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

• In June 2015, Luana Lopes Lara began working as a business development manager at Anheuser-Busch, an American brewing company in New York City, United States. She served in the position till September 2015.

• From June 2016 to August 2016, she attended a Summer Startup Accelerator Program at ZX Ventures in New York City.

• In February 2016, Luana Lopes Lara began working as a teaching assistant at MIT School of Engineering in Boston. She served in the position till December 2016.

  

• In June 2017, she began working as a Software Engineer at Bridgewater Associates in Westport, Connecticut. She served in the position till August 2017.

• From September 2016 to December 2016, Luana Lopes Lara served as a Researcher at Julia Group, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) in Boston, United States.

• During her college days at MIT, she met Tarek Mansour, who started sitting next to her in class to learn from her. After that, they became close friends.

• Luana Lopes Lara worked as an intern at Bridgewater Associates and Citadel Securities during her summers.

• In January 2017, she began working as a Researcher at Genesis Group, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) in Cambridge, United States. She served in the position till February 2018.

• From January 2018 to February 2018, Luana Lopes Lara served as a Quantitative Trader Intern at Five Rings Capital in New York City, United States. She completed this internship with Tarek Mansour.

• This internship helped build a strong friendship between them, which also led to them becoming business partners in the future.

• In June 2018, Luana Lopes Lara joined Citadel Securities as a Quantitative Trader in New York City. She served in the position till August 2018.

• In May 2018, she began working as a Researcher at MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences in Cambridge. She served in the position till December 2019.

• In 2018, one night, while walking home to their intern apartments, they got an idea to start a prediction market business, which allows people to bet on the results of events such as elections, sports, and pop culture.

• After that, they made a successful pitch to Y Combinator, a startup accelerator.

  

• In January 2019, Luana Lopes Lara and Tarek Mansour cofounded Kalshi, an American financial exchange and prediction market, in New York, United States.

• In 2020, their company, Kalshi, became the first prediction market platform regulated by the government.

• After that, Kalshi faced legal challenges while operating. The company then sued the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and in September 2024, Kalshi won the court case.

• They then got approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

  

• In 2025, after six years of its establishment, Kalshi raised $1 billion in funding and was valued at $11 billion. Luana Lopes Lara and Tarek Mansour each own about 12% of the company.

• That same year, both cofounders made headlines for becoming billionaires before they turned 30.

  

• Luana Lopes Lara likes travelling to distant places in her free time.