'I'm One Of You' – How 'Anti-Woke' Warrior Vivek Ramaswamy Became A Billionaire At Only 38

Vivek Ramaswamy is a name making waves. Whether it's his stance against corporate "wokeness" or his ambitious political moves, people have started paying attention to him. 

But behind all the headlines, Ramaswamy has an intriguing story: a child of Indian immigrants who turned his biotech gamble into a billion-dollar fortune – all by age 38.

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The American Dream

Born to Indian immigrant parents, Vivek Ramaswamy grew up with a strong work ethic. Forbes reports his dad worked as an engineer and patent attorney while his mom was a psychiatrist. 

He didn't coast by in school – Ramaswamy graduated from Harvard with a biology degree and cofounded a startup that helped student founders pitch business ideas to investors. It wasn't a big moneymaker but gave him a taste of entrepreneurship.

After Harvard, Ramaswamy worked at QVT, a hedge fund specializing in pharmaceutical investments. By 28, he had become a partner, earning about $7 million. 

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At 29, Ramaswamy took a big swing. He left his hedge fund job to found Roivant Sciences ROIV, an investment company focused on rescuing abandoned drugs. His bet? That some forgotten treatments could still be worth billions. 

He was right. Just a year after founding Roivant, one of its subsidiaries, Axovant, went public with a valuation of $2.2 billion. Ramaswamy had bought the Alzheimer's drug that Axovant was based on for only $5 million. While that drug ultimately didn't work out, it didn't stop Ramaswamy from scoring big elsewhere.

However, as Forbes writes, in 2020, a Japanese pharmaceutical company bought several of Roivant’s drugs for $3 billion. That sale alone made Ramaswamy an instant multimillionaire. By then, he'd pulled in about $260 million in salary, bonuses and capital gains from Roivant. He invested his gains wisely, mostly in stocks and bonds and riskier bets like Bitcoin, ethereum and Rumble, a YouTube competitor.

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Fighting Wokeness

In 2021, Ramaswamy decided to switch gears. He stepped down as CEO of Roivant and focused on politics. He wrote a book called Woke, Inc., where he tore into corporate America’s focus on social justice and the environment. 

He argued that big companies forgot about making quality products and focused too much on "good PR." The book turned heads and put Ramaswamy on the map as a vocal critic of what he called "woke capitalism."

Not long after, he launched Strive Asset Management, an "anti-woke" version of BlackRock BLK, one of the largest asset managers in the world. Ramaswamy's firm encouraged businesses to focus on profits, not politics. 

Investors seemed to like it; Strive was recently valued at about $300 million. Heavy hitters like Peter Thiel, Bill Ackman and Joe Lonsdale even backed it, helping Ramaswamy grow his wealth further.

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The Everyday Billionaire?

Ramaswamy has tried to position himself as a regular guy, unlike other wealthy figures. He's got two homes in Ohio worth $2.5 million combined, which may sound like a lot, but it’s far less than many other political figures. 

He insists that his lifestyle is modest compared to other rich people, though he does admit to owning stakes in three private jets. "If we could buy time, we would buy time. And that's the only thing private aviation buys us. Time with family," he says.

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During a campaign stop in New Hampshire, a woman thanked him, a billionaire, for visiting the "cow-town people." Ramaswamy smiled and said, "I'm one of you." He's not, of course – and that might be part of the appeal. People see someone who took big risks, succeeded and isn't apologizing for his wealth.

Now, Ramaswamy is stepping even deeper into public life. Recently, President-elect Donald Trump appointed him and Elon Musk as coheads of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new initiative to cut government waste and slash regulations.

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