The billionaire founder of the messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, has made a startling offer: to pay the full cost of IVF treatment for women who wish to conceive using his donated sperm. The 41-year-old Russian-born tech entrepreneur, with an estimated net worth of $17 billion, says he views his prolific donations as a 'civic duty'.
A Prolific Donor and a Controversial Legacy
Durov claims to have already fathered more than 100 children through sperm donation, in addition to six children from previous relationships. He began donating in 2010 to help a friend struggling to conceive and continued after fertility specialists highlighted a shortage of donors. In a post on his own Telegram platform last year, he stated his activities had 'helped over a hundred couples in 12 countries to have kids'.
He has publicly linked declining global sperm counts to environmental factors like plastic pollution, stating he is 'proud' to help address the issue. Durov told the Le Fridman podcast that all his biological children, upon proving their DNA link, will be entitled to a share of his fortune after his death, perhaps in 30 years' time. 'I make no difference between my children,' he affirmed in an interview with French magazine Le Point.
Clinic Conditions and High Demand
Although Durov no longer donates directly, samples remain stored at the Altravita fertility clinic in Moscow. According to the clinic, access is restricted to avoid legal complications; only unmarried women aged 37 or younger are eligible. The embryos created are screened for genetic disorders and are reportedly primarily available to wealthy Russian and international clients.
The Wall Street Journal reported that dozens of women responded to an advert offering Durov's sperm for free last year. A former doctor at the clinic noted the applicants were 'well-educated and very healthy', seeing Durov as a 'certain kind of father figure'. The clinic's director, Sergei Yakovenko, a friend of Durov, suggested sharing strong genetic material was a social responsibility amid rising male infertility.
Personal Life and Legal Disputes
Durov's personal life is complex. He first had two children with a girlfriend, then three with Swiss-based human rights lawyer Irina Bolgar. Reports indicate they are now in a legal dispute, with Bolgar alleging he cut off financial support in 2023 and filed a criminal complaint claiming he hit their youngest child on five occasions—allegations a spokesperson for Durov denies. He is currently in a relationship with online influencer Juli Vavilova, who suffered a miscarriage in 2024.
Durov, who created Russia's VK platform before launching Telegram in 2013, now oversees a platform with over one billion active users. He has also announced plans to 'open-source' his DNA to help his biological children identify each other in the future, acknowledging the risks but expressing no regret for his role as a donor in tackling a worldwide shortage of healthy sperm.
