Telegram founder Pavel Durov offers full coverage of IVF for women under 37 for having his babies

Pavel Durov, the Russian tech billionaire and the founder of Telegram, has announced an offer for women under the age of 37. He said he will cover the full cost of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) for women who will conceive using his sperm. He also said that all of his biological children will one day inherit a share of his fortune. The 41-year-old, whose net worth is around $17 billion, has claimed to have already fathered at least 100 children through sperm donation. Moreover, he has six children from 3 partners, according to a report by the New York Post.

He has described his sperm donations as a “civic duty," arguing that there is a global shortage of what he called “high-quality donor material” and that sperm donation should be destigmatised.

“As long as they can establish their shared DNA with me, someday, maybe in 30 years from now, they will be entitled to a share of my estate after I’m gone,” Durov said during an interview on the Lex Fridman Podcast in October. He also said, “I make no difference between my children.”

Durov has publicly linked falling sperm counts and rising infertility rates worldwide to environmental factors such as plastic pollution. He said he is happy to help solve the issue. Durov previously said that his sperm donation began in 2010 when he agreed to help a friend who was struggling to have children. After this, he continued donating as fertility specialists told him that there was a shortage. In a Telegram post in July 2024, Durov wrote, “My past donating activities have helped over a hundred couples in 12 countries to have kids."

“Of course, there are risks, but I don’t regret having been a donor," he added. “The shortage of healthy sperm has become an increasingly serious issue worldwide, and I’m proud that I did my part to help alleviate it,” the billionaire said.