An unusual campaign by a fertility clinic in Moscow gained prominence on social media in 2024. The establishment, located in the southern region of the Russian capital, advertised the possibility of insemination with free sperm, identifying the donor as billionaire Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging app Telegram.
The AltraVita clinic presented Durov as someone with “high genetic compatibility” and stated that he would cover the costs of in vitro fertilization for women under 37 who wanted to use his “highly sought after biomaterial”.
A former doctor at the clinic told the Wall Street Journal that the profile of the women treated was quite homogeneous: attractive patients, with good training and in good health conditions. The professional also explained that only single women could participate, to avoid possible legal complications. According to his report, many of them sought to have children with a man they considered exemplary and saw in Durov the ideal model of a father.
Continues after advertising
Currently 41 years old and living in Dubai, Pavel Durov said in a Telegram post that he is the father of around 100 children in 12 different countries, in addition to six other children from relationships with three women. The number, according to him, is the result of sperm donations made over the years, which expanded his own genetic lineage.
Durov explained in the same message that his experience as a donor began more than a decade ago, in 2010, when he decided to help a couple of friends who were trying to have children. After this first case, he continued to contribute anonymously to sperm banks, saying he wanted to expand access to genetic material that he considered to be of good quality.
Over time, the businessman abandoned this practice, although there are still samples preserved at the AltraVita clinic.
Years later, in 2024, Durov became the subject again when he said, in an interview with a French magazine, that he plans to share his inheritance equally among all biological descendants.
According to estimates from the ForbesPavel Durov’s assets reach around US$17 billion, a value driven mainly by Telegram’s valuation. The businessman has already declared that he intends to transfer the company to a non-profit foundation. He also mentions having an unspecified amount of bitcoins purchased in 2013. After these revelations, he began to receive numerous messages from people who said they were related to him.
In an interview with Lex Fridman’s podcast, made in October 2025, Durov stated that, as long as a genetic link is confirmed, it is possible that in 30 years a part of the inheritance will be available. He also stated that he intends to “open” his DNA so that his biological children can find each other.
Continues after advertising
Pavel Durov is now part of a select group of billionaires and personalities exploring the boundaries between biotechnology and reproductive ethics. Participants in this group already carry out genetic tests and DNA modification techniques to select specific characteristics in their children, while others, like Elon Musk, claim that having many descendants would be a way to avoid population decline and guarantee human presence on other planets.
In Durov’s case, he describes his sperm donations as an attempt to alleviate the lack of healthy donors and to encourage other men to follow the same path. This practice is connected to the businessman’s worldview, which states that Western civilization is experiencing a process of decline and frequently criticizes what he sees as threats to freedom and privacy imposed by increasingly strict technological legislation.
About clinic
AltraVita, a private fertility clinic located in Moscow and targeting high-income Russian and foreign patients, is primarily responsible for promoting the program. The institution claims to offer embryos considered “selective”, which undergo genetic testing to identify possible diseases.
Continues after advertising
The center was created by Sergey Yakovenko, a specialist in genetics and assisted reproduction who has presented himself, in previous interviews, as a longtime friend of Pavel Durov.
According to Durov’s spokeswoman, Devon Spurgeon, the businessman “has no financial, managerial or operational involvement with the clinic, nor does he monitor its activities in a systematic way”. She further explained that the two only keep in touch sporadically, once or twice a year, through personal messages that rarely deal with topics related to AltraVita.
Yakovenko, in addition to his work at the clinic, has already published studies on human cloning. According to information from the Wall Street Journal, AltraVita recently participated in a project led by the company Altragen, co-founded by the executive, which announced that it had successfully cloned a high-milk-producing cow in southern Russia.
Continues after advertising
On its website, the clinic declares its goal to “further develop this area, drawing the attention of the scientific community and the public to the possibilities of cloning”.
The billionaire
Pavel Durov, born in 1984 in Leningrad, stood out early in the technology sector, creating the “Russian Facebook” in 2006, known as VK. After losing control of the company, he founded Telegram in 2013. After spending years personally funding the app, it became profitable and surpassed one billion users, recording profits of over $500 million in 2024.
Durov calls himself a defender of privacy, but he also faces criticism for harboring extremist content and investigations for an alleged lack of cooperation with authorities. In 2024, he was arrested in France on charges related to the illegal use of the platform, but he denied involvement.
