Denys Krasnikov
Ukrainian entrepreneur Ivonna Dumanyan has won a $100,000 grant from the prestigious Thiel Fellowship to start a technology or IT company in the United States.
Launched by tech investor Peter Thiel, the fellowship awards entrepreneurs under 23 with money to help them take a break from school and instead work on building a technology or technology-enabled company.
The program’s financial award – $100,000 – aims to help young people to learn by “doing rather than by following conventional paths like college.”
The winners also receive mentorship and guidance from current and former fellows, as well as from the Thiel Foundation’s network of technology entrepreneurs, investors, and scientists.
On June 22, the foundation accepted 29 new Thiel Fellows, with Dumanyan being among them.
Born in Kherson, some 341 miles from Kyiv, Dumanyan is currently living in the United States and studying at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, while simultaneously being a co-founder and CEO of BioMetrix, a company that makes a wearable sensor for athletics injury prediction and prevention.
“In the past few years we’ve seen a dramatic change in the way young people approach their potential,” Thiel Fellowship executive director Jack Abraham said on June 22. “Many are applying to the program with one or two companies already under their belts – they’ve become successful founders before they can even buy a beer.”
This year’s cohort was selected from more than 6,000 applications received from around the world.
“We launched the fellowship in 2011 to test a simple thesis: college isn’t right for everyone – especially for young people who want to create new things,” Thiel Foundation president Blake Masters said on June 22. “This has been proven true by the successes of our past fellows.
To date, the companies created by Thiel Fellows are together worth more than $1.4 billion.
Kyiv Post staff writer Denys Krasnikov can be reached at krasnikov@kyivpost.com. The Kyiv Post’s IT coverage is sponsored by Beetroot, Ciklum, Steltec Capital, 1World Online and SoftServe. The content is independent of the donors.
No comments:
Post a Comment