They were founded by immigrants.
Dukach, a Russian immigrant, launched One Way Ventures in 2017 to back startup ideas from foreign-born founders and tap into one of the great resources for the innovation economy. Some of the best known tech companies, including Google, Yahoo, and Zoom, were founded or cofounded by immigrants.
Foreign-born entrepreneurs are leading the way in the latest next big thing: artificial intelligence. About 60 percent of top US AI companies were founded or cofounded by immigrants, according to a recent study by the Institute for Progress, a Washington think tank.
The findings come as President Trump cracks down on immigration and pursues his campaign pledge of mass deportations. Dukach says he’s appalled by the Trump administration’s efforts to snatch people from the streets and deport them without due process. But he remains optimistic that the world’s best, brightest, and most ambitious will continue to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams here.
“If people stop wanting to come here, that would take away the whole magic that made America what it is,” Dukach says. “I don’t see that happening in four years.”
Dukach, 56, was born in Moscow and came to the United States in 1979, settling in Houston with his family. He moved to Boston in 1990 to get a master’s degree at MIT and soon became a fixture on the local tech scene. He ran the startup accelerator Techstars Boston and wrote modest checks to companies as an angel investor until he formed One Way Ventures.
Inspiration for the firm came after a Syrian-born Canadian citizen headed to Boston for Techstars, but got turned away at the border during the so-called Muslim ban of the first Trump administration.
As protests against the ban grew, Dukach joined in. “I found myself at Logan Airport with a sign jumping up and down and yelling,” he says.
The next day, he ran into Boston startup investor Joe Caruso, who suggested establishing a VC fund to back immigrants. “It was like, yeah, duh, of course I should do that,” Dukach says.
One Way has backed founders from 45 countries, including the Ukrainian immigrants who started Preply, Brazilian immigrants who founded Brex, and Chinese and Indian immigrants who launched Corvus Robotics.
“We will influence the narrative and draw attention to those [successes] and away from random crime and whatever,” Dukach says. “It’s hard but it’s awesome.”
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Aaron Pressman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @ampressman.
