Yuri Milner

Yuri Milner is an Israeli technology investor and science philanthropist.

Both scientists and tech entrepreneurs ask big questions about reality – the physical, biological and social worlds – and imagine solutions. Solutions that deepen our knowledge and enrich our lives. But both kinds of discovery are hard, and involve risk-taking, meaning they need present investment to secure future rewards. Yuri Milner’s investments focus on the following areas:

Internet Technology

Yuri is the founder of DST Global, one of the world’s leading technology investors, with a portfolio that has included some of the most prominent internet companies.

Science Philanthropy

Yuri is the founder of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, which supports leading researchers in fundamental science and mathematics, helps spread scientific ideas to the next generation, and invests in cutting-edge space programs.

In 2012, Yuri and his wife Julia partnered with Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, and Anne Wojcicki to launch the Breakthrough Prizes – the world’s largest scientific awards, honoring important, primarily recent, achievements in Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics.

In July 2015, together with Stephen Hawking, Yuri announced the launch of the Breakthrough Initiatives, a suite of space science programs investigating the fundamental questions of life in the Universe. The $100 million Breakthrough Listen initiative has reinvigorated the search for technological civilizations in the Universe, while Breakthrough Starshot, launched with Professor Hawking in 2016, is a $100 million research and engineering program seeking to develop a new technology for uncrewed interstellar travel.

Yuri and Julia have joined the Giving Pledge.