Breaking V(egas)nture Capitalism – Semyon Dukach

It is so rare to sit with a math genius leader who has won over the casinos and is now transforming venture capitalism through impact investment. Semyon Dukach, known for leading one of the MIT blackjack teams in the early 90s, featured in the movie Breaking Vegas, serial entrepreneur, and investor, shares with us his story and leadership beliefs. Semyon is focused on impact investing as a VC and more specifically backing exceptional immigrants. With his strong belief that "opportunity should be the same for everybody", he is extensively working to improve equity and global impact through his leadership and investment philosophy.

"Love makes the world go round."

MEET OUR GUEST Semyon Dukach Managing Partner, One Way Ventures, the venture capital fund backing exceptional immigrant tech founders who are building great companies like Brex, Momentus Space, and Chipper Cash.

Semyon Dukach, Managing Partner at One Way Ventures, the venture capital fund backing exceptional immigrant tech founders building great companies like Brex, Momentus Space, and Chipper Cash. Semyon is a refugee from the Soviet Union and was formerly the Managing Director of Techstars.

Prior to Techstars, he was a prolific angel investor and a friend of the startup community. Semyon has made over 100 angel investments, including early investments in Quanergy, SMTP.com, and Wanderu. Xconomy lists Semyon as a top angel investor in New England.

His philosophy has been to focus on helping his founders at all costs. Prior to becoming a full-time angel, Semyon co-founded several technology companies including Vert and Fast Engines. Fast Engines was sold to Adero in 2000. Beyond startups, Semyon is known for leading one of the MIT blackjack teams in the early 90s to beat the casinos.

Semyon earned his B.S. from Columbia University and M.S. from MIT, both in Computer Science.