Immigrants founded half of US billionaire startups: the most inspirational stories

Immigrants who founded companies with a capital of billions of dollars in America came to the United States from 25 from different countries. Their stories suggest that an immigrant can become very successful in the United States, even if he does not have a lot of money and useful connections.

Ilon Musk, a native of South Africa. Photo: Depositphotos

Despite problems with visas for founders of start-ups and other obstacles (for example, waiting for a green card for many years), immigrants continue to thrive on the entrepreneurial field, writes Forbes. A recent study by the National Foundation of American Politics found out that it was immigrants who founded more than half (50 of 91, or 55%) of American startups, estimated at 1 a billion dollars or more.

The diversity of countries from which today's immigrant entrepreneurs come is amazing.

As noted by research, the top countries of origin for billionaire startup founders are Canada and Israel - 9 immigrants each, India (8), UK (7), China (6), Germany (4), France (3), Ireland (3), Russia (3), Australia (2), Ukraine (2) and 14 other countries from which one successful entrepreneur each came - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Denmark, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa , Sweden, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

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Some may be surprised that a small country like Israel has produced so many successful immigrant entrepreneurs, such as Adam Neumann, co-founder and CEO of WeWork. Neumann came to the United States from Israel as an international student and attended CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College in New York City. WeWork revolutionized the concept of shared office space and is now valued at US$47 billion with over 6000 employees, although the company was only founded in 2012.

Adam Neyman, an immigrant from Israel. Photo: video frame YouTube / TechCrunch

The three founders of Avant not only arrived in America without wealth or connections, they came here in childhood. Avant CEO Al Goldstein arrived as an 8-year-old refugee from Uzbekistan with his family, John Sun (born in China) was a foreign student, and Paul Zhang's father, born in China, was sponsored by a family member, which allowed Paul to immigrate . Today Avant has more than 500 employees and is estimated at 2 billion dollars.

Al Goldstein, an immigrant from Israel. Photo: video frame YouTube / CNBC

The world-famous engineer, entrepreneur, inventor, investor and dollar billionaire Elon Musk is an immigrant; he was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and came to the United States from Canada in 1992. While Musk has occasionally been at the center of controversy surrounding his electric vehicle company Tesla, his other company, SpaceX, has avoided negative publicity and is considered highly successful around the world and in the United States. In 2016, SpaceX employed 4000 people and had a valuation of $12 billion. By 2018, the company had grown to 7000 employees, many of them in manufacturing, and the company was valued at $21 billion.

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In December 2015, SpaceX achieved a major milestone by launching the Falcon 9 rocket as part of a joint project with Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos. The rocket successfully landed on a platform in the ocean - the news spread throughout the world. In 2017, the company successfully launched an orbital-class rocket, and in 2018 it also launched the famous Falcon Heavy.

Ilon Musk, immigrant from South Africa and Canada. Photo: video frame YouTube / CNN Business

The company has carried out more than 100 launches in total, but says its ultimate goal is to “give people the opportunity to live on other planets.” Musk received a bachelor's degree in physics and economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's degree in business from Penn's Wharton School. The opportunity to work in the United States came with an H-1B visa. Musk has three citizenships - South Africa, Canada and the USA.

The study especially noted one of the Russians who founded a billion-dollar startup in the United States - Dmitry Alperovich from CrowdStrike. He immigrated to America as a teenager from the Soviet Union in the 1990s. He started his first company with his father when he was in high school. He graduated from Georgia Tech University with a degree in information security. After which he went to work for a company that was engaged in eliminating email spam. It turned out to be a good experience. Dmitry learned to collect information about cybercriminals, including by infiltrating hidden forums.

Dmitry Alperovich, an immigrant from the USSR. Photo: video frame YouTube / RSA Conference

While working at McAfee, executive George Kurtz discussed with Alperovitch the possibility of creating a new type of security company. The third co-founder was Gregg Marston, and CrowdStrike was born. The company made headlines in 2016 when it was asked by the Democratic National Committee to investigate a Russian troll factory.

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Because there aren't many professionals with cybersecurity skills in the US, the company also hires talent overseas through development centers in London, Romania, India and Australia. Dmitry is the chief technology specialist at the company.

Other key immigrants at CrowdStrike include Alex Ionescu, the Romanian-born chief architect, and German-born immigrant Sven Kraser, the chief scientific expert. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, CrowdStrike has 1200 employees and a valuation of $3 billion.

“This country is incredibly good for me,” says Dmitry. “I am a US citizen and am proud to have contributed to the economic and national security of the country.”

Read also on ForumDaily:

How to get a visa for talented people and move to the USA

A Ukrainian-based startup recognized as one of the fastest-growing in the US: the success story of Stach Wozniak

How much is life in Silicon Valley: an immigrant calculator

'Extraordinary' green card: what are the opportunities for immigration to the United States for entrepreneurs?

As a daughter of a forester from Belarus, she earned a million in Silicon Valley

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