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The Tech Entrepreneurs Translating Their Business Success to Philanthropy
Foundation: Gates Foundation
Johanna Smaros and her co-founders of Finland's Relex were among the first tech "unicorns"those worth $1 billion or more in 2022to be valued at more than $5 billion, and they're now giving away most of that money, the Financial Times reports.
The 25-year-old is the co-founder and CEO of the Relex Foundation, a not-for-profit that aims to protect the world's biodiversity.
It's one of a growing number of philanthropic efforts by tech entrepreneurs, many of whom have found success by being "disrupters in their business life," the FT notes.
"These are people who have seen entire industries transformed within decades under their leadership, so you can understand their impatience," says Amir Pasic, dean of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
"Whether it's justified, is another question."
Pasic says we're entering "a new era of maturity" for so-called Silicon Valley philanthropy, one shaped by the scrutiny of Big Tech and the need to deliver "transparent and evidence-based solutions," among other things.
Smaros, for her part, tells the FT she wants to help charities that aren't yet economically viable "to help
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