Telegram founder offers free IVF for women willing to have his baby

Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, is offering to cover the cost of vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment for healthy women under the age of 38 who are willing to have a baby using his sperm.

The treatment would be carried out at the AltraVita IVF clinic in Moscow, Russia, which claims it has the exclusive right to store and use Durov’s biomaterial.

Forbes reports that the clinic describes the offer as “a very generous contribution to society” from “one of the most famous and successful entrepreneurs of our time”.

In July, Durov, worth an estimated $15.5 billion, said he has had more than 100 biological children in 12 countries via sperm bank donations he has made over the last 15 years.

He announced his plan to “open-source my DNA so that my biological children can find each other more easily”.

The Telegram boss said he was once told by someone at an IVF clinic it was his “civic duty” to donate sperm to help couples trying to conceive.

Durov said he now wants to “destigmatise” the notion of sperm donation and encourage more healthy men to do so.

He also has five children with two ex-girlfriends.

Durov was arrested in France in August for offences relating to the popular messaging app.

There are also reports that he could face multiple charges bordering on alleged terrorism, money laundering, drug trafficking, and child abuse content.

Durov, who is Russian, founded Telegram in 2013.

He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government directives to shut out opposition voices on his VKontakte social media platform, which he would go on to sell.