This venture capital firm invests in seed-stage companies founded by immigrant tech entrepreneurs, focusing on underrepresented groups in the tech industry.
One Way Ventures is a seed-stage fund that invests in immigrant tech founders.
Key people at One Way Ventures.
One Way Ventures is a venture capital firm on a mission to back exceptional immigrant founders building high-impact global technology companies. Founded in 2017 and based in Boston, the firm specializes in pre-seed, seed, and early Series A investments in startups with at least one immigrant founder, primarily in the U.S. and Canada. Its investment philosophy centers on the belief that immigration is a powerful signal of grit, resilience, and entrepreneurial drive—traits that translate into outlier startup performance. The firm focuses on underrepresented founders in tech, with a portfolio that is 56% minority-founded, far exceeding industry averages.
One Way invests across deep tech, fintech, logistics, future of work, hardware, gaming/VR, and business services, backing founders who are building globally scalable companies. Beyond capital, it provides mentorship, operational support, and access to a curated network of successful immigrant entrepreneurs and operators. By doubling down on immigrant-led startups, One Way is reshaping the narrative around who gets funded in tech and amplifying the outsized role immigrants play in driving U.S. innovation and high-growth entrepreneurship.
One Way Ventures was founded in 2017 by Semyon Dukach, a Ukrainian-American entrepreneur and former managing director of Techstars Boston. Dukach immigrated to the U.S. as a child refugee in 1979, an experience that shaped his relentless drive and deep empathy for immigrant founders navigating unfamiliar systems. After founding and exiting multiple tech startups and becoming an active angel investor, he noticed a consistent pattern: immigrant-led companies repeatedly outperformed their peers.
This insight, backed by research from Harvard and MIT showing that immigrants disproportionately found high-tech startups and unicorns, became the foundation for One Way Ventures. Launched in 2018, the firm was born from both a data-driven conviction and a personal mission: to defend the right of immigrants to build companies and lives in the U.S., especially amid rising anti-immigrant sentiment. The name “One Way” reflects the irreversible, forward-only nature of both immigration and entrepreneurship—there’s no looking back once you’ve taken the leap.
One Way Ventures is riding—and accelerating—a major structural shift in the tech ecosystem: the recognition that the next generation of global tech leaders will be disproportionately immigrant-founded. As U.S. tech talent becomes increasingly global and remote, and as visa policies create friction for international founders, funds that understand the immigrant journey have a distinct edge in sourcing and supporting outlier founders.
The firm is also part of a broader movement to diversify who gets access to venture capital. By focusing on underrepresented immigrant founders, One Way is not only generating strong returns but also expanding the definition of a “typical” founder. This matters because immigrant founders often bring different perspectives, global market insights, and extreme resourcefulness—qualities that are especially valuable in deep tech, fintech, and cross-border businesses.
Moreover, One Way is helping to institutionalize the immigrant founder ecosystem through initiatives like the One Way Summit, which brings together investors, founders, and operators to celebrate and strengthen the immigrant startup community. In doing so, it’s not just funding companies; it’s building a lasting infrastructure for inclusive innovation.
One Way Ventures is well-positioned to become a defining fund of the 2020s for immigrant-led tech startups. As global talent continues to flow into the U.S. and Canada, and as more LPs seek exposure to high-conviction, founder-aligned funds, One Way’s model—combining a strong thesis, a powerful network, and a mission-driven approach—will likely attract even more top-tier immigrant founders and capital.
Looking ahead, the firm may expand its check sizes, move further into Series A, or launch dedicated vertical funds (e.g., in fintech or deep tech), while continuing to deepen its operating support and community programs. Its success will also depend on how U.S. immigration policy evolves; if restrictions tighten, One Way’s ability to help founders navigate visas and relocation will become even more critical.
In a world where borders are both barriers and bridges, One Way Ventures isn’t just funding startups—it’s backing the belief that the American Dream, and the global tech future, is being built by those who had the courage to leave home and build something new.
Key people at One Way Ventures.
