Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo Luiz Saverin is a Brazilian entrepreneur, angel investor, and philanthropist, known for co-founding Facebook. Based in Singapore, he is the co-founder and co-CEO of the venture capital firm B Capital.
Saverin is the wealthiest Brazilian, with an estimated net worth of US$36.3 billion as of January 2026, according to Forbes, and the 44th richest individual in the world. His current net worth reportedly makes him the wealthiest person in Singapore.
Early life and education
Eduardo Luiz Saverin was born in São Paulo to a wealthy Jewish-Brazilian family, who later moved to Rio de Janeiro. His father, Roberto Saverin, was a businessman working in clothing, shipping, energy, and real estate. His mother, Sandra, was a psychologist. He has two siblings. His Romanian-born grandfather, Eugenio Saverin, is the founder of Tip Top, a chain of children's clothing shops. In 1993, the family immigrated to the US, settling in Miami, Florida.Saverin attended Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami. He then attended Harvard University, where he was a resident of Eliot House, a member of the Phoenix S.K. Club, and president of the Harvard Investment Association. While an undergraduate at Harvard, Saverin used his interest in meteorology to predict hurricane patterns and made $300,000 via investment in oil futures. In 2006, Saverin graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in economics. He is a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.
Career
During his junior year at Harvard, Saverin met fellow Harvard undergraduate, sophomore Mark Zuckerberg. Noting the lack of a dedicated social networking website for Harvard students, the two worked together to launch Facebook in 2004. They each agreed to invest $1,000 in the site. Later, Zuckerberg and Saverin each agreed to invest another $18,000 in the operation. As co-founder, Saverin held the role of chief financial officer and business manager.On May 15, 2012, Business Insider obtained and released an exclusive email from Zuckerberg detailing how he cut Saverin from Facebook and diluted his stake. Zuckerberg privately stated at the time, "Eduardo is refusing to co-operate at all... We basically now need to sign over our intellectual property to a new company and just take the lawsuit... I'm just going to cut him out and then settle with him. And he'll get something I'm sure, but he deserves something... He has to sign stuff for investments and he's lagging and I can't take the lag." Zuckerberg's attorney warned Zuckerberg that the dilution might trigger a lawsuit for breach of fiduciary duty. Facebook filed a lawsuit against Saverin, arguing that the stock-purchase agreement Saverin signed in October 2005 was invalid. Saverin then filed a suit against Zuckerberg, alleging Zuckerberg spent Facebook's money on personal expenses over the summer. In 2009, both suits were settled out of court. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed and the company affirmed Saverin's title as co-founder of Facebook. Saverin signed a non-disclosure contract after the settlement.
In addition to forming B Capital, in early 2020, Saverin invested in Antler, an early-stage VC fund and startup accelerator founded by his friend and Harvard classmate, Magnus Grimeland.
In media
Saverin is played by Andrew Garfield in the film The Social Network, which is based on Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires.Personal life
Saverin emigrated to Singapore in 2009. Saverin and Elaine Andriejanssen, an Indonesian national of Chinese descent and with partial Dutch ancestry, became engaged on March 27, 2014, were married on June 25, 2015. They met while they were both studying at their respective universities the U.S. state of Massachusetts, Saverin at Harvard and Andriejanssen at Tufts. Andriejanssen, who works in the finance industry, comes from a wealthy family that runs several businesses in Indonesia.Philanthropy
In 2022, Eduardo Saverin and his wife, Elaine, co-founded the Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation, a Singapore-based charitable organization. Officially registered as a charity in 2023, the Foundation supports initiatives across education, healthcare, and environmental sustainability.The foundation is guided by a mission to act as a catalyst for innovation, a driver of purposeful action, and a long-term investor in ideas that seek lasting social impact. It pursues this vision by aligning capital with mission, emphasizing scalable solutions, environmental resilience, and systemic change. Its work reflects a commitment to sustainability, flexible philanthropic strategy, and empowering future generations.
Focus areas
The Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation supports a range of philanthropic causes with a focus on education, healthcare, and environmental sustainability.Education
Since 2024, the EESF has supported WWF’s Eco-Schools programme. WWF has been the exclusive operator of the programme in Singapore since 2014, working with 146 schools and reaching more than 100,000 students and over 600 educators nationwide.In 2025, the foundation supported the Wetlands Immersion pilot programme, which involved students from three schools participating in outdoor education at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. The programme focused on ecological research and environmental literacy, including the study of mangrove ecosystems and biodiversity conservation.
In January 2024, the foundation donated S$20 million to the Singapore American School, marking the largest gift in the school's history. The donation supports the development of STEM laboratories, AI-enabled classrooms, language immersion programmes, and student wellness facilities.
Healthcare
Healthcare remains one of the foundation's core pillars, with global health needs continuing to grow. According to the World Health Organization, non-communicable diseases such as cancer and neurological disorders account for nearly 74% of all deaths worldwide, underscoring the urgency of investing in medical research and patient-centred innovation.Metastatic breast cancer affects an estimated 2.3 million women globally each year, and survival rates remain below 30% once the disease spreads beyond the breast. The foundation has made significant contributions to healthcare, notably a US$20 million donation in 2019 to the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, supporting research into metastatic breast cancer. This support underscores the foundation's dedication to advancing medical research and improving patient outcomes.
Building on this early commitment, EESF also supports Cedars-Sinai Parkinson’s Disease Programme, which develops technology to improve patient monitoring and continuity of care. Together, these partnerships reflect the foundation's focus on innovation guided by empathy, improving experiences, and restoring dignity for patients and their families.
Mental health
The foundation has identified mental health as a key focus area, supporting community-based interventions and long-term strategies to improve access to mental health care, particularly in underserved communities.Since 2024, EESF has supported WWF Singapore’s Rooted in Nature programme, which uses guided nature-based and mindfulness activities to promote mental wellbeing. The programme serves beneficiaries including seniors, migrant domestic workers, individuals with special needs, youths, families, and the wider public.
In 2025, the foundation launched the Saverin Scholarship to support students enrolled in the Master of Clinical Mental Health programme at the National University of Singapore Mind Science Centre. The scholarship aims to build professional capacity in mental health care and support the development of trained practitioners in the field.
The foundation also announced its support for Impart in 2025. Impart is a Singapore-based Institute of Public Character that delivers community mental health services for youths facing significant adversity through integrated interventions including counselling, educational support, and group-based therapy.
Sustainability
Through its partnership with the Earthshot Prize, where it is a founding member of the Global Alliance, the foundation contributes to advancing global environmental solutions. The Earthshot Prize aims to identify, fund, and scale ambitious initiatives addressing climate and nature challenges such as nature restoration, clean air, ocean revival, waste reduction, and climate repair.This collaboration highlights innovation and community-led action, reinforcing EESF's conviction that inclusive and scalable solutions are essential to making significant climate progress.
EESF also backs initiatives that bring sustainability closer to everyday livelihood. Its collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society's IBIS Rice programme in Cambodia combines sustainable livelihoods with conservation. For 50 years, the giant ibis was considered extinct in Cambodia. Then in 2000, a WCS team rediscovered them in the Northern Plains, living near remote villages where indigenous and local farmers grow heritage jasmine rice.
Today, the IBIS Rice programme safeguards the critically endangered giant ibis while assisting regional farmers, also creating conservation methods that are potentially self-sustaining over time. By fostering environmental awareness and wellbeing, WWF's Eco-Schools and Rooted in Nature in Singapore inspire students and communities to take care of the environment. These collaborations collectively embody EESF's conviction that sustainability starts with people and persists via a common goal and concern for the environment.