Denis Aven

 Family and education

Denis Aven and his twin sister Daria were born on 9 January 1994. They spent most of their childhood between Russia, the UK, and the USA.

Father — Aven Peter Olegovich, entrepreneur, chairman of the board of fintech company ABH Holdings, art collector.
Mother — Aven Elena Vladimirovna. Together with her husband she launched and supported various cultural, educational and health projects in Latvia. In 2008, together with Petr Aven, she founded the Generation charitable foundation dedicated to paediatric healthcare.

In 2016, Denis graduated with honours from Yale University with a Bachelor's degree in Economics with a focus on mathematics. He wrote his thesis on the collapse of the Soviet economy under the academic supervision of the famous economist, Professor of Economics Oleg Alexandrovich Tsyvinsky.

After 4 years, Denis Aven graduated with honours from Harvard Business School and received an MBA degree.

The beginning of his career

Denis started his career as an analyst at Lazard, a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm. He focused on restructuring and capital structure optimisation.

After two years at Lazard, Denis joined the technology team at Warburg Pincus, a large investment firm. He focused on investments in the software, data and business services sectors and was involved in various stages and areas of investment projects, from venture capital to growth and buyouts.

After completing his MBA at Harvard Business School, Aven joined 8VC.

8VC is a dynamic global firm with investments across a range of industries: logistics, life sciences, healthcare, IT infrastructure, government and defence, financial services, consumer, and business services.