Mark Pavlyukovskyy
InvestorFounderGeneral Partner at NZVC · Cofounder at Piper Inc.
New Zealand
Writes $10K – $50K checks · typically $25K
FoundedPiper Inc.
Find your path to Mark
662 people in our graph share verified history with Mark — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.
About
Mark Pavlyukovskyy emigrated from Ukraine to the United States at age nine and went on to study molecular biology at Princeton and biomedical engineering at Oxford, working across cancer imaging, machine learning, and neuroscience before leaving his DPhil to pursue tangible impact. A trip to Ghana focused him on the delivery of knowledge rather than its discovery, leading him to build Piper, a DIY computer kit that grew from a dorm-room project to 100,000 units shipped across 70+ countries with an eventual exit. He then co-founded Learn With Mochi, screenless coding toys for young children that shipped 20,000 units across six continents. Arriving in New Zealand on an Edmund Hillary Fellowship in 2020, he co-founded NZVC, an operator-run venture fund whose first fund ranked in the top 5% globally, and now writes first institutional checks to founders in New Zealand and Australia, connecting them to US operators and investors. He also pursues data-driven side projects, including The Half-Life of History, which measures how quickly humanity forgets its past.
Beyond investing
- Founded
- Founded Piper, a DIY computer kit that teaches kids to build and code, which shipped 100,000 units across 70+ countries and reached an exit. Co-founded Learn With Mochi, screenless coding toys for children as young as three, which shipped 20,000 units across six continents. Co-founded NZVC, described as New Zealand's first operator-run venture fund, whose Fund I ranked in the top 5% globally. Started PiCreate, a rugged Raspberry Pi computer deployed in classrooms from Kenya to India.
- Education
- Studied molecular biology as an undergraduate at Princeton. Earned a DPhil in machine learning and cancer imaging at Oxford, which he left to pursue tangible impact. Began molecular biology research at sixteen, working on C. elegans worms at the University of North Texas.
- Charities
- Designed game-based health lessons for children in Humjibre, a village in western Ghana, on a Princeton global health scholarship.
- Communities
- Came to New Zealand on an Edmund Hillary Fellowship, arriving one day before the borders closed in 2020.
- Awards
- Featured on Forbes 30 Under 30, with Piper receiving endorsements from Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk.
- Hobbies
- Built a data project called The Half-Life of History using Anthropic's Claude Code to measure how fast humanity forgets its past.
- Family
- Left Ukraine for America with his family at age nine and did not speak English at the time.
From Mark's own website — common ground for a warm intro.
Cofounder at Piper Inc.
Intro paths
In turn, Mark can intro founders to Piper Inc.'s investors below.
Piper Inc.'s investors · 1
Co-founders at Piper Inc.
Experience
- NZVCGeneral Partnercurrent2021 — presentAuckland, New Zealand
- ScienceVP, Foundry2025 — 2026Durham, NC
- Learn With MochiCo-Founder & Board Director2019 — 2024
- Edmund Hillary Fellowship (EHF)Edmund Hillary Fellow2020 — 2024New Zealand
- Piper, Inc.Co-Founder & CEO2013 — 2018San Francisco, California
- University of OxfordDoctoral Fellow2013 — 2014Oxford, United Kingdom
- National Institutes of HealthNIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholar2013 — 2014Oxford, United Kingdom
- National Institutes of HealthNIH Undergraduate Scholar2011 — 2013Princeton, New Jersey
- Princeton UniversityMolecular Biologist in the Coller Lab2010 — 2013Princeton, New Jersey
- Princeton UniversityAdel Mahmoud Global Health Scholar2011 — 2012Humjibre, Ghana
- Howard Hughes Medical InstituteNeuroscience Researcher2012Janelia Farm Research Campus
- University of OxfordResearch Assistant2011 — 2012Oxford, United Kingdom
- U.S. House of RepresentativesCongressional Page2007Washington, District of Columbia
Skills & more
+12 more
EngineeringNeuroscienceData AnalysisResearchScienceSocial MediaStatisticsPCRScientific WritingMolecular BiologyCell CultureFluorescence MicroscopyLanguages French · Russian
From Mark's professional profile.
Investments
Investor
chnnlHealthNowSahha
Per curated public sources.
Podcasts & interviews
featuring Mark PavlyukovskyyYour ancestors aren't who you think they are | David Reich: Full Interview
The Well
Colleagues at NZVC
Network1
Investors connected to Mark in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Mark Pavlyukovskyy?
- Mark Pavlyukovskyy emigrated from Ukraine to the United States at age nine and went on to study molecular biology at Princeton and biomedical engineering at Oxford, working across cancer imaging, machine learning, and neuroscience before leaving his DPhil to pursue tangible impact. A trip to Ghana focused him on the delivery of knowledge rather than its discovery, leading him to build Piper, a DIY computer kit that grew from a dorm-room project to 100,000 units shipped across 70+ countries with an eventual exit. He then co-founded Learn With Mochi, screenless coding toys for young children that shipped 20,000 units across six continents. Arriving in New Zealand on an Edmund Hillary Fellowship in 2020, he co-founded NZVC, an operator-run venture fund whose first fund ranked in the top 5% globally, and now writes first institutional checks to founders in New Zealand and Australia, connecting them to US operators and investors. He also pursues data-driven side projects, including The Half-Life of History, which measures how quickly humanity forgets its past.
- Where does Mark Pavlyukovskyy work?
- Mark Pavlyukovskyy is Cofounder of Piper Inc. and General Partner at NZVC.
- What check size does Mark Pavlyukovskyy write?
- Mark Pavlyukovskyy typically writes checks of $10K – $50K.
- What companies did Mark Pavlyukovskyy found?
- Mark Pavlyukovskyy founded Piper Inc..
- What companies has Mark Pavlyukovskyy invested in?
- Investments tracked here include chnnl, HealthNow, Sahha.
- Where did Mark Pavlyukovskyy go to school?
- Mark Pavlyukovskyy studied at Princeton University (Bachelor's degree, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology); University of Oxford (DPhil, Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering); Texas Academy of Mathematics & Science.
- What awards has Mark Pavlyukovskyy received?
- Featured on Forbes 30 Under 30, with Piper receiving endorsements from Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk.
- What podcasts and interviews feature Mark Pavlyukovskyy?
- Tracked appearances include "Your ancestors aren't who you think they are | David Reich: Full Interview".
Founder mafias
500 Global mafia671
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 664 more
University of Oxford mafia622
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 615 more
NZVC mafia5
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Same school
Also attended Princeton University1,000
+ 994 more
Also attended University of Oxford1,772
+ 1,766 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Learn With Mochi1
Also worked at Edmund Hillary Fellowship (EHF)52
+ 46 more
Also worked at University of Oxford221
+ 215 more
Also worked at National Institutes of Health125
+ 119 more