Sri Lankan-born investor and entrepreneur Chamath Palihapitiya marked his 50th birthday with a deeply personal message to his children and a powerful tribute to the United States, the country he credits with giving him the opportunity to build a new life. Reflecting on his journey from growing up as a refugee in Canada to becoming a prominent Silicon Valley investor, Palihapitiya said his life would have been almost unimaginable to his parents when he was born in Sri Lanka in 1976.
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“I was born in Sri Lanka in 1976 in a country that, at the time, was about to enter a decades long civil war,” he wrote in a post shared on X.
His father, who was stationed at the Sri Lankan High Commission in Canada, eventually sought refugee status after his life was threatened by militants. The family remained in Canada as refugees and, according to Palihapitiya, struggled financially. “We grew up on welfare,” he said, crediting his mother for holding the family together and continuing to move forward despite their circumstances.
