Saverin was born in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo into a wealthy family. His father was a successful businessman working in clothing, shipping industries as well as in real estate. When he was eleven, his family left Brazil for the United States, settling in Miami. Saverin went to Harvard University, studying economics, though his other interests included meteorology, something he used to help predict hurricane patterns. He used this knowledge to make $300,000 by investing in oil futures.

It was also at Harvard where he met Mark Zuckerberg. Together, in 2004 they came up with the concept of Facebook, investing $1,000 each, and then a further $18,000, Saverin working as the CFO of the business. In 2009 the two went to court in a dispute over those initial investments, a dispute that was settled out of court.
In 2009, Saverin moved to Singapore, renouncing his US citizenship in 2011, a move that drew criticism as it was seen as a way to save him from a $700 million tax bill, a charge Saverin denies. He owns a 2% stake in Facebook, and it is from these (in 2012, that 2% was worth approximately a $2 billion) that he still derives much of his wealth.

Now he is a venture capitalist, projects he has become involved with include B Capital and Aporta.