Other companies invested in by Björgólfur Thor and Novator include Deliveroo, Monzo,[7] Stripe,[8] Cazoo,[9] Xantis Pharma,[10] Klang,[11] and Lockwood Publishing.
[13] He has been declared as "Iceland's first billionaire"; and was ranked as the 249th-richest person in the world by Forbes magazine[14] in 2007 - up from 350th the previous year - with a net worth of $3.5 billion.
[citation needed] He worked out a complex deal with his creditors to pay off his debts while holding on to his key investments.
His great-grandfather was the legendary Danish-born Icelandic entrepreneur Thor Jensen, who helped introduce industrial capitalism to the country in the early years of the twentieth century.
[19] A sketch of Björgólfur Thor's early life is offered by Ármann Þorvaldsson: "His rare self-confidence made him stand out.
[21] He took a variety of vacation jobs, including managing events[15]: 37–38 at Reykjavík's two biggest clubs: Tunglið and Skuggabarinn.
Next they founded a brewing company, originally called ООО "Торговый дом "РОСА" and eventually registered as Bravo International JSC by December 1997.
[31] In his book, Billions to Bust and Back, Björgólfur Thor chronicles his time in St Petersburg, detailing how criminal elements tried to intimidate him into giving them access to his business and explaining which security measures he relied on to prevent them from doing so.
On 6 October Landsbanki was put into receivership and liquidation, and on 9 March Straumur was nationalised by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Iceland (FME).
[39]He defended his reputation by disputing government and journalistic criticisms of his role in the 2008 financial crisis on his website, through letters to newspapers, and through legal action.
[42] In 2021 Novator invested $250 million into DNEG, a visual effects company which worked on such films as Inception, Ex Machina and No Time to Die.
Although his fortunes were reduced by the financial crisis, leading him to cancel the construction of a £100m luxury yacht, he continued to prosper overall.
[citation needed] In 2015, he and his father were mentioned in the Panama Papers as having connections to at least 50 offshore companies in tax havens established through Mossack Fonseca,[46] while in November 2017, he was named in the Paradise Papers together with Gísli Hjálmtýsson, Róbert Guðfinnsson, and a number of Iceland's National Power Company employees.
Atai Life is a healthcare investment firm that backs studies of magic mushrooms to treat depression.
[48] In 2020, he and David de Rothschild co-founded The Lost Explorer Mezcal, which is created in partnership with Maestro Mezcalero Don Fortino Ramos and his daughter.
The brand was also named Taste Master, the prestigious accolade of the best of the best across the tequila and mezcal category, in a competition hosted by The Spirits Business.
[51]: 203–9 He is also the inspiration for the main character of Bjarni Bjarnason's novel Mannorð ('reputation'), Starkaður Leví, who pays for the identity (and the life) of a well respected writer.