Chairman and Founder
Following that transaction Thor founded Novator in 2004, diversifying into telecoms and pharmaceuticals, building a portfolio of business investments that led to Forbes magazine naming him as Iceland’s first billionaire in a 2007 cover story. The fallout of the global financial crisis of 2008 resulted in personal guarantee debts of €350m. Refusing to go bankrupt, Thor rebuilt his portfolio and paid off the debt by 2014. He has been described as an ‘adventure capitalist’ because of his unusual tolerance for risk.
Today, through Novator, Thor continues to be an active investor in the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe as well as Latin America and his native country, Iceland. He also personally invests in cutting-edge sustainability focused initiatives including Princeville Capital, a fund for growth-stage tech companies focused on positively impacting climate change and David de Rothschild’s eco-driven lifestyle brand, The Lost Explorer.
Thor is a finance graduate from the Stern School of Business at New York University and was honoured in the World Economic Forum’s first Young Global Leader cohort in 2005. In 2014 he co-wrote a book with financial journalist Andrew Cave called ‘Billions to Bust and Back’ which was published by Profile Books. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and events including delivering the opening keynote at WIRED’s London event in 2016 and a think tank event in Reykjavik that same year titled, Social progress, What works?
More information about Thor’s career history and interests is available on his personal website.
Partner
His main focus areas at Novator are sourcing investments, M&A, negotiations, finance, and operations. Birgir has worked across several industries including pharma, banking, gaming, telecoms and technology. Across all sectors, his passion is building new businesses and supporting founders and management teams in achieving their goals.
Currently, Birgir is a board member and leads multiple investments in the digital consumer, computer and mobile gaming and green energy spaces. These include Tier Mobility, Monzo Bank, Numan, Cazoo, Robin Games, Lockwood, Zwift, Verne Global, Playfusion, Sidekick, Deliveroo, and Klang Games. Birgir is a Harvard Law School graduate and a member of Harvard Law School European Leadership Council and the Langdell Society.
Birgir’s other interests include skiing, cycling and riding horses. He and his wife built and operate a horse farm in Iceland where they breed horses and operate a high-end retreat. They also co-founded one of Reykjavík‘s most popular restaurants, Eiriksson Brasserie.
Director
Her primary focus is managing the Novator group entities, including legal, financial and regulatory aspects of entities in Luxembourg and abroad, and managing the Luxembourg office. Anna holds board memberships in various other Novator group entities in different jurisdictions.
Anna holds two LL.M. degrees (one from Queen Mary University of London, UK and one from Finland). She moved to Luxembourg in 2006 and worked in the trust and wealth management sector prior to joining Novator.
Anna’s other interests include skiing; she competed in cross-country skiing on an international level and was a member of Finland’s Junior xc ski team, cycling and other endurance sports.
Director
Jan joined Novator in 2009 and was instrumental in establishing its Luxembourg office and operations which manages the full spectrum of Novator’s investment portfolio. He is also a board member of various companies where his experience and understanding of cross-border investment structures is of strategic importance. In this capacity, he is also responsible for establishing and maintaining “best in class” corporate governance and compliance processes.
Prior to Novator, Jan held various senior positions with Deloitte across Europe, Asia and Africa, in its audit, corporate finance and advisory departments. As a result, Jan has broad and in-depth experience in international corporate structuring, financing and investment.
Jan graduated cum Laude from the Law Faculty of the University of Louvain (Belgium) in 1987 and subsequently obtained magna cum laude a M.B.A. (with a major in Finance) from the same university.
Jan is married with two children and enjoys hiking, skiing and travelling.
CFO
Florian graduated with a PhD and a Masters in Financial and Capital Markets from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Prior to joining Novator, Florian held the position of CEO of a globally invested Swiss Single Family Office. Before that he held various senior positions (CIO, Head of Strategy, MD Asset Management) for one of the largest European Single Family Offices. Florian started his career at McKinsey & Company where he was a Junior Partner in their Vienna office.
Florian is married with five children. His interests include the outdoors, spending his time trail running, ski touring, fly fishing and hunting.
Principal
Prior to joining Novator, Ingo worked in Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division in Frankfurt, Sydney and London, where he worked on M&A and IPO transactions across a variety of industries.
He holds an MSc in Management from London Business School.
Principal
Previously, James was an Associate in the Investment Banking Division at Citigroup in London, focusing on Telecom, Media & Technology.
He holds a first-class BSc Economics degree from Loughborough University.
James is passionate about sport, having won two consecutive u-19 National American Football championships. James’ other interests include tennis and clay pigeon shooting.
Principal
He joined from Rothschild & Co’s Global Advisory division in London, where he focused on Telecom, Media & Technology. Prior to London, Andrea was in Rothschild & Co’s Dubai office where he worked on M&A and IPO transactions across a variety of industries in the Middle East.
He holds a dual MSc in International Management from Bocconi University and CEMS.
Principal
Marcus joined Novator in 2021.
Before joining Novator, Marcus was an Associate in the Investment Banking Division at J.P. Morgan in London, focusing on Diversified Industrials.
Marcus holds a BA in Physics and Philosophy from The University of Oxford. Marcus is passionate about charity work, having engaged in several fundraising and awareness campaigns for Type 1 Diabetes across the UK, including being part of a successful lobbying group backed by over 70 MPs for increased governmental funding.