Oliver Ripley

Oliver Ripley is British entrepreneur and businessman.

Background

He was born on 2 September 1980 in Chertsey, UK and was educated at Eton College and Oxford University.

Professional life and achievements

In 2005, he co-founded Ocean Group, a private holding company that invests, builds and operates businesses in high-growth industries to create long-term value, spanning private aviation, real estate, agriculture, technology and manufacturing. Ocean Group’s businesses included Ocean Sky, a leading private aviation company, Kronos Capital, a private equity real estate investment fund and Natural Farming, an industrial farm based in the Ural region of Russia.

Ripley is the co-founder and CEO of Black Ocean, a technology investment group which was the founding partner behind companies such as Elite Daily and Kite.ly.

Black Ocean recently invested into motorcycle company MV Agusta Spa, helping to restructure the company from a concordato and acquiring the shares of Mercedes Benz.

He is the CEO and co-founder of Habitas, a global hospitality group, with operations in North America, Mexico and Africa. Habitas opened its first hotel in Tulum in 2017 and is now opening new hotels and clubhouses in New York, Los Angeles and Namibia.

Philanthropy

Ripley participated in board of Beespace, a non-profit incubator. He is also co-founder of Habitas Rise a non-profit that works closely with refugees in Uganda to empower youth through education, training skills and work opportunities.

Personal life

Oliver Ripley married to Jeisa Chiminazzo in a beautiful wedding on Lake Como in 2013. He divorced in 2015 and has been dating Portuguese supermodel Sara Sampaio since 2016.

Oliver is the co-founder of White Ocean (2011-2017), a Burning Man sound camp that was vandalized in 2016. White Ocean has subsequently donated its entire infrastructure to refugee projects.

Sports

Oliver was a junior international rower competing for Great Britain in 1997. He also won the national championships the same year. He has boxed for charity and raised over $50,000 in an amateur fight for haymakers for hope at the Best Buy Theater in 2014.