Victor Riparbelli, CEO and Co-Founder of Synthesia, proves that you don’t need a PhD in AI to build one of the world’s leading AI companies. Growing up in Denmark, Riparbelli developed an early fascination with computers, later studying Computer Science and Business Informatics at the IT University of Copenhagen. Before Synthesia, he founded RBLI, a digital strategy consultancy, and spent time at Founders, the largest startup studio in the Nordics, focused on growth and product marketing.
A turning point came in 2016 when Riparbelli moved to London and encountered groundbreaking research on AI-driven, hyper-realistic video generation by Professor Matthias Niessner. Recognizing the technology’s transformative potential for media production, Riparbelli co-founded Synthesia in 2017 alongside Niessner, Professor Lourdes Agapito, and Steffen Tjerrild.
Synthesia initially worked with film studios and advertising agencies before pivoting around 2021 toward enterprise clients who needed to scale AI video creation for training, onboarding, and skills development. That shift proved decisive: the company now serves more than 60,000 customers worldwide, including 90% of the Fortune 100, such as SAP, Bosch, Reuters, and Siemens.
Riparbelli’s leadership has earned him recognition as one of Europe’s leading voices in generative AI. He was named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30 Europe” list in 2020 and to TIME’s list of the 100 most influential people in AI in 2024. Synthesia has raised over $250 million to date, and was most recently valued at $4 billion. Riparbelli has said the company’s ambitions remain large, with plans to expand into a multi-product platform on its path toward $1 billion in revenue.
