Ocean Group, a massive private holding company founded by entrepreneurs Timur Sardarov and Oliver Ripley, has announced the creation of – and a $100 million investment commitment in – a new digital media and technology subsidiary called Black Ocean.
Sardarov and Ripley will spearhead Black Ocean’s investments in video, social, mobile, and e-commerce technologies.
The new subsidiary’s core business will comprise both a strategic holding division for the management of its portfolio companies (in which it usually holds a majority stake) and a business incubator that will offer “everything from capital to structural expertise to back office support” to entrepreneurs.
Current Black Ocean companies include video encoding and streaming company Streamworks, video ad matching and rewards platform AdGenesis, MyCube, Shopflick and First Page Network.
Black Ocean has offices in New York City, London, Luxembourg, Singapore, and Moscow.