Thor Fridriksson Explained

Thor Fridriksson
Birth Name:Þorsteinn Baldur Friðriksson
Birth Date:30 June 1979
Birth Place:Reykjavík, Iceland
Nationality:Icelandic
Alma Mater:University of Oxford (MBA, 2009)
Known For:Plain Vanilla Games

Þorsteinn Baldur Friðriksson[1] (born 30 June 1979), commonly anglicised as Thor Fridriksson, is an Icelandic businessman. He was the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Plain Vanilla Games, a Reykjavík-based video game developer, until its defunction in August 2016.[2]

Personal life

Thor was born in Reykjavík on 30 June 1979. He graduated from the Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík in 1999 and studied at Reykjavik University.[3] [4]

Career

Thor was working with the broadband-ISP startup Hive until it was purchased by Vodafone in 2007.[5] Deciding to explore a different industry, Thor became a local TV news reporter. After studying at the University of Oxford, Thor started Plain Vanilla Games in Reykjavík during the Icelandic financial crisis.[6] Thor and his team at Plain Vanilla Games spent over a year developing an educational app for children called The Moogies, that failed to gain popularity on the App Store.[7] Despite the country's economic issues, Thor decided to keep the Plain Vanilla Games' headquarters located in Reykjavík to help support job growth and other start-up companies.

In June 2020, Thor released a new game titled Trivia Royale that "lets users compete in a 1,000-person, single-elimination trivia tournament."[8]

In 2022, Thor launched a new gaming platform, Rocky Road, which debuted a "hyperlocal social mobile gaming experience" in Iceland, and subsequently raised $5.2 million from Luminar Ventures, Crowberry Capital, Sisu Ventures and David Helgason, the founder of Unity Technologies.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Plain Vanilla lokað á Íslandi – öllum starfsmönnum sagt upp . Þórunn Elísabet . Bogadóttir . August 31, 2016 . . 24 June 2018.
  2. Web site: QuizUp Takes Over Where Trivial Pursuit Left Off — The Mobile Generation . Lora . Kolodny . 27 December 2013 . . 24 June 2018.
  3. Web site: Metnaður til að skara fram úr . is . Ambition to excel . 2 May 2003 . . 22 October 2022.
  4. Web site: How hit trivia app QuizUp survived the hype cycle . Erin . Griffith . 6 March 2014 . . 24 June 2018.
  5. Web site: How The Creator Of QuizUp Turned A String Of Foolish Moves Into A 10 Million-User App . David . Lumb . 28 February 2014 . . June 24, 2018.
  6. Web site: Startup's success with QuizUp app a bright spot for Iceland's economy . Jenna . Gottlieb . 6 March 2014 . . 24 June 2018.
  7. Web site: QuizUp Debuts On Android; How An Icelandic Game Became An Overnight Success . Katie . Roof . 6 March 2014 . . 24 June 2018.
  8. Web site: How Thor Fridriksson's 'Trivia Royale' earned 2.5M downloads in 3 weeks. 2020-07-12. TechCrunch. en-US.
  9. Web site: Icelandic startup secures $3M seed for innovative social mobile gaming experience. Arctic Startups. en-US.