| Denis Sverdlov | |
| Birth Name: | Denis Lvovich Sverdlov |
| Birth Date: | 6 June 1978 |
| Birth Place: | Agara, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union (now Georgia) |
| Nationality: | Russian |
| Alma Mater: | Saint Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics |
| Occupation: | Businessman |
| Founder and former CEO of Arrival | |
| Term: | March 2016 – November 2022 |
| Children: | 3 |
Denis Lvovich Sverdlov (ru|Денис Львович Свердлов|link=no; born 6 June 1978) is a British-based Russian businessman, and the founder and former CEO of Arrival, a British electric vehicle manufacturer based in London. The businessman who was worth $11.7 billion in April 2021 lost his billionaire status in April 2022. Sverdlov's 94% decline in net worth is the largest wealth loss of anyone outside China who appeared on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in 2021.[1] In 2012–13, he was Russia's deputy minister for communications and mass media.
Sverdlov was born in 1978 in Agara in the then Soviet republic of Georgia.[2] He was raised in Saint Petersburg by his engineer parents who were employed at a state-operated factory specializing in manufacturing fan blades used in electrical turbines.[3] He has a degree in economics from Saint Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics.[4]
After graduating in 2000 Sverdlov founded IT Vision, an IT consulting firm.[5]
From 2003 to 2007, Sverdlov was the co-founder and managing partner of Korus Consulting, an IT consulting firm in Russia.
Sverdlov was a co-founder and chief executive of Yota, a Russian mobile broadband company, until its acquisition by MegaFon in 2012.
Post-acquisition Sverdlov set up the Kinetik Trust to invest in a range of promising technologies and bring them to market.[6]
He was Russia's deputy Communications and Mass Media Minister for 15 months before stepping down in 2013.[4] He left this position following new legislation which banned government officials from holding assets abroad.[7]
Sverdlov founded Arrival and began its operations in the UK in 2015.[8] He was its CEO from March 2016 until November 2022.[9] In March 2021 Arrival went public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, CIIC Merger Corp.
He is also the founder of Roborace – the world’s first driverless electric racing platform.[10]
Sverdlov is married, with three children, and the family moved from France to London in September 2015.[2]