Maksym Krippa, whose influence on Ukrainian business became especially pronounced following his investments in Kyiv real estate and the esports sector, began building a diverse asset portfolio as early as the 2000s.
Today, his name is firmly linked with the ownership of key assets such as the Parus business center, Hotel Ukraina, the esports organization NAVI, and the broadcasting studio Maincast.
This article outlines the entrepreneur’s first significant steps into big business.
From Monaco club to Esports
According to his LinkedIn profile, Krippa earned his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the International Christian University in Kyiv. He later pursued a master’s degree at the European University and continued his academic journey by obtaining a second master’s degree in Law from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
Now 46, Maksym Krippa launched his first large-scale venture in 2006 — a company called “Monaco Club” in Brovary, which operated in the gambling industry. As noted by the analytics platform YouControl, he remained a co-founder until 2015.
In 2011, LEO Corporation Ukraine joined Monaco Club as a founding entity. Krippa had become part of its ownership structure in 2009, although he exited three years later.
That same year, 2009, he invested significantly in another major project — the Brovary Wholesale Market. While the company officially had eight founders, most of their contributions were symbolic: six partners contributed 44 UAH each, and another invested just over 4,000 UAH. Krippa, in contrast, contributed nearly 40,000 UAH, securing his position as the primary beneficiary. He still holds a 99.8% ownership share in the company.
According to open sources, Krippa has been involved in approximately thirty companies, spanning sectors from telecommunications to financial services, including lending and leasing.
Political connections and public engagement
Krippa has not been a stranger to politics. In the early 2000s, he served as an unpaid assistant to several members of the Ukrainian Parliament. His first political association was with Ivan Bokyi — a former Soviet journalist and editor of the newspapers “Socialist Hradyzhchyna,” “Zorya Kommunizmu,” and “Komsomolets Poltavshchyny.” In Parliament, Bokyi represented the Socialist Party of Ukraine.
Later, during the sixth convocation of the Verkhovna Rada (2007–2012), Krippa served as an assistant to two more MPs — Valeriy Babenko and Ruslan Lukyanchuk — both of whom were elected under the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. In 2015, Krippa ran for a seat on the Kyiv City Council as a candidate from the Samopomich Union in District 100. However, he received only 11.7% of the vote and did not secure a seat.
Partnering with Maksym Polyakov and returning to gambling
A pivotal chapter in Krippa’s business career was his partnership with Maksym Polyakov — an entrepreneur best known as the former U.S. space company Firefly Aerospace owner. In 2012, the two entrepreneurs reentered the gambling industry. According to AIN.ua, by autumn 2013, Krippa and Polyakov held equal 50% shares in a company managing the online gambling brand GGS.