Ivo Boscarol

Who they are

Ivo Boscarol is a Slovenian aircraft designer, pilot and entrepreneur who built the globally recognized ultralight and electric aircraft brand Pipistrel starting from a garage workshop. In 2022 he sold a majority stake to the American company Textron, and now invests the proceeds in startups, real estate, the defense industry and cultural projects in his hometown of Ajdovščina.^[3][4][21]

Asked a hundred times — skip these

• How the name Pipistrel came about and the story of secretly testing hang gliders at night.^[3][4]
• Why he sold Pipistrel to Textron and what it brought him.^[1][23]
• Where the 25 million euros in donations to Ajdovščina went after the sale.^[21]
• His stance on the wealth tax and Slovenian economic policy.^[12]
• His routine of sleeping only a few hours a day and working from four in the morning.^[7][9]

Fresh angles — ask these

• For your 70th birthday you put on the rock spectacle Ivo Rocks 7.0 at Odiseja. Why celebrate with a rock concert, of all things?^[10]
• Before you built aircraft you worked as a photographer and a music manager. Did anything from those years prove useful when you were running Pipistrel? Can you recall a specific example?^[2][3]
• You took over the licence for Miss Universe Slovenia. How does that decision fit with your usual approach to business?^[15][16]
• In the dispute with your C-Astral co-owners, a temporary injunction has preserved your stake for now. How does the dispute affect your plans in the defence industry?^[8][17]
• What would you say to the Ivo Boscarol from the garage in the 1980s if you showed him Odiseja and the Miss Universe pageant today?^[11][15]

Story

• He was born on 15 April 1956 in Postojna and grew up in Ajdovščina as the son of Avgust Boscarol, a mechanical engineer and former test pilot for the Italian aircraft manufacturer Aermacchi.^[2][3]
• He studied economics in Ljubljana, while also dabbling in photography, music management and printing.^[2][3]
• In the 1980s he secretly tested hang gliders and ultralight aircraft he had built himself at night, which is how the company got its name Pipistrel (bat).^[3][4]
• He founded Pipistrel in 1987, which became the first private aircraft manufacturer and exporter in what was then Yugoslavia, and later a world pioneer of electric aviation — in 2020 the Velis Electro became the first type-certified electric aircraft in the world, receiving certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).^[2][4][20]
• In 2022 he sold a majority stake in Pipistrel to the American company Textron; he and his daughter Taja donated 25 million euros of the sale proceeds to the Municipality of Ajdovščina for a health center, an aviation museum and other projects, while directing the rest of the money toward startups, real estate and new ventures.^[21][23]
• In May 2025 his company took over the license for the Miss Universe Slovenia pageant, and the first such pageant in eight years was later hosted that same year at Odiseja in Ljubljana's BTC.^[15][16][11]

Interests & hobbies

Recent (the year before this brief)

• For his 70th birthday on 15 April 2026, he hosted a charity rock spectacle called Ivo Rocks 7.0 at Odiseja.^[10]
• He became embroiled in a legal dispute with C-Astral co-owners Samo Stopar and Nejc Trošt, who attempted to exclude him from ownership; a temporary injunction has so far allowed him to retain his stake.^[8][17]
• In March 2025, by buying out the departing partner Marko Peljhan's stake, he increased his ownership share in C-Astral and became an equal co-owner alongside the other two partners, strengthening his role in Slovenia's unmanned aerial defense industry (C-Astral, Timtec Defence).^[18][14][22]

Past appearances

• Atmosferci #66 – From the Air Everything Looks Beautiful, Even a Landfill^[5]Two hours on aviation stories, aircraft testing, a MIG-15 without a parachute, and Toyota's principles.
• Mastercard Podcast of Inspiration with Borut Pahor^[6]On his career path, secretly flying over his family home, and philanthropy.
• N1 interview (2022)^[1]On selling Pipistrel, donations to firefighters, and the wealth tax.
• Delo Nedelo (2025)^[13]On artificial intelligence, Odiseja, and the Miss Universe pageant.