Mr. Joshua Levinberg - Life Story

Joshua Levinberg has been active in the Israeli business world for more than twenty years, and is a well known figure in this arena.

 

Joshua Levinberg’s main activity today focuses around JAL Ventures Ltd., a private investment company that he founded in 2003 with his brother, Amiram. JAL Ventures provides a unique combination of business support and funding to companies operating across a broad range of categories from bio-technology, through wireless technology to the life sciences. Companies active in the fields of Communications and Internet are given preference, and in keeping with the current trend of environmental awareness, the topic of Renewal Energy is also given special attention.

 

A company of note in which JAL Ventures invested was Kasamba, a real-time online advice service, which was acquired by the NASDAQ traded company LivePerson in 2003 for some US$ 40 million. Another investment of note is the Israeli company Agropeace Bio, specializing in the African based bio-diesel market. The company’s investment focuses on the growth of African castor seeds from which the oil is extracted for supply to the bio-diesel industry. Joshua Levinberg is a co-founder, as well as a board member, of the company.

 

Other companies in which Joshua Levinberg is active at board level via JAL Ventures are Vanadium Software Ltd. (Chairman) and Matan Digital Printers (Board member). JAL Ventures prides itself on its diversified portfolio of companies, including technological incubators (Capital Point), packaging (Cargal), prosthetic dentistry (DenTack), mobile broadband wireless (GoNetworks) and more, offering testimony to Levinberg’s astute business and financial capabilities.

 

Concurrent with his activities in JAL Ventures, Joshua Levinberg has remained committed to Gilat Inc., of which he was a co-founder in 1987. Levinberg has fulfilled many functions in the company, culminating in his position today as Senior Advisor for Business Development and Corporate Strategy. Gilat Satellite Networks is a NASDAQ publicly traded company, and a leader in the design, development and marketing of innovative satellite and hybrid networking products.

 

At the recent MIT Enterprise Forum hosted by Tel Aviv University in June, focusing on business opportunities in the Brazilian market, Levinberg gave an impressive overview on Telecom Opportunities in Brazil, basing his talk on his many years of experience in this field at Gilat and other companies.

 

For a short period from 1995 to 1997 Levinberg served as the CEO of Global Village Telecom (GVT), a telecommunications company offering advanced fixed phone and broadband services for consumers and businesses, as well as VoIP. The company was recently acquired by Vivendi for over $4 billion. Levinberg has also held various positions in the past in the DSP Group, Spacenet Inc. and Satlynx S.A.

 

Joshua Levinberg is an original Tzabar (someone born and bred in Israel). He was born in Tel Aviv in 1953 and completed his schooling at the “hothouse” for successful Israeli entrepreneurs, Ohel Shem in Ramat Gan. Levinberg holds a B.Sc in Electrical Engineering and Electronics from Tel Aviv University. As well as being a highly successful businessman, Joshua Levinberg is an avid windsurfer, a hobby he makes time for on a regular basis.