Joshua Levinberg - Investor, Entrepreneur - Wiki Page

Joshua Levinberg is a successful businessman and entrepreneur, currently the Senior Advisor for Business Development and Corporate Strategy of Gilat Satellite Networks.

History with Gilat

Levinberg co-founded Gilat Satellite Networks in 1987, and has remained with the company ever since. For the first two years after the company’s inception, Levinberg served as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. He then moved to the United States to open a subsidiary of Gilat Inc., taking on the role of Executive Vice President and General Manager. Five years later he became the Senior Vice President of Business Development, his previous role before taking on that of Senior Advisor.

Gilat Satellite Networks

Gilat, which went public in 1993 (NASDAQ: GILT), designs and develops end to end solutions for satellite and hybrid networking goods and services. Its products are available around the world, and it is known as a leader in its field, serving both communication service providers and end users alike.

Leading Entrepreneur

Besides the establishment of Gilat, Levinberg has been involved in the foundation of several companies, both in an active role and as an investor. In 2003, he founded JAL Ventures, through which he has invested in a number of companies that include: Matan Digital Printers, Xsight Systems, Kargal, Erayo.com, DenTack and GoNetworks.

In the late 90s, Levinberg founded and served as CEO of GVT – Global Village Telecom, a Brazil-based company that provided Internet and Telecommunications solutions to its customers. Today the company is owned by Vivendi, after a 2009 deal in which GVT was acquired for over $4 billion. Levinberg was also co-founder of Satlynx SA, where he served as the company’s Chairman of the Board. Today known as GE Satcom, the company deals in satellite communications.

As guest speaker, Joshua Levinberg recently attended Tel Aviv's MIT Enterprise Forum and spoke on the subject of Gilat's participation in the Brazilian telecommunications market. He mentioned that Brazil is home to 200,000 schools, and Gilat is involved in helping those schools and students get connected to the Internet. He noted that there is a lot of opportunity for development in Brazil, including preparing the infrastructure for the next World Cup games, which will be held in Brazil.

Savvy Investor

Besides his active role in establishing companies, Levinberg has also been on the investing side of many successful ventures. Matan Digital Printers, in which he became involved through JAL Ventures, serves industrial clients by developing and manufacturing innovative digital printers. Vanadium Software is another, of which Levinberg still acts as chairman today. Since 2004, Vanadium has provided a solution known as “Virtual Auditor” that performs network surveillance and provides immediate notification of any changes.

Levinberg also got in on the ground floor of Kasamba, an internet presence established to provide online advice by experts in a variety of fields. The company sold for some $40 million in 2007 and continues to be a successful venture. Currently, one of Levinberg’s main investments is Agropeace Bio Ltd. As both a co-founder and board member, Levinberg invests time and money in this Israeli company that establishes projects in Africa relating to bio-diesel fuel.

Personal Background

Levinberg, a native of Tel Aviv, Israel, studied at Tel Aviv university where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering and electronics, an education that has served and inspired him in his business ventures ever since. Levinberg has a brother, Amiram Levinberg, with whom he has undertaken several business ventures. His brother currently serves as the chairman of the Board and CEO of Gilat, which the two brothers co-founded together with Yoel Gat, Shlomo Tirosh and Gideon Kaplan. With little spare time, Levinberg nevertheless manages to make space in his diary for windsurfing, his favorite hobby.