Gigi Levy-Weiss

Gigi Levy-Weiss
Born Gigi Levy
Israel
Residence Ramat HaSharon, Israel
Education Tel Aviv University
Alma mater Kellogg School of Management
Occupation Business executive, Investor
Years active 1996-present
Known for Former CEO of 888 Holdings
Spouse(s) Daphi Levy-Weiss
Children 3
Website Gigi Levy at About.me
Gigi Levy LinkedIn

Gigi Levy-Weiss (born Gigi Levy, Israel) is a business executive and angel investor who works primarily with software and gaming companies.[1] He is currently involved with companies including myThings, MyHeritage, MassiveImpact, Plarium, and Kenshoo.[2] He is the former CEO for online gambling company 888 Holdings, and is on the board of the Israeli-Palestinian nonprofit organization MEET, and formerly was involved with Latet.[3]

Early life, education

Gigi Levy (later named Gigi Levy-Weiss) was born and raised in Israel. He speaks English, Spanish, French, and Hebrew.[2] Before attending college[4] Levy was a pilot[5] in the Israeli Air Force.[6] In October 2002 he started attending the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago,[7] where he earned his MBA[4] in May 2004.[2]

Career

Early positions

Early in his career Levy-Weiss worked with his own startup company,[6] also holding a number of management[5] and consulting positions[7] with technology companies[4] in Israel and the UK.[5] Among those roles he was CEO of Girit, an Israeli ICT integrator,[5] and from early 2001 to late 2002[2] he was CEO of Giltek Telecommunication, a publicly traded telecom systems integrator.[5]

From 2003 to 2005[2] he was Vice President of Western Europe for Amdocs Limited (NASDAQ: DOX), an international telecommunications software company.[7] The following year he became Division President for the company[2] in Central and Latin America as well,[7] leaving at the end of 2006.[2]

888 Holdings

Main article: 888 Holdings

On June 18, 2006, Levy-Weiss joined the company 888 Holdings as their Chief Operating Officer (COO). Founded in 1997, 888 Holdings operates several high-profile gambling websites. He was COO until January 2007,[7] when he became CEO of the company.[8] During his tenure, the company weathered the 2006 enactment of UIGEA and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Levy-Weiss pushed the company to focus on online poker rooms and casinos, and according to PokerScout.com, it was the 11th largest online poker room in 2011. In early 2012 the company was positioned for a £240 million[9] buyout with Ladbrokes,[10] a British gaming company, who had offered 70p per share.[8] His position as a non-executive director officially ended on May 31, 2012,[7] though he remained on the board for an additional twelve months, assisting in the transition to a new CEO.[10]

Investing

After leaving 888 Holdings, Levy-Weiss has served as an investor, board member, and in some cases a co-founder for a number of technology companies, many in Israel, San Francisco and London.[4] Many of the startups he invests in have involved online commerce, gaming, mobile phones, and SaaS spaces,[5] and as of 2012 he is also a member of the investment group TechAviv Angels.[11]

Since 2007 he has been a board member at MassiveImpact,[2] also serving as a director.[7] He was an investor and board member for SweetIM from 2009 to 2013,[2] which was acquired by Perion.[6] Perion purchased SweetPacks, maker of SweetIM, in November 2012 for approximately $41 million.[12]

He first invested in Playtika in 2010.[2] In 2011, over half of Playtika's shares were acquired by casino operator Harrah's Entertainment's at a company value of $80–90 million, in what was the largest acquisition on record of an Israeli online gaming company.[13] The total sum of the two stages of the buyout for Playtika was rumored to be around $140 million USD.[14]

Israeli company Promodity, an advertising platform, announced in August 2012 that Levy-Weiss had invested in the company,[11] and that month Levy-Weiss also invested in the company Bizzabo.[15] He has been a board member at Global-e since 2013,[2] and late that year he invested in Space Ape Games, an English social games company.[16]

He also has invested in startups such as the technology company Kenshoo.[6] Other investments include the companies Crossrider, which was later acquired for $37million,[17] Plarium, R2Net,[6] Eyeview, RealMAtch, Lovelive.tv, NonoRep, Gooodjob, Superfly, SpeakingPal, Ekoloko, TradeO, Zoomd, Moovu, and Moolta,[5] which was acquired by SimilarWeb.[18]

Current companies

As of 2014 he is an investor in the following active companies, many of which are based in Israel:[2]

Memberships

Levy-Weiss has been involved with a number of non-profit organizations in Israel,[4] notably serving on the management board for the Israeli humaniatrian fund Latet[3] from 2008 to 2013.[2] He became a board member at the non-profit MEET – Middle East Education Through Technology in November 2013.[2] At Tel Aviv University, his alma mater, Levy-Weiss is on the advisory board of the Technology Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MBA.[5]

He has been a speaker at functions such as Com.vention.[5]

Personal life

Levy-Weiss and his wife, Daphi Levy-Weiss, live in the Israeli city of Ramat HaSharon with their three young children.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Gigi Levy: Executive Profile & Biography". BusinessWeek. McGraw-Hill. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 "Gigi Levy". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  3. 1 2 Cook, Holly (July 15, 2009). "10 rounds with the CEO - Interview: Q&A session with 888 Holding's Gigi Levy". MorningStar. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Levy, Gigi. "I am Gigi and IMA Ventures is my investment vehicle". IMA Ventures (IApple). Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Speakers - Gigi Levy Weiss: About Me". Com.vention. 2012. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Profile". Gigi Levy at About.me. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "888 holdings plc (888:London): Executive Profile Gigi Levy". BusinessWeek. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  8. 1 2 Arnott, Sarah (April 11, 2011). "888 denies link to Ladbrokes talks as chief executive Gigi Levy steps down". The Independent. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  9. ↑ Burton, Earl (April 12, 2011). "Gigi Levy Out as 888 CEO". Poker News Daily. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  10. 1 2 Osbourne, Alistair (April 11, 2011). "Gigi Levy stays at 888 to avoid Wink Bingo charge". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  11. 1 2 Tiku, Nitasha (August 3, 2012). "Gigi Levy-Weiss and Israeli Angels Back Ad Platform Promodity". BetaBeat. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  12. ↑ "Perion Announces Accretive Acquisition of SweetPacks". businesswire.com. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  13. ↑ Tsipori, Tali (May 18, 2011). "Playtika's young founders win big on casino acquisition". Globes. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  14. ↑ "Entrepreneurs Fliitika two years after Israel's fastest exit "hiring"". The Marker. December 11, 2013. Retrieved 2014-03-12. (Hebrew)
  15. ↑ Alroy, Alon (August 22, 2012). "Announcing Our $1.5M Financing Round to Maximize Event Networking". Bizzabo Blog. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  16. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (October 13, 2013). "After Playfish, social-game veterans return with Samurai Siege, earning $50K a day". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  17. ↑ "Start-up CrossRider is sold for $37m". Haaretz. December 17, 2012. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  18. ↑ "Exit Blue - white two week: SimilarWeb Acquires Israeli Tapdog". Geektime. Retrieved 2014-03-12.

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