Joshua Levinberg

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Joshua Levinberg Quick Facts

Mr. Joshua Levinberg is the co-founder of Gilat Satellite Networks, a satellite communications enterprise which serves communication companies and government branches in over 85 countries. He is also a Partner of a private investment firm (JAL Ventures), and is a Chairman of the Board and/or Board Director to dozens of Start Up Companies.

Over 20 Years at Gilat Satellite Networks

Gilat Satellite Networks, which was co-founded by Joshua Levinberg in 1987, is publicly traded in the NASDAQ (Symbol: GILT). Gilat specializes in VSATs, relatively small satellite dishes and ground stations that enable secure low broadband data transmission to and from static terrestrial locations and mobile maritime locations. From its beginning stages, the company managed to steadily grow and develop into a market leader today. Its first major milestone was achieved in 1989, when Gilat first introduced a one-way VSAT that served the paging industry. Just two years later in 1991, Gilat partnered with GTE Spacenet and introduced to the market a two-way VSAT with a wider range of communication capabilities. Two years after that, in 1993 Gilat became a public company. Every two years or so, the company has managed to reach a notable milestone or gain market recognition (like the “Most Innovative VSAT Solution” from Satellite Communications Magazine), establishing Gilat as a leader within the satellite communications industry.In a recent acquisition, the largest in company history, Gilat spent $130 million to buy Wavestream. Joshua Levinberg led the negotiations with the manufacturer of satellite-powered amplifiers to increase Gilat’s involvement in the military and governmental markets. Wavestream creates quality amplifiers designed for high-power usage, which they supply to the bigger system integrators. The items are then resold to various governments such as that of the US. Gilat hopes to cash in on the $450 million per year market, the estimated value of the high-powered amplifiers. Currently Joshua Levinberg is the Senior Advisor to Gilat. Before that he filled various different management appointments such as: EVP (Executive Vice President) of Corporate Business Development & Strategy; SVP (Senior Vice President) of Business Development, EVP (Executive Vice President) and General Manager of Gilat Incorporated (located in North America – and founded by Joshua Levinberg), and VP (Vice President) of Marketing & Business Development.

Active Contributor and Observer of the Industry

Joshua Levinberg has contributed his outlook on the industry in a variety of platforms. One such platform was the MIT Enterprise Forum which explored the topic of potential business opportunities between Israel and Brazil. During the conference, Joshua Levinberg shared his insights regarding the telecom business potential in Brazil. He has also been quoted in a number of publications such as Mergermarket.com, an online Merger & Acquisitions magazine which sought his personal viewpoint on the maritime satellite industry and the fact that the maritime satellite communications services sector is currently at a point where consolidation between service providers may be inevitable. Joshua Levinberg said, “In order to become solid players [in the industry], companies must have global presence and signal capacity, and this need to scale is driving consolidation…The fact is that without substantial scale it is very difficult to become profitable. You can’t be global without over USD 100m in revenues to attract the big customers, and to give them the confidence that you’ll be around in five or 10 years”. He was also asked to speak on the panel of experts at the recent Mergermarket M&A in Israel Conference that was held in Tel Aviv. He advised Israeli startups on the importance of looking for equity from the US market, rather than local banks, in order to become internationally recognized companies. He was quoted in the Israeli Financial Newspaper, Globes as recommending M&A as another important tool in growing a company to global proportions.

Investing in the Future, through JAL Ventures

In 2003, Joshua Levinberg co-founded an investment firm with his brother, Amiram Levinberg. The two created the privately-held investment firm in order to support and guide talented entrepreneurs and companies with true market potential. JAL Ventures has a diverse portfolio of companies that serve the Communication, Renewable Energy and Internet industries. Both Joshua and his brother take an active role in JAL’s sponsored companies, creating partnerships with the company managers and providing business guidance and support. Companies sponsored by JAL Ventures include (in alphabetical order):