User tracks 16 family members on average. Family tree (illustration)
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MyHeritage raises $25M
Israeli startup also completes acquisition of rival genealogy and family tree site Geni
Israeli family tree and genealogy website MyHeritage.com announced the completion of a $25 million financing round and reported it had acquired rival genealogy site Geni, established by Yammer founder and CEO David Sacks.
MyHeritage.com provides a host of family-oriented services, such as a social network and family tree research. Subscribers can keep in touch with distant family members. The company says that a user tracks 16 family members on average.
The deal will boost MyHeritage.com's user base by another seven million users to 72 million. Sacks will join the Israeli company's board of directors.
Successful Round
Asaf Gilad, Calcalist
Israeli developer of online video publishing, management solutions is expanding its development operations in Israel, marketing arrays in Asia and South America
In an interview to the Wall Street Journal, MyHeritage.com CEO Gilad Japhet said: "When David Sacks started Geni in 2007 people have been telling me, ok, Gilad, game over. If a person of this caliber is moving into the space, your chances are slim. We were inspired from each other, and in the end David founded Yammer within Geni and spun it off. He was co-CEO of the two companies for two to three years.
"So I had to compete with only 50% of David Sacks, which gave me a small chance of success. Eventually he put himself 100% on Yammer and his departure from Geni eventually made them more vulnerable to us. We have had difficult negotiations for almost a year. To us, Geni is adding a huge user base– seven million users, very strong in the US. They have excellent technology, a unique vision … and it just complements us."
Last year, the Israeli company acquired American FamilyLink.
This report was originally published in Hebrew by Calcalist
