Who Is Avishai Abrahami? Co-founder and CEO of Wix
Avishai Abrahami co-founded Wix.com in 2006 with brother Nadav and Giora Kaplan. NASDAQ-listed since 2013, 250M+ users globally — one of the largest Israeli consumer-internet software exports.
The Builders | Israeli Consumer Internet
Updated June 14, 2026
Avishai Abrahami co-founded Wix.com in 2006 with his brother Nadav and Giora Kaplan — and built one of the largest consumer-internet software exports out of Israel. 250 million users, near-two-decade Nasdaq run, and a quietly held founder seat.
Avishai Abrahami is one of Israel's most consequential consumer-internet founders. Born in Jerusalem, trained in Unit 8200, a college dropout three months in, he built four companies before he turned 35 — and then built Wix.
Snapshot
| Born | May 3, 1971, Jerusalem, Israel |
| Military | IDF Unit 8200 (cybersecurity), 1989–1992 |
| Education | College dropout (three months in) |
| Built | Wix.com (2006) — co-founder and CEO since founding; honorary chairman since 2016 |
| Co-founders | Brother Nadav Abrahami; Giora Kaplan |
| Public listing | Nasdaq: WIX (November 2013) |
| User base | 250M+ registered users globally across ~190 countries |
| Board seats | monday.com; Open Web; Unlimited Robotics |
| Prior companies | AIT (co-founder & CTO, 1993–1998); Sphera Corp (co-founder & PM, 1998–2003); Arel Communications (VP Strategic Alliances, 2004–2006) |
| Base | Tel Aviv (engineering); New York (commercial) |
The Business Story
Avishai Abrahami was born in Jerusalem in May 1971. He served his mandatory military service in Unit 8200, the IDF's cybersecurity and signals-intelligence unit and the most prolific founder pipeline in Israeli technology. He left the unit in 1992, started college, and dropped out three months in.
Between 1993 and 2006 he co-founded three companies — AIT (CTO), Sphera Corp (product), and held a VP role at Arel Communications. The fourth company was the one that defined the career.
In 2006, Abrahami co-founded Wix.com in Tel Aviv with his brother Nadav Abrahami and Giora Kaplan. The product idea was simple — a drag-and-drop website builder that lets anyone, with no coding skills, build a professional-looking site in minutes. The execution was where Wix differentiated. The company invested heavily in product engineering, template design, and a freemium business model that turned a low-friction sign-up into a long-tail subscription business.
Wix went public on Nasdaq in November 2013 under the ticker WIX. Abrahami became chairman and CEO. In 2016, Mark Tluszcz took over as chairman of the board and Abrahami became honorary chairman, retaining the CEO seat.
Through the 2010s and into the 2020s, Wix compounded across multiple internet shifts — desktop to mobile, single-page sites to e-commerce, static HTML to dynamic apps, and starting in 2024-2025, AI-driven site generation. By 2026, Wix has more than 250 million registered users globally and is one of the largest consumer-internet software exports out of Israel. The engineering organization is still primarily in Tel Aviv.
Abrahami has been CEO since founding — nearly two decades. He has a low-key public profile relative to American founder-CEOs of comparable companies. He gives few interviews. He runs the product.
Why Abrahami Matters in Israel
Israeli technology has historically been strongest in enterprise software, cybersecurity, and semiconductors. Consumer internet at global scale has been rarer. Wix is the proof case that Israeli engineering can build a global consumer brand and sustain it across multiple product cycles. Abrahami and his co-founders did that without leaving Israel, without selling the company, and without celebrity-CEO posture.
He is also a representative case of the Unit 8200 → consumer software pipeline. Israeli cybersecurity's institutional advantage in the IDF translates regularly into enterprise security products. It translates more rarely into consumer software at global scale. Abrahami is one of the proofs that the translation is possible.
What Wix Does Today
Wix.com (Nasdaq: WIX) is a publicly listed cloud-based platform for building, managing, and growing online presence — websites, e-commerce, payments, marketing, and AI-driven site generation. Headquartered in Tel Aviv. Engineering primarily in Israel. Offices in 22+ cities globally including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Beer Sheva, London, Berlin, Tokyo, São Paulo, Singapore, and elsewhere. Used by individuals, small businesses, and increasingly mid-market enterprises across roughly 190 countries.
Abrahami's Key Holdings
- Wix.com (Nasdaq: WIX) — co-founder stake, CEO, honorary chairman
- Board seats: monday.com, Open Web, Unlimited Robotics
- Personal investments in Israeli technology
- Philanthropy via the Abrahami family
Abrahami's Legacy
Wix is one of the only Israeli consumer-internet companies to reach global scale, stay independent, and stay headquartered in Israel through two decades. Abrahami's institutional discipline — keep building, keep listing, keep the engineering in Tel Aviv — has been the through-line. The Unit 8200 founder pipeline that produces dozens of B2B security companies produced, in Abrahami's case, a global consumer software platform. That is rare.
Why Abrahami Matters Now
As AI-driven website and content generation reshapes the consumer-internet category in 2026, Wix's positioning as a platform with both the user base and the AI product capability is one of the most strategically important storylines in Israeli consumer tech. Abrahami's product decisions over the next 24 months will determine whether Wix becomes the canonical AI-native website platform or cedes that position to U.S. competitors.
FAQ
Who is Avishai Abrahami?
Avishai Abrahami (born May 3, 1971, Jerusalem) is an Israeli technology entrepreneur — co-founder and CEO of Wix.com, the publicly listed cloud platform for building and managing websites. He co-founded Wix in 2006 in Tel Aviv with his brother Nadav Abrahami and Giora Kaplan. He served in IDF Unit 8200 from 1989 to 1992.
When did Wix go public?
Wix listed on Nasdaq in November 2013 under the ticker WIX. Abrahami served as chairman and CEO from the IPO until 2016, when Mark Tluszcz became chairman and Abrahami became honorary chairman, retaining the CEO role.
How many users does Wix have?
More than 250 million registered users globally as of 2026, across roughly 190 countries.
Who is Nadav Abrahami?
Nadav Abrahami is Avishai's brother and a co-founder of Wix.com. He has led core technology and product architecture at Wix since the company's founding in 2006.
What companies did Avishai Abrahami build before Wix?
Three. AIT (1993–1998, co-founder and CTO); Sphera Corp (1998–2003, co-founder and product); and Arel Communications (2004–2006, VP Strategic Alliances). He co-founded Wix in 2006.
Where is Wix headquartered?
Tel Aviv, Israel. The engineering organization is primarily in Israel. The commercial organization is distributed across 22+ offices globally, with major operations in New York and other US cities.
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אבישי אברהמי: וויקס וייצוא האינטרנט הצרכני של ישראל
הוא ייסד את וויקס ב-2006 יחד עם אחיו נדב וגיורא קפלן — ובנה את אחד הייצוא הטכנולוגי הצרכני הגדולים של ישראל. 250 מיליון משתמשים, קרוב לשני עשורים בנאסד"ק, ומקום מייסד שמוחזק בשקט.
אבישי אברהמי נולד בירושלים במאי 1971. שירת ביחידה 8200 של צה"ל בשנים 1989–1992, נטש את הצבא ועזב את הקולג' אחרי שלושה חודשים. בין 1993 ל-2006 הקים שלוש חברות נוספות לפני שהקים את וויקס.
וויקס הונפקה בנאסד"ק בנובמבר 2013, סימול WIX. עד 2026, וויקס מונה מעל 250 מיליון משתמשים רשומים בעולם, ומהווה אחד הייצוא הטכנולוגי הצרכני הגדולים של ישראל. ההנדסה עדיין בתל אביב.
The Olam Editorial Team | The Builders / הבונים
