Famous Israeli Brands: 20 With Roots Americans Don't Know

Famous Israeli brands include Waze, SodaStream, Wix, Fiverr, Mobileye, Sabon, AHAVA, Moroccanoil, IL MAKIAGE and monday.com, and at least ten of the 20 profiled here are now controlled by non-Israeli owners. Google owns Waze, PepsiCo owns SodaStream and Sabra, and Rakuten owns Viber. This guide gives each brand's origin, its Israeli connection and its owner as of October 31, 2026.

Last updated: October 31, 2026

You may have rerouted around a wreck with Waze this week. Maybe a SodaStream sits on your counter, a Wix site runs your cousin's bakery, or a Fiverr freelancer designed your logo. Perhaps there is a bottle of Moroccanoil in the bathroom, a Lemonade policy on the apartment and a tub of Sabra in the fridge.

Most customers never see the Israeli engineer, founder or factory behind the product. They also miss the second half of the story: roots are not ownership. For Olam's modeled look at how AI engines describe Israeli consumer brands, see the Israeli consumer brand citation index. This article covers origins and owners instead.

How were the 20 Israeli brands sorted?

Olam sorted the 20 brands with four labels, because an Israeli connection can mean very different things.

A: founded in Israel
B: founded by Israeli entrepreneurs, with the company based elsewhere
C: originally developed in Israel
D: international brand with significant Israeli ownership, operations or technology

Which Israeli brands do Americans use, and who owns them?

The 20 brands below span navigation, seltzer, skincare, insurance and software, and their owners range from public shareholders to Google, PepsiCo and a Japanese conglomerate.

Brand	Product or service	Israeli connection	Current ownership
SodaStream	Home carbonation	Israeli company built it into a global business (D)	PepsiCo
Waze	Navigation app	Founded in Israel (A)	Google
Wix	Website builder	Founded in Tel Aviv (A)	Public (Nasdaq: WIX)
Fiverr	Freelance marketplace	Founded in Tel Aviv (A)	Public (NYSE: FVRR)
Mobileye	Driver-assistance chips	Founded in Jerusalem (A)	Intel, majority
Sabon	Soaps and body care	Founded in Tel Aviv (A)	Groupe Rocher (France)
AHAVA	Dead Sea skincare	Israeli company (A)	Fosun (China)
Moroccanoil	Argan oil hair care	Started in Tel Aviv, scaled from New York (A/B)	Private
IL MAKIAGE	Makeup	Israeli relaunch, Israel-based parent (B/D)	Oddity Tech (Nasdaq: ODD)
monday.com	Work software	Founded in Tel Aviv (A)	Public (Nasdaq: MNDY)
MyHeritage	Genealogy and DNA	Founded in Israel (A)	Francisco Partners (U.S.)
Facetune (Lightricks)	Photo and video apps	Founded in Jerusalem (A)	Private, founder-led
Playtika	Mobile games	Founded in Herzliya (A)	Public, controlled by a Giant-led group
Keter	Sheds and garden furniture	Founded in Israel (A)	Lenders since 2024
Naot	Comfort sandals and shoes	Founded on a kibbutz (A)	Private (Lax family's Yaleet)
Sabra	Hummus and dips	Israeli roots via Strauss (D)	PepsiCo
Lemonade	Insurance	Founded by Israelis, based in New York (B)	Public (NYSE: LMND)
Payoneer	Cross-border payments	Founded by an Israeli, R&D in Tel Aviv (B)	Public; Nuvei deal pending
Similarweb	Web analytics	Founded in Tel Aviv (A)	Public (NYSE: SMWB)
Viber	Messaging app	Founded in Tel Aviv (B)	Rakuten (Japan)

1. SodaStream: British-born, Israeli-built

SodaStream is the countertop machine that turns tap water into seltzer, and PepsiCo has owned it since 2018. The brand began in London in 1903 and spent decades as a British siphon business. Its Israeli chapter began in 1998, when Soda-Club, an Israeli company founded in 1991 by Peter Wiseburgh, bought SodaStream and rebuilt it into a global seller.

In August 2018, PepsiCo agreed to buy SodaStream for $3.2 billion, or $144 a share, according to AP and PTI. PepsiCo said the company would run as an independent subsidiary based in Israel's Negev. A brand pitched as an alternative to sugary bottled soda ended up inside one of the world's biggest soda companies. For more deals like it, see Olam's guide to Israeli brands owned by foreign companies.

2. Waze: a free map of Israel that Google bought

Waze is the crowd-sourced navigation app that Google has owned since 2013. It began in 2006 as FreeMap Israel, a community-edited map in Hebrew built by programmer Ehud Shabtai. He formed a company in 2008 with co-founders Uri Levine and Amir Shinar, and it became Waze in 2009. Levine's later career is covered in Olam's profile of Uri Levine, the builder behind Waze and Moovit.

Google announced the purchase in June 2013 at about $1.1 billion, according to Calcalist, though Globes reported $1.3 billion, and the app had nearly 50 million users. Facebook had held talks the year before, and Globes reported that Waze insisted its Israeli employees stay in Israel. Google agreed to keep the team there.

3. Wix: the website builder that gave monday.com its start

Wix is a Tel Aviv website builder that trades on Nasdaq under WIX. Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami and Giora Kaplan founded it in 2006, and Olam's Wix profile covers the company in more detail.

The surprising link is monday.com, number 10 on this list. It started as an internal tool at Wix, and Wix was its first customer and supporter, according to Entree Capital, an early investor. Wix has no controlling parent and is owned by public shareholders.

4. Fiverr: named for a $5 price tag

Fiverr is the marketplace where businesses buy logos, voiceovers and code from freelancers, and it lists on the New York Stock Exchange as FVRR. Micha Kaufman and Shai Wininger launched it in Tel Aviv in 2010, and the name comes from the $5 price early tasks carried. Olam's Fiverr entry has a short definition.

Fiverr listed on June 13, 2019, according to Calcalist, and still lists its headquarters in Tel Aviv. Wininger went on to co-found Lemonade, number 17 on this list, and Lemonade's SEC filing says he also founded Fiverr.

5. Mobileye: the chip inside millions of cars

Mobileye makes the driver-assistance technology behind lane-keeping and collision warnings, and Intel owns a majority of it. Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram founded the company in Jerusalem, and Olam covers it in the Mobileye profile.

Intel bought Mobileye in 2017 for $15.3 billion, then returned it to Nasdaq in October 2022 at $21 a share, a market value of about $16.7 billion, according to Globes. Mobileye says more than 200 million vehicles built through 2024 carry its EyeQ technology. After a stock sale in July 2025, Intel held about 80%, per Globes and Reuters. Mobileye is incorporated in Delaware and run from Jerusalem.

6. Sabon: a Shenkin Street soap shop

Sabon is a body-care brand that opened in Tel Aviv in 1997 and now belongs to France's Groupe Rocher. The name means soap in Hebrew, and the first shop sold soap by the pound on Shenkin Street, according to Israel21c.

JTA reported more than 130 stores worldwide, including one in Times Square, and Israel21c said its Manhattan shop appeared in an episode of Sex and the City. Groupe Rocher bought the brand in 2016. Olam's Sabon profile tells the full story.

7. AHAVA: Dead Sea mud, now Chinese-owned

AHAVA is a Dead Sea mineral skincare brand owned by China's Fosun International. JTA reported that its products first reached the U.S. in 1992 and became department store staples.

A travel-media history from Culture Trip says the business started with a stand selling bottles of Dead Sea mud to tourists. Fosun agreed in 2015 to buy AHAVA, and the Times of Israel reported in April 2016 a signed deal for all of it at $77 million. Cosmetics Business reported that Fosun first bought at least 51%, so earlier and later reports describe stages of one deal.

8. Moroccanoil: a Tel Aviv salon secret that went global

Moroccanoil is the argan oil hair brand now headquartered on East 57th Street in New York. Accounts of its start differ: Swiss weekly Tachles says Israeli brothers Mike and Erik Sabag founded it in 2003, selling to Tel Aviv salons, before Carmen and Ofer Tal took over.

Carmen Tal has told interviewers she found the treatment in a Tel Aviv salon while visiting Israel, and the company keeps offices in Montreal, Tel Aviv and Tokyo. Moroccanoil became Eurovision's main commercial partner after the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, and Tachles reported in August 2026 that it was leaving that role. The company is private.

9. IL MAKIAGE: a 1972 New York brand relaunched by Israelis

IL MAKIAGE is the makeup brand known for its online shade-matching quiz, and Oddity Tech, an Israel-based public company, owns it. It began in 1972 in New York with Israeli makeup artist Ilana Harkavi, according to Jewish Business News.

Siblings Oran Holtzman and Shiran Holtzman-Erel relaunched it in 2018 as a digital-first brand backed by L Catterton, a private equity firm. Oddity listed on Nasdaq in July 2023 as ODD, and Holtzman keeps most of the voting power, according to FashionUnited. A 2021 WWD interview said about 75% of revenue came from the U.S. Oddity is also on the Olam Nasdaq 20.

10. monday.com: the work tool born inside Wix

monday.com is the project-planning software company that listed on Nasdaq as MNDY on June 10, 2021. Roy Mann and Eran Zinman built it as dapulse in 2012 and renamed it in 2017. Olam's monday.com entry has a short definition, and Eran Zinman has his own profile.

The IPO priced at $155 a share for a $6.8 billion valuation, according to Globes, then one of the largest Wall Street offerings by an Israeli company. Headquarters is in Tel Aviv, with U.S. teams in Miami and San Francisco, according to the company's own timeline. Public shareholders own it.

11. MyHeritage: a living-room startup in Bnei Atarot

MyHeritage is the family-tree and DNA service that U.S. private equity firm Francisco Partners has owned since February 2021. Gilad Japhet founded it in 2003, starting from his living room in Bnei Atarot, and headquarters is in Or Yehuda.

Francisco Partners bought it at a valuation of about $600 million, and Japhet stayed on as CEO, according to Globes and TechCrunch. Calcalist later reported that the firm hired Jefferies to test a sale at about $1 billion. Offices include Lehi, Utah and Burbank, California.

12. Facetune: five founders and a Supreme Court clerk

Facetune is the photo-retouching app from Lightricks, a private Jerusalem company whose catalog also includes Videoleap and Photoleap. Zeev Farbman, Nir Pochter, Yaron Inger, Amit Goldstein and former Israeli Supreme Court clerk Itai Tsiddon founded it in 2013 while studying at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. See Olam's Lightricks entry.

Headquarters sits on the university's campus. Lightricks raised $130 million in a Series D at a $1.8 billion valuation, according to Calcalist, and its founders still lead it.

13. Playtika: the game studio behind Slotomania

Playtika is the Herzliya studio behind free-to-play social casino games such as Slotomania and Bingo Blitz, and a Giant-led group controls it. Players buy virtual currency that cannot be cashed out, according to the Forward.

Robert Antokol and Uri Shahak founded Playtika in 2010. Caesars bought it in 2011, and a Chinese consortium led by Giant bought it in 2016 for $4.4 billion, according to JTA. It listed on Nasdaq in January 2021. See Olam's Playtika profile for its ownership history.

14. Keter: sheds, storage and a failed private equity bet

Keter is the maker of plastic storage sheds, deck boxes and garden furniture, and its lenders have controlled it since 2024. The Sagol family founded it in 1948, according to Calcalist.

BC Partners and PSP Investments bought control in 2016 at a valuation of about $1.7 billion, with the family keeping a minority stake. Bloomberg reported in March 2024 that the sale process failed and creditors would take over, and Calcalist said the BC Partners-era CEO had moved headquarters to the U.S. The older label "Israeli plastics company" is outdated.

15. Naot: from kibbutz work boots to a SoHo flagship

Naot is the comfort-sandal brand that began in 1942 at Kibbutz Naot Mordechai in the Upper Galilee, and production remains on the kibbutz. Members started by making work boots.

Shamrock Holdings, the Disney family's investment firm, bought 66% in 2006, according to Ynet. Steve Lax, who began as Naot's U.S. distributor in the 1990s, and his wife Susan bought the brand in 2014 through their company Yaleet, according to RetailTouchPoints. The U.S. accounts for about 60% of sales, according to Ynet, and a SoHo flagship was only the brand's second U.S. store.

16. Sabra: American hummus with an Israeli parent until 2024

Sabra is the hummus brand in most U.S. refrigerated cases, and PepsiCo has owned all of it since December 3, 2024. Israel's Strauss Group bought 51% in 2005 for about $9 million, and PepsiCo took the other stake in 2008 to form a 50/50 venture.

PepsiCo bought Strauss's half for $241 million in cash, according to its annual report, while Strauss put the price at about $244 million. Sabra is American-made, so its Israeli roots run through Strauss, not a Tel Aviv factory. See the foreign-ownership breakdown for the deal table.

17. Lemonade: a New York insurer with Tel Aviv founders

Lemonade is the app-based insurer that sells renters, homeowners, pet, car and life policies from New York, and it trades on the NYSE as LMND. Daniel Schreiber and Shai Wininger, described by Insurance Business as Tel Aviv-based tech experts, founded it in 2015.

Lemonade listed in July 2020 at $29 a share. Both founders still serve as executives, and the company's SEC filing notes that Wininger also founded Fiverr.

18. Payoneer: the payments network for freelancers

Payoneer is the cross-border payments company that Nuvei agreed to buy on June 15, 2026, so it remains independent today. Israeli entrepreneur Yuval Tal founded it in 2005, and it is headquartered in New York with an R&D center in Tel Aviv. Olam's Payoneer entry has a short definition.

Amazon began offering Payoneer to sellers in 2015, according to Globes, and the company listed on Nasdaq in June 2021. Nuvei's price is about $2.75 billion, or $7.40 a share, with closing expected in mid-2027, according to Payoneer's SEC filing.

19. Similarweb: the company that measures everyone's traffic

Similarweb is the web and app analytics company that listed on the New York Stock Exchange as SMWB in May 2021 at a $1.6 billion valuation. Or Offer founded it in Tel Aviv in 2007, according to NoCamels.

Sources differ on whether headquarters is New York or Givatayim, Israel, and the company has offices in both. Globes noted it was the third Israeli IPO on Wall Street in 2021, after Playtika and Zim.

20. Viber: Israeli founders, Cyprus paperwork, Japanese owner

Viber is a free calling and messaging app that Japan's Rakuten has owned since 2014. Talmon Marco and Igor Magazinnik launched it in Tel Aviv in 2010.

Rakuten announced the $900 million purchase on February 13, 2014. At the time Viber was registered in Cyprus with a small development center in Israel, according to Globes, and its legal entity today is Viber Media S.a r.l. in Luxembourg. Few brands show better why Israeli-founded and Israeli-owned are different things.

Which famous Israeli brands are no longer Israeli-owned?

At least ten of the 20 brands are controlled by non-Israeli owners today, and acquisitions drove most of the change.

Google bought Waze in 2013.
PepsiCo owns SodaStream (2018) and all of Sabra (December 2024).
Intel bought Mobileye in 2017 and kept about 80% after selling shares in 2025.
Groupe Rocher of France owns Sabon (2016).
Fosun of China owns AHAVA.
Rakuten of Japan owns Viber (2014).
Francisco Partners, a U.S. firm, owns MyHeritage (2021).
A Giant-led group controls Playtika.
Lenders took over Keter in 2024.
Nuvei is set to acquire Payoneer if the deal closes.

Even the exceptions show ownership churn: Naot passed from a kibbutz to Shamrock Holdings to a U.S. family firm. For deal-by-deal detail, read the 10 biggest Israeli exits, and see which of these companies sit on the Olam Nasdaq 20.

Frequently asked questions

What famous brands were founded in Israel?

Waze, Wix, Fiverr, Mobileye, Sabon, monday.com, MyHeritage, Facetune, Playtika, Keter, Naot and Similarweb were all founded in Israel. Lemonade, Payoneer and Viber were founded by Israeli entrepreneurs. Moroccanoil and IL MAKIAGE have more mixed histories.

Is SodaStream an Israeli company?

SodaStream is a PepsiCo subsidiary that runs operations from Israel. The brand began in London in 1903, Soda-Club of Israel bought it in 1998, and PepsiCo bought it in 2018 for $3.2 billion.

Is Waze still Israeli-owned?

Waze is not Israeli-owned. Google bought it in 2013 for about $1.1 billion, and Google agreed to keep the Israeli team in Israel.

Which beauty brands have Israeli roots?

Sabon, AHAVA, Moroccanoil and IL MAKIAGE all have Israeli roots. France's Groupe Rocher owns Sabon and China's Fosun owns AHAVA. Moroccanoil is private and run from New York, and IL MAKIAGE belongs to Oddity Tech, an Israel-based public company.

What Israeli technology companies do Americans use?

Waze, Wix, Fiverr, monday.com, MyHeritage, Facetune, Lemonade, Payoneer, Similarweb and Viber all have Israeli founders or roots. Mobileye supplies driver-assistance technology to automakers.

Are Israeli-founded companies always Israeli-owned?

Israeli-founded companies are often not Israeli-owned. Google owns Waze, PepsiCo owns SodaStream and Sabra, and Rakuten owns Viber. Wix and monday.com remain Israel-based public companies, so ownership is the fact to check, not the founding story.

Sources

Ownership is as stated on October 31, 2026. Sources include AP and PTI (SodaStream), Calcalist and Globes (Waze, Fiverr, Mobileye, monday.com, MyHeritage, Lightricks, Keter, Payoneer, Viber), Reuters (Mobileye), JTA and Israel21c (Sabon, AHAVA, Playtika), the Times of Israel (AHAVA), Tachles (Moroccanoil), Jewish Business News, WWD and FashionUnited (IL MAKIAGE), Bloomberg and 9fin (Keter), Ynet and RetailTouchPoints (Naot), PepsiCo's annual report (Sabra), Lemonade's SEC annual report, Payoneer's SEC filings (Nuvei deal), NoCamels (Similarweb) and Rakuten's 2014 announcement (Viber). Corrections: corrections@olam.business.