Amdocs early investor and chairman. SpaceIL/Beresheet primary funder — Israel's first lunar mission. South African-born Israeli technology investor and philanthropist. Over $40M committed to putting Israel on the moon.
Morris Kahn (born 1930, Johannesburg, South Africa) is one of the oldest active Israeli technology investors and philanthropists — and the man who funded Israel's attempt to land on the moon.
Kahn made his fortune through Amdocs — the Israeli-founded billing and IT services company that became the backbone of global telecommunications operations. Kahn was an early investor and chairman. Amdocs (now NYSE: DOX) generates approximately $4.5 billion in annual revenue and employs over 30,000 people. It is one of the largest Israeli-founded enterprise companies by revenue — and one of the least discussed relative to its scale.
Beresheet and SpaceIL: The Private Mission to Land an Israeli Spacecraft on the Moon
Kahn personally funded the majority of SpaceIL's Beresheet mission — Israel's first (and the world's first privately funded) attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon. Beresheet launched in February 2019 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 and reached lunar orbit before crashing during its landing attempt on April 11, 2019. Despite the crash, Israel became the seventh country to orbit the moon.
Kahn committed over $40 million of personal capital to SpaceIL. The mission made Israel one of only a handful of countries to attempt a lunar landing. Beresheet 2 — a follow-on mission — has been in development, with Kahn continuing as primary backer. The SpaceIL initiative positioned Israel in the commercial space race alongside national programs and billionaire-funded ventures.
Coral World, Tourism, and a Half-Century of Israeli Business
Before tech, Kahn built Coral World International — an underwater observatory and marine park chain operating in Eilat, Australia, and Hawaii. He has been active in Israeli business since the 1960s, spanning tourism, telecom infrastructure (Amdocs and its predecessor Aurec), and deep-tech philanthropy.
Kahn's philanthropic portfolio includes the Morris Kahn Data Science Building at the Technion, the Kahn-Sagol-Maccabi Innovation Center, and substantial contributions to Israeli medical and scientific institutions.
Where Kahn Sits in the Israeli Builder Hierarchy
Kahn represents a generation of Israeli business builders — South African Jewish immigrants who arrived in the 1950s-1960s and built companies at the intersection of Israel and global markets. His Amdocs investment alone produced one of the largest Israeli enterprise technology companies in history. The SpaceIL investment made him the most prominent individual funder of Israeli space exploration. At 96, he remains active in Israeli technology investment and philanthropy.
