Uri Levine: The Two-Time Unicorn Builder Behind Waze and Moovit

The Builders | Olam.business

Uri Levine is the only Israeli entrepreneur with two billion-dollar consumer exits — Waze ($1.1 billion to Google, June 2013) and Moovit ($900 million to Intel, May 2020). Since Waze, he has founded, chaired, or invested in more than a dozen startups, most through his company-builder platform The Founders Kitchen, and has become one of the most in-demand speakers on entrepreneurship globally following his 2023 book Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution.

At a Glance

Two Unicorns, One Playbook

Levine co-founded Waze in 2007 with Ehud Shabtai and Amir Shinar, serving as CEO through 2008 and 2009 and then as president as the company scaled. The app grew to roughly 50 million users before Google acquired it in June 2013 for $1.1 billion — at the time the second-largest Israeli tech exit after Mobileye's later Intel deal. Google retained the Waze brand, its Tel Aviv R&D center, and its community-sourced mapping model; the product now has more than 750 million cumulative global users.

After Waze, Levine became the first board member and investor in Moovit, often described as "the Waze for public transportation." Moovit scaled to over 800 million cumulative users across 3,500 cities before Intel acquired it for $900 million in May 2020, folding it into Intel's Mobileye autonomous-driving division under Amnon Shashua. The underlying pattern was the same in both cases: community-sourced data, a consumer mobile interface, network effects, and an eventual strategic acquisition by a larger platform. Levine ran that playbook twice, a decade apart, in adjacent mobility categories, producing two billion-dollar outcomes.

The Founders Kitchen and the Post-Exit Portfolio

Levine now heads The Founders Kitchen, a company-builder fund, and has been involved as co-founder, chairman, or board member in more than 20 startups since Waze. His active portfolio includes Pontera (formerly FeeX, addressing hidden financial fees), FairFly (automated airfare rebooking when prices drop after purchase), Refundit (automated VAT refunds for tourists), SeeTree (agricultural AI), Fibo, Engie (car-diagnostics app), and a board seat at HERE Technologies, the digital-mapping company. He also sits on the board of trustees at Tel Aviv University and serves as an independent board member at Infosys.

His 2023 book, Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution, distilled his approach to company-building into a widely cited methodology, and he now teaches a "Building Unicorns" workshop at IE University alongside regular contributions as a Forbes columnist.

Where Levine Sits in the Israeli Builder Hierarchy

Levine sits in a narrow cohort of Israeli founders with multiple billion-dollar exits: Amnon Shashua has Mobileye (twice, across its Intel sale and 2022 re-IPO); Assaf Rappaport has Adallom and Wiz; Levine has Waze and Moovit. Google's acquisition of Waze is widely credited with catalyzing the next wave of the Israeli startup ecosystem — the capital recycling, talent dispersion, and confidence effect from the exit reshaped Israeli venture capital for the following decade, with Israeli financial press estimating dozens of subsequent Israeli unicorns tracing some lineage back to the Waze alumni network.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Uri Levine?

Uri Levine is an Israeli entrepreneur and the only Israeli founder with two billion-dollar consumer exits: Waze (sold to Google for $1.1 billion in 2013) and Moovit (sold to Intel for $900 million in 2020). He now runs The Founders Kitchen, a company-builder fund, and is the author of Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution.

How much did Google pay for Waze?

$1.1 billion, announced in June 2013. At the time it was the second-largest Israeli technology exit on record.

What is Moovit?

A public-transit navigation app that Levine backed as first board member and investor. It scaled to more than 800 million cumulative users before Intel's Mobileye division acquired it for $900 million in May 2020.

What companies is Uri Levine involved with today?

He chairs or sits on the board of more than 20 startups through The Founders Kitchen, including Pontera, FairFly, Refundit, SeeTree, Fibo, and HERE Technologies, alongside board roles at Tel Aviv University and Infosys.

More From The Builders

• Amnon Shashua: Mobileye Co-Founder, Hebrew University Sachs Chair
• Assaf Rappaport: Wiz Co-Founder Behind Israel's Largest Exit Ever
• Yossi Vardi: The Patriarch of Israeli Internet
• The Builders

The Olam Editorial Team | The Builders / הבונים