Who Is Yitzchak Mirilashvili? Watergen, VK, Channel 14
The Israeli investor behind Watergen, co-founder of VK, and a major backer of Channel 14. Outside Israel his name is little known. Inside Israeli business, media, and technology circles, his reach is unusually broad.
The Builders | Olam.business
Updated June 14, 2026
From the Mirilashvili family — Georgian-Jewish, Russian-built, Israeli-anchored — comes a next-generation figure who built one of the country's best-known climate-tech companies, co-founded Russia's largest social network, and became the controlling shareholder of Israel's right-wing broadcast channel.
Outside Israel, his name is relatively little known. Inside Israeli business, media, and technology circles, his reach is unusually broad.
The Mirilashvili name is one of the most consequential — and most discussed — in Israeli business. The family origin is Georgian. The fortune was built in Russia. The center of gravity is now firmly Israel.
Yitzchak Mirilashvili — born Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Mirilashvili in Saint Petersburg in 1984 — represents the next generation of that arc. The son of Mikhael Mirilashvili, the family's lead figure in business and one of Israel's largest private investors, he has built a public profile of his own that spans three distinct platforms: Israeli climate technology, Russian internet, and Israeli broadcast media.
He is the president of Watergen, the Israeli atmospheric water generation company. He co-founded VK (Vkontakte) — Russia's largest social network — with Pavel Durov and Lev Leviev, and the family later exited its stake for $1.12 billion. And he is the controlling shareholder of Channel 14 (Now 14), Israel's right-wing broadcast channel, and of the affiliated Calcala TV economic news channel.
He does not give many interviews. He is not building a public personal brand in the way some Israeli founders have. But the platforms he is associated with — an Israeli climate-tech company exporting to dozens of countries, a Russian-language social network, and one of the most politically consequential channels in Israeli broadcast media — make him a figure with unusually wide-angle leverage on Israeli public life.
Snapshot
| Born | 1984, Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), Russia |
| Birth name | Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Mirilashvili |
| Father | Mikhael Mirilashvili — Georgian-Israeli businessman, owner of Watergen, one of Israel's largest private investors |
| Education | Tufts University, economics (2006) |
| Primary platforms | Watergen (president); Channel 14 / Calcala TV (controlling shareholder); Kuf Dalet Group (sole shareholder & chairman); Rainfall Ventures Management |
| Notable exits | VK (2013, family received $1.12B); Plarium (2017, sold to Aristocrat for est. $500M; 35% stake) |
| Other holdings | Selectel (Russian data center network, co-founded 2007); ~19.9% in SPAR Israel; director seats at Rotshtein Real Estate, Kitaim Real Estate Investments |
| Community | Chabad; major philanthropic activity through his and wife Vika's foundation |
| Based in | Israel |
The Business Story
Yitzchak grew up in Saint Petersburg, the son of Mikhael Mirilashvili — a Georgian-born physician turned businessman who built one of the largest private fortunes in post-Soviet Russia across real estate, casinos, oil, and other sectors. The family relocated the center of its operations to Israel in the late 1990s and 2000s. Yitzchak moved to Israel as a child, completed high school in Israel, and graduated from Tufts University in economics in 2006.
His defining early business move was VK. Co-founded in 2006 with Pavel Durov and Lev Leviev, VK became Russia's largest social network with over 500 million active users. The founders raised capital from Yuri Milner's Digital Sky Technologies; Yitzchak served as chairman and majority shareholder. In April 2013, at age 29, Mirilashvili and Leviev sold their stakes via Ilya Sherbovich's United Capital Partners fund — the family receiving $1.12 billion, making him one of Israel's wealthiest citizens.
In 2007, alongside the VK build, he and Leviev founded Selectel — the data center network that became VK's backbone infrastructure and now operates as one of Russia's largest server-hosting platforms in its own right.
He was also a 35% shareholder in Plarium, the Israeli free-to-play mobile gaming company founded in 2009. Plarium was sold to Australian-listed Aristocrat Leisure in 2017 for an estimated $500 million — a second nine-figure exit before he turned 35.
In 2011 he founded Rainfall Ventures Management LLC as his own investment vehicle. He is sole shareholder and chairman of The Kuf Dalet Group, the Herzliya-based holding company managing his investment portfolio across real estate and infrastructure in the United States, Israel, Russia, and Europe. He sits as a director at Rotshtein Real Estate and Kitaim Real Estate Investments, and holds an approximately 19.9% stake in SPAR Israel.
In parallel, Yitzchak became the principal driving force behind Watergen, an atmospheric water generation company developed by Israeli engineer Arye Kohavi. The Mirilashvili family acquired Watergen in 2016 and funded it into scale; Yitzchak took the role of president. Under his leadership, Watergen has expanded to dozens of countries, delivered units to humanitarian crises from Gaza to Ukraine, supplied national governments, and been deployed in symbolic geopolitical settings including the Vatican.
More recently, Yitzchak emerged as the controlling shareholder of Channel 14 — formerly Channel 20, now branded Now 14 — and of Calcala TV, Israel's economic news channel. Channel 14 is Israel's right-wing broadcast channel and has grown rapidly in audience share and political influence since the war. The position places Yitzchak among a small group of figures associated with significant editorial influence over Israeli television alongside significant capital deployment in Israeli technology.
Why Mirilashvili Matters in Israel
Three things, each consequential in its own right.
First, Watergen. Climate technology is one of the few areas in which Israel can credibly claim global category leadership, and Watergen is one of the country's most distinctive examples — a hardware company solving a basic human problem with a technology that travels well into the developing world.
Second, Channel 14. In a media environment dominated by two main commercial channels — Keshet 12 and Reshet 13 — Channel 14 has become the principal voice of Israel's political right, a competitor for primetime audience, and a constant feature in the country's political and cultural conversation.
Third, the philanthropic profile. Alongside his wife Vika, Yitzchak channels substantial resources through their foundation to Chabad emissaries — reportedly funding over 100 — Jewish educational programs, and welfare organizations worldwide. At a moment when antisemitism is again a defining international concern, that institutional commitment is part of his standing in Jewish communal life.
What Watergen and Channel 14 Do Today
Watergen continues to scale household, large-scale, military, and humanitarian product lines, with deployments in dozens of countries. Channel 14 operates as a major Israeli broadcast channel with news, current affairs, and entertainment programming. Calcala TV operates as an economic news channel adjacent to that platform.
The Mirilashvili family's broader portfolio in Israel includes major real estate holdings, hospitality, private investments across technology and consumer brands, and significant philanthropy in education, Holocaust commemoration, and Jewish communal infrastructure. The family operates with a low public profile relative to the scale of its activities.
Mirilashvili's Key Holdings
- Watergen — atmospheric water generation (president)
- Channel 14 / Now 14 — Israeli broadcast (controlling shareholder)
- Calcala TV — Israeli economic news channel
- The Kuf Dalet Group — sole shareholder and chairman; Herzliya-based holding company managing real estate and infrastructure in the US, Israel, Russia, and Europe
- Rainfall Ventures Management LLC — founder, managing partner
- Selectel — Russian data center network (co-founded 2007 with Lev Leviev)
- SPAR Israel — approximately 19.9% stake
- Rotshtein Real Estate and Kitaim Real Estate Investments — director
- Mirilashvili family foundation (with wife Vika) — Chabad emissaries, Jewish education, welfare
- Legacy exits: VK (2013, $1.12B family); Plarium (2017, ~$500M to Aristocrat)
Mirilashvili's Legacy
Mirilashvili sits in a rare category — second-generation Russian-Israeli wealth that didn't dissipate. The VK exit at age 29 alone would have been a complete career for most. He used it as starting capital. The Plarium exit added a second nine-figure event. The Watergen build is operating. The Channel 14 position is consolidating. Kuf Dalet is compounding. The foundation is funding.
The arc is unusual not because of any single platform, but because of the combination: climate tech, Russian internet, Israeli broadcast media, and Jewish communal infrastructure — four distinct domains, four different power bases, all running concurrently before he turned forty.
Why Mirilashvili Matters Now
In 2026, with water security and climate technology rising on every government's agenda, with global Jewish institutions increasingly central in the international response to antisemitism, and with Israeli broadcast media operating in a more politically charged environment than at any point in recent memory, Yitzchak Mirilashvili sits at three intersections — technology, Jewish institutional life, and editorial influence over Israeli television — that are getting more strategic, not less.
He has the platforms. The question is what he builds with them next.
FAQ
Who is Yitzchak Mirilashvili?
Yitzchak Mirilashvili — born Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Mirilashvili in Saint Petersburg in 1984 — is an Israeli investor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of VK (Russia's largest social network), president of Watergen (Israeli atmospheric water generation), and controlling shareholder of Israel's Channel 14. He is the son of Mikhael Mirilashvili.
What is Watergen?
Watergen is an Israeli atmospheric water generation company that pulls drinking water from ambient air at 250Wh per liter. Founded in 2009 by Arye Kohavi, it was acquired by the Mirilashvili family in 2016. Yitzchak Mirilashvili serves as president. Units have been deployed in dozens of countries, including humanitarian crises in Gaza and Ukraine and at the Vatican.
Did he really co-found VK?
Yes. He co-founded VK in 2006 with Pavel Durov and Lev Leviev, served as chairman and majority shareholder, and the founders raised capital from Yuri Milner's Digital Sky Technologies. The Mirilashvili family exited the stake in April 2013, receiving $1.12 billion.
What is Channel 14?
Channel 14 — formerly Channel 20, branded today as Now 14 — is Israel's right-wing broadcast channel and has grown rapidly in audience share and political influence since the war. Yitzchak is the controlling shareholder. Calcala TV, Israel's economic news channel, sits adjacent to that platform.
What was Mirilashvili's role at Plarium?
He was a 35% shareholder in Plarium, the Israeli free-to-play mobile gaming company founded in 2009. Plarium was sold to Australian-listed Aristocrat Leisure in 2017 for an estimated $500 million — his second nine-figure exit before he turned 35.
Where is he based?
Israel. He moved to Israel as a child, attended high school in Israel, returned after Tufts, and oversees his businesses and philanthropy from Israel through the Herzliya-based Kuf Dalet Group.
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מי הוא יצחק מירילשווילי? המשקיע הישראלי שמאחורי ווטרגן, VK וערוץ 14
מתוך משפחת מירילשווילי — יהודית-גאורגית, הון רוסי, עוגן ישראלי — מגיעה דמות של הדור הבא שבנתה את אחת מחברות הקלין-טק הידועות במדינה, הייתה ממקימי הרשת החברתית הגדולה ברוסיה, והפכה לבעלת השליטה בערוץ הימני בישראל.
מחוץ לישראל, שמו ידוע יחסית מעט. בתוך חוגי העסקים, המדיה והטכנולוגיה הישראליים, ההשפעה שלו רחבה באופן יוצא דופן.
השם מירילשווילי הוא אחד המשמעותיים — והנידונים ביותר — בעסקים בישראל. מוצא המשפחה גאורגי. ההון נבנה ברוסיה. מרכז הכובד נמצא כיום בבירור בישראל.
יצחק מירילשווילי — שנולד בסנט פטרבורג ב-1984 — מייצג את הדור הבא בקשת הזו. בנו של מיכאל מירילשווילי, הוא בנה לעצמו פרופיל ציבורי שמשתרע על שלוש פלטפורמות: טכנולוגיית אקלים ישראלית, אינטרנט רוסי, ושידור ישראלי.
The Olam Editorial Team | The Builders / הבונים
