5 Questions For The Co-founder of Waze
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Uri Levine January 26, 2017
In this series —Why Is This Interview Different From All Other Interviews — we will introduce you to pioneering Jewish leaders across a variety of industries.
Uri Levine is a co-founder of Waze, the world’s largest driving traffic and navigation app, which was acquired by Google in June 2013 for more than $1.1 billion.
After Waze, he co-founded and is active chairman at FeeX, which allows users to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in their retirement savings and long term investment plans.
Levine focuses solely on consumer services, specifically those which create a lot of value to a lot of users, like saving money, time and empower them — in other words, doing good and doing well.
What is your connection to Judaism?
I’m an Israeli and a Jew. I live in Israel and am a Zionist.
What’s your favorite new “big idea” coming from the Israel-US tech ecosystem?
Waze, Moovit, FeeX, Zeek, FairFly, Engie, Roomer… all are my startups.
What is your connection with this big idea?
I’m the founder of Waze, FeeX, FairFly, Engie and involved heavily in the other and will start half a dozen of new big ideas in the next couple of years.
Does these forthcoming big ideas represent Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) or Israel as the “Start-up Nation?”
Yes, BOTH. my philosophy is about creating a lot of value to a lot of people — solving big problems, so essentially it is both tikkun olam and startup nation.
Why is this interview different from any other interview?
It was quick, but if it is different or not — we will wait for the results.
Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
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