Uri Levine, the man who sold his startup to Google for a billion dollars, now sits on the board of Infosys

• Waze founder Uri Levine has been appointed as an independent director of Infosys.
• Levine founded Waze in 2007 and built it to be one of the largest community-based traffic and navigation apps. Waze was acquired by Google in June 2013 for a whopping $1.1 billion.
• Levine has also founded “The Founders Kitchen” – an investment fund.

Indian IT giant Infosys today announced that they have brought in Waze founder Uri Levine as an independent director.

“We are delighted to welcome Uri on the board of Infosys. He is a much admired serial tech entrepreneur with extensive and in-depth business understanding of emerging technologies and will bring tremendous value to the company,” said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, independent director and chairperson of the nomination and remuneration committee of Infosys.

Levine will be on the board of Infosys for three years, subject to approval of shareholders, the company said.

Levine founded Waze in 2007 and built it to be one of the largest community-based traffic and navigation apps. Waze was acquired by Google in June 2013 for a whopping $1.1 billion. However, Levine reportedly walked out with $38 million and decided to venture out on his own, instead of joining Google unlike his colleagues at Waze.

“My vision is specifically intended to disrupt inefficient markets and improve under-functioning services, focus on solving ‘BIG problems’, saving consumers time and money, while empowering them,” the Israeli entrepreneur says on his website.

He is also a trustee in Israel’s Tel Aviv University. As a mentor, he also teaches an academic workshop called “How to Build a Startup” to undergraduate and graduate level business students.

Levine has also founded ‘The Founders Kitchen’ – a fund which invests in startups that address “big problems, disrupt inefficient markets and improve dysfunctional services, empowering users with relevant and timely data and tools”. He made several bets on startups like Fibo, FairFly, Moovit, Seetree and LiveCare.

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