Gilad Elbaz
Encyclopedia
Gilad Elbaz is an American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist best known for co-founding, along with Adam Weissman, Applied Semantics (ASI). He is the founder and CEO of Factual
, an information-sharing startup. He is also the founder and Chairman of the Board of the Common Crawl Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to democratizing access to Internet information.
(Caltech) where he earned a bachelor’s degree with a double major in Engineering & Applied Science and Economics.
In April 2003, Applied Semantics acquired by Google for US$102 million.
As part of the acquisition deal, Elbaz, and over 40 members of the Applied Semantics team joined Google and became Google Santa Monica. Elbaz served as Engineering Director at Google from 2003 to 2007. In 2005, he was presented with the prestigious Founders’ Award. During his tenure at Google, Elbaz continued to work on the Applied Semantics technology and Adsense. Adsense helped establish Google’s position as a leader in online advertising and has been responsible for a substantial amount of revenue since its launch in 2005 . In Q1 2011, Google reported it earned earned US$2.34 billion ($9.36 billion annualized), or 28% of total revenue, through AdSense.
In 2008, Elbaz founded Factual, an open data platform for application developers that leverages large scale aggregation and community exchange. Factual launched in October 2009. Elbaz self-funded the company for a little while, then in 2009 he raised over US$27 million from venture capital and angel investors, including the prestigious VC firms Andreessen Horowitz
and Index Ventures
and the digital technology thought-leader Esther Dyson
, who in addition to investing, sits on Factual’s Board of Advisors.As of Q4 2011, Factual employees over 40 people, provides services numerous users and partners with several companies including: Newsweek, SimpleGeo, MomentFeed and Fwix.
In 2007, Elbaz founded the Common Crawl Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to building, maintaining and openly disseminating a comprehensive crawl of the Internet for the purpose of enabling a new wave of innovation, education and research. Elbaz serves as the Foundation’s President and also as a member of the Board of Directors along with Carl Malamud
and Nova Spivack
.
Elbaz is a supporter of his alma mater Caltech and in 2008, he was given the honor to be named Young Alumni Trustee to the Board of Trustees.
Factual
Factual, founded in October 2009, is an aggregator and provider of open data, which it provides access to through web service APIs and reusable, customisable web applications. It is described by its founder, Gil Elbaz as "a platform for anyone to share and mash open data". Factual has datasets...
, an information-sharing startup. He is also the founder and Chairman of the Board of the Common Crawl Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to democratizing access to Internet information.
Education
From 1987 to 1991, he attended the California Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
(Caltech) where he earned a bachelor’s degree with a double major in Engineering & Applied Science and Economics.
Career
After graduation, Elbaz worked as a database engineer in the Silicon Valley for seven years. In 1998, Elbaz and his Caltech classmate Weissman founded Oingo, Inc in Santa Monica. Oingo launched at the Fall 1999 Internet World, and won the "Best of Show" Award in the category of Outstanding Internet Service. Oingo launched AdSense in December 2000. Oingo changed its name to Applied Semantics in 2001.In April 2003, Applied Semantics acquired by Google for US$102 million.
As part of the acquisition deal, Elbaz, and over 40 members of the Applied Semantics team joined Google and became Google Santa Monica. Elbaz served as Engineering Director at Google from 2003 to 2007. In 2005, he was presented with the prestigious Founders’ Award. During his tenure at Google, Elbaz continued to work on the Applied Semantics technology and Adsense. Adsense helped establish Google’s position as a leader in online advertising and has been responsible for a substantial amount of revenue since its launch in 2005 . In Q1 2011, Google reported it earned earned US$2.34 billion ($9.36 billion annualized), or 28% of total revenue, through AdSense.
In 2008, Elbaz founded Factual, an open data platform for application developers that leverages large scale aggregation and community exchange. Factual launched in October 2009. Elbaz self-funded the company for a little while, then in 2009 he raised over US$27 million from venture capital and angel investors, including the prestigious VC firms Andreessen Horowitz
Andreessen Horowitz
Andreessen Horowitz is a venture capital firm founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company's headquarters is in Menlo Park, California.The venture capital fund was started in June 2009 with an initial capital of $300 million....
and Index Ventures
Index Ventures
Index Ventures is a venture capital investment firm based in Geneva, Switzerland, with offices in London, Jersey, and starting in 2011, Silcon Valley. The firm was founded in 1996 by Neil Rimer and Giuseppe Zocco. Since its inception, the firm has raised four main venture funds and a growth...
and the digital technology thought-leader Esther Dyson
Esther Dyson
Esther Dyson is a former journalist and Wall Street technology analyst who is a leading angel investor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and commentator focused on breakthrough innovation in healthcare, government transparency, digital technology, biotechnology, and space...
, who in addition to investing, sits on Factual’s Board of Advisors.As of Q4 2011, Factual employees over 40 people, provides services numerous users and partners with several companies including: Newsweek, SimpleGeo, MomentFeed and Fwix.
Philanthropy
Elbaz is active in a number of non-profit areas. Since 2006 he has sat on the Board of Trustees for the X Prize Foundation. He is also involved in Los Angeles Social Ventures Partners an organization of professionals who donate money, time and expertise to help Los Angeles area nonprofits. Elbaz is committed to the open information arena, and supports organizations such as public.resource.org.In 2007, Elbaz founded the Common Crawl Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to building, maintaining and openly disseminating a comprehensive crawl of the Internet for the purpose of enabling a new wave of innovation, education and research. Elbaz serves as the Foundation’s President and also as a member of the Board of Directors along with Carl Malamud
Carl Malamud
Carl Malamud is a technologist, author, and public domain advocate, currently known for his foundation public.resource.org. He was the founder of the Internet Multicasting Service. During his time with this group, he was responsible for creating the first Internet radio station, for putting the...
and Nova Spivack
Nova Spivack
Nova Spivack is a technology entrepreneur named as one of the top thought-leaders on the future of the Web.Spivack is presently CEO of Bottlenose, a new realtime personalization startup...
.
Elbaz is a supporter of his alma mater Caltech and in 2008, he was given the honor to be named Young Alumni Trustee to the Board of Trustees.