Amobee has launched a new media system for ad-funding the entire mobile content and communication business.

Amobee is the only media system capable of dynamically inserting targeted, interactive advertisements into all types of mobile entertainment and communication channels, including videos, music, messaging, games, WAP., using a single, telco-grade ad-serving infrastructure. 

Headquartered in the Redwood City, CA, the company enjoys financial backing from some of the biggest names in venture capital: Accel Partners (www.accel.com), and Globespan (www.globespancapital.com), Sequoia Capital(www.sequoiacap.com) . The company also enjoys the backing of two leading operators: Vodafone and Telefonica both of whom have made strategic investments in the business. Amobee has commercial offices in London and Redwood City, with R&D in Herzliya, Israel.

Vision

1. Mobile users will engage with an ad-model if they are given a choice and if they understand what they will get in exchange for their engagement. We believe in providing a user-centric, permission-based model and ensuring that consumers are always in control and that they get value in return for ads . The advertising should be presented in a relevant, contextual, targeted, personalized user friendly manner. 

2. Mobile Operators are key to leveraging the value of mobile media because:

• Operators have a trusted relationship with their subscribers
• Operators own valuable media properties in their own right
• Operators hold the key to mobile media’s unique selling proposition: user data (CRM, Location, and transaction history)
• Operators have a unique, all-encompassing view of the user across all channels, which allows for optimal ad inventory usage.

3. The ‘user-paid’ model is one of the key barriers to the growth of mobile data consumption and revenues. As the mobile phone is fast becomes a media channel, bringing advertisers on board in a way that creates value for all stakeholders, it will lead to increased mobile data consumption and greater revenues.

4. Providing a holistic, scalable one-stop solution will help make mobile a more attractive media channel. Mobile must be scalable and easy for Advertisers to engage.

5. ‘Ad-funded’ does not necessarily mean ‘free’. Offering the user a choice between various levels of ad-funded and full price-,provides the user with the option to select the best alternative for their mobile usage habits.

Executive Team
Our team is a potent blend of mobile and online advertising experts united in their desire to build the best mobile ad server and the most compelling ad-funding solution for mobile operators. We are 100% dedicated to this one task. It is this blend of expertise, dedication, clarity of purpose and solid management experience which will make Amobee the leader in its field.

Zohar Levkovitz, CEO
Zohar Levkovitz has been at the forefront of mobile and internet technology development for over 10 years. As former CTO of Comverse 3G, MMS and WAP Push activities, Zohar led the development and compilation of several architectures and concepts, currently accepted as standards by the global telecom industry. During his tenure at Comverse Mr. Levkovitz held several key positions in the standardization bodies: Member at the 3GPP2 SC (TIA / EIA), chairperson for a strategic technology committee at OMA (WAP Forum), specification author for 3GPP, etc. In addition, Mr. Levkovitz has gained experience in the online advertising arena as General Manager of Smartshopper.com and as a VP of Product Development at Hotbar.com Inc.

Gary Schofield, President & COO
Gary Schofield brings over 20 years of operational management experience in both the enterprise and consumer markets. He has specialized expertise and focus in the communications industry, particularly mobile and online. Previously, Schofield was President of Networks at Digital Chocolate, where he was responsible for all business functions across the company’s four global locations. Throughout his tenure, he consistently led the company to significant year - over - year growth.
Schofield also was a founding executive team member and served as Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations for SEVEN Networks. He was responsible for establishing many of their largest partnerships with such wireless operators as: AT&T, Sprint, O2, Orange, KDDI, DoCoMo and Singtel. Prior to joining SEVEN, Schofield held executive sales roles at Phone.com (now Openwave), Oracle Corporation, and IBM.

Patrick Parodi, CMO and General Manager, EMEA
Patrick Parodi is responsible for Amobee’s business in EMEA, as well as the company’s overall marketing activities. Patrick has over 15 years of experience in the wireless and interactive media industries in over 20 markets worldwide. He has held management roles at Alcatel, PacketVideo, Diveo Broadband Networks, Skytel, Teleworx and TVAnswer (Eon Corporation). A staunch activist in the world of mobile entertainment, in 2004 Parodi was elected Chairman of the Mobile Entertainment Forum (www.m-e-f.org), the leading global trade association representing both the mobile and entertainment industries.

Roger Wood, SVP & General Manager, Americas Region
Roger Wood is responsible for Amobee’s dealings with wireless companies, mobile entertainment publishers and advertisers in the Americas. Prior, he served as COO & Practice Leader for the Media, Entertainment & Technology Practice at Willis Group, an international consulting firm. Previously, he was Corporate Vice President of Global Marketing at Reebok International. He served as General Manager of the international business for the consortium of start-up mobile operators which became T-Mobile USA: Aerial; Voicestream; Omnipoint; and Powertel. He began his wireless career as the marketing leader for the iDEN division of Motorola which created and launched the Nextel.

Ziv Eliraz, VP Strategic Alliances
Ziv Eliraz is responsible for establishing Amobee's long term strategic partnerships. Before joining Amobee, Ziv was VP of Strategic Alliances at Hotbar.com and SmartShopper working with the leading online advertising and e-commerce companies. Previously he was VP Business Development at Emblaze Systems (LSE:BLZ), a leading developer of wireless multimedia technologies.

Nitzan Yaniv,VP Business Development
Nitzan, is responsible for Agency and Advertiser relationships in the EMEA region. Before joining Amobee, Nitzan was Director of Sales & Business Development EMEA at Eyeblaster, a global leader in rich media and agency ad-serving solutions. Prior to that, he co-founded the digital division of Delaney Lund Knox Warren, a London ad agency.