“There was one in a billion”: Joel Gat, one of the founders of Gilat and Stickspay, passed away

Yoel Gat, one of the founders of the company Discovered satellite networks And who has led the company in recent years SatixFy Who is expected to merge with SPAC on Wall Street, died earlier this week after battling cancer. Gat (69) founded Stickspay and was the chairman and CEO of the company, which deals like Gilat in the field of satellite communications, a field in which Gat is considered a world-renowned technological expert.

Gat has twice won the Israel Security Award, an award given to entities or individuals for activities that contribute to increasing security – most often for technological development. Gat holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Technion, and an MBA in business administration from Tel Aviv University. Over the years he has published books on his business experience. Gat was married to Simona, also part of the Stickspey management, and a father of two.

Gat managed Gilat from 1987 to 2003, which was characterized by very rapid growth in the company, but eventually also by a financial crisis and a creditors’ settlement. After leaving Gilat, Gat founded and managed the Reissat Israel company, which dealt in the field of mobile satellite antennas for vehicles. He founded Stickspay with Yoav Leibowitz in 2012, and in a large part of the company’s patents he is registered as an inventor.

Stickspay develops satellite communications modems with radio-configured software and multi-beam antennas, to support advanced communications standards. The company announced about a month ago its expected merger with the American SPAC company Endurance Acquisition Corp at a value of $ 813 million after cash, and a company value (EV) of about $ 632 million. The announcement came after Stickspay last year planned to issue on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, at a market value of NIS 1.4 billion after the money, but the attempt was unsuccessful. The merger in the United States reflects a higher value for it than the IPO it sought to promote in Tel Aviv, and it also brings with it a raising of up to $ 350 million.

“We have planned a ‘smashing revolution’ that will change the face of satellite communications”

Last week, just a few weeks after the merger was announced, Stickspay announced a refresh of its board of directors: Yoav Leibowitz, co-founder of the company and its CFO, was appointed co-chairman alongside Gat, and at the same time reported that the company will announce in the coming weeks Appointment of a new CEO, who will join the company in June and lead it in the next stage of its growth.

This message now receives a clearer explanation. Leibowitz told Globes about Gat, “he was one of a billion. Cross-border, multi-disciplinary personality. He founded several companies in his life. Even before that, he was in the army on huge projects that changed Israel’s security. On behalf of the high-tech. ”

According to Leibowitz, “Joel founded Gilat Satellite Networks, which went public in 1993 and was then worth $ 4.5 billion, in the days when they still did not know what high – tech and venture capital were. Innovative flats sold all over the world.

“The company was sold to Gilat, and in 2012 we founded Stickspay. The dream was that instead of improving the technology every year by 10% -20%, we would make a ‘smashing revolution’ that would change the face of satellite communications. It is only possible with chips, and that is expensive So at first no one agreed to invest in the company. We invested our money, we built a company for glory. Later came Catalyst (Investment Fund, NIS) and recently we raised $ 55 million from Francisco Partners and made a deal with SPAC. The management will continue Joel’s dream and vision for a great and successful realization. ”

In recent weeks, “conduct without a winepress, and operate as usual, including in the merger”

According to Leibowitz, in recent weeks the company has been operating without a winepress, and has continued to operate as usual, including in a merger with SPAC. Before that, “Joel was in all the presentations with all the investors, even flew with me to the West Coast in spite of everything. He was like a lion.”

It should be noted that in a prospectus submitted by Stickspay last year ahead of the IPO that did not take place in Tel Aviv, the chapter on risks associated with investing in the company states that “it depends on the continued activity of the company’s entrepreneur, CEO and chairman of the board, Yoel Gat. The company, will lead the marketing and business development efforts that largely depend on his abilities and personal connections, and will lead the technological development efforts in the company. ”

By Editor

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