MyHeritage, A 20 Year Story: Watch Our Documentary Film

It all started with a childhood passion for family history. Our Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet developed an interest in genealogy at a young age, even impressing his middle-school teacher with an exemplary genealogy project at age 13 — and it was that passion that led him to start MyHeritage 20 years ago. In the two decades that followed, the company has transformed from a scrappy startup in a Bnei Atarot barn with chickens clucking in the yard to an international phenomenon with millions of users and 550+ employees spread across multiple continents.

A milestone birthday is a great time to look back at all we have accomplished. We took the opportunity to produce a short documentary film about how we got here: a story of daring, perseverance, a strong sense of mission and purpose, and a liberal dose of chutzpah! The documentary is divided into 6 parts of 5–10 minutes each, with a total run time of 43 minutes. You can watch each part individually below, or view the full documentary here.

Part 1: The Early Years

Part 2: Starting Up

Part 3: Getting Noticed

Part 4: Leveling Up

Part 5: Making an Impact

Part 6: Exiting Into the Future

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who took part in this incredible project, including our in-house producers, director, and creative director, Shay Zilber, Eugene Slov, Roi Mandel, and Aaron Godfrey respectively; photographer and editor Noam Leibman of Kavana Films; and our associate editor, Dror Noy of Drop Production. Many thanks as well to the many MyHeritage employees, investors, and users, and friends and family members of Gilad, who dedicated the time to participate; and of course, to our fearless leader, Gilad Japhet, for sharing his story and allowing us all to be part of the dream he brought into reality.

Enjoy!