Noam Josephides

Noam Eliezer Josephides (born 10 November 1976) is an Israeli tech entrepreneur, writer and screen director. He is best known as an early leader of innovation in the Streaming media, Smart TV, content monetization and interactive narrative media, with a focus on bringing new technologies to emerging markets. Josephides is also a writer, screenwriter and director.
== Biography ==
Noam Josephides was born in Haifa to a mixed Cyprus family. At the age of 8, he published a monthly full-page comic-strip section in the children's magazine, Kulanu. At 14, he represented Israel in a global competition held by NASA The Planetary Society titled "Together to Mars", where highschoolers from 33 countries proposed technological innovations for a manned journey and colonization of Mars. At 18, Josephides wrote a thesis in Physics on Black hole and developed one of the first software simulations for predicting light particle trajectories falling beyond a Black Hole Event horizon.
After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces and served in the Israeli Air Force for 6 years, reaching the rank of major.
After his release from the army, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Tel Aviv University Film&TV department, mastering in both Screenwriting and Film director. Josephides graduated Latin honors.
Josephides is married to Israeli elite event planner and educational entrepreneur Karin Moscona, and they have three children. They reside in Ramat HaSharon, Israel.
== Business career ==
Josephides founded Pygmalion Venture Capital, a media, content and technology investment fund backed by leading institutional investment houses - Migdal (company), Leumi Bank and Tamir Fishman Investments, creating the first IPO route for venture funds in Israel.
Josephides then partnered with Israel's largest Film & TV studio, Utopia-FTS, to establish a dedicated incubator for media projects in New Media and innovative technologies.
In 2007, Josephides envisioned the revolutionary effect of broadband Internet connectivity on the distribution and consumption opportunities for video content, and founded 972FIlms, which offered one of the earliest Streaming media and digital distribution platforms to independent creators of Film, TV, Music and other audiovisual arts. The company later merged with the Pygmalion Group and was renamed Pygmalion Digital. It established one of the first digital partnerships with Amazon (company), YouTube, Yahoo! and others.
In 2010, Josephides partnered with Prof. Nitzan Ben Shaul of Tel Aviv University to acquire a patented invention developed by Ben Shaul in the realm of Interactive Video. The Intellectual property was the basis for the founding of InSplit, a technology company where Josephides served as CEO and which developed an innovative platform for creating and exhibiting interactive, branching narrative videos in a unified technology which worked in Movie theater, Television broadcasting, streaming platforms, Smartphone and Tablet computer and other crowd-participating methods. InSplit's technology was embedded in various productions including the award-winning full-length feature film "Turbulence". InSplit technology was acquired in 2012.
After Samsung announced the first generation of Smart TVs in 2010, Josephides founded two technology startup companies: 
Vonetize was the world's first full VOD and streaming platform for Smart TVs. The company's Video on demand, TV and Live Shows technolopgy platform and service SmartVOD was embedded and pre-installed on over 100M televisions sold globally by companies such as Samsung, LG Electronics, Toshiba, Hisense, Philips and others. The company had partnership agreements with Major film studios such as The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Studios, Miramax, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was the first company to offer 4K streaming globally and enter niche emerging markets such as Africa, Russia, Latin America and Middle East. The company went public on August 1, 2016 in Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Josephides served as Chairman and CEO from the company's inception until April 2019, when he appointed a US-based CEO to the company.
Josephides also co-founded SmartPay.tv - the world's first Smart TV payment processing platform. The company's technology enabled monetization and payment processing through a Smart TV remote control, and was embedded in a deep integration with the TV motherboard design of major TV manufactureres such as Samsung, LG Electronics, and others. SmartPay was acquired in March 2016.
Josephides held senior positions in Amazon Web Services and Cisco Systems, and serves as an adviser and board member in various startups and tech initiatives.
== Media career==
In 2003, Josephides wrote and directed the music video "Sigapo" featuring the rock band Doll House. In 2004, he wrote and directed "Alex", which won "Best Director" and other awards in International Film Festivals. In 2006, he wrote the feature-length screenplay for "Tuichi River". In 2010, he wrote the feature-length screenplay for an award-winning film "Oil and Water". In 2011, Josephides wrote the pilot episode and 2 additional episodes for the American anthology "Bellum Animus".
Category:1976 births
Category:Israeli businesspeople
Category:Israeli business executives
Category:Israeli male screenwriters