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Concept
MyHeritage
Summary
MyHeritage is an online genealogy platform with web, mobile, and software products and services, introduced by the Israeli company MyHeritage in 2003. Users of the platform can obtain their family trees, upload and browse through photos, and search through over 19.4 billion historical records, among other features.
As of 2023, the service supports 42 languages. In 2016, it launched a genetic testing service called MyHeritage DNA, with more than 6.5 million DNA kits in the company's database by March 2023. The company is headquartered in Or Yehuda, Israel, with additional offices in Tel Aviv, Israel, Lehi, Utah, Kyiv, Ukraine, and Burbank, California.
MyHeritage was founded in 2003 by Israeli entrepreneur Gilad Japhet (who continues to serve as the company's CEO). Japhet started the company from his living room in Bnei Atarot, Israel. For a long time, the company's headquarters were located in a family farmhouse in Bnei Atarot. In its infancy, MyHeritage was almost completely self-funded but had received funds from angel investors by 2005. It switched from a free service to a freemium business model. As of 2020, the company and its subsidiaries have a major control of the most world genealogy data.
Early on, MyHeritage required users to upload genealogical information from desktop software. The information could be viewed online but could not be altered. In 2006, MyHeritage introduced new features, including facial recognition software that recognized facial features from a database of photographs to link individuals together. In December 2006, the company acquired Pearl Street Software which was the creator of family tree software (Family Tree Legends) and a family tree submission site (GenCircles) with over 160 million profiles and 400 million public records.
By 2007, MyHeritage had 150,000 family trees, 180 million person profiles, 100 million photos, and 17.2 million users worldwide. The service was available in 17 languages. The company also began offering a new web-based feature that allowed users to upload genealogical information directly to the MyHeritage site.
Official source
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