MyHeritage

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MyHeritage

logo
legal form Private
founding 2003
Seat Or Yehuda , Israel
management Gilad Japhet (CEO)
Number of employees 430 (2020)
Branch Internet
Website myheritage.de

MyHeritage is a genealogy platform. It was developed in 2003 by the Israeli company MyHeritage. The platform users can create pedigrees , upload photos, search 12.5 billion historical records and around four billion profiles. The service is available in 42 languages ​​and has over 50 million users who have created over 52 million family trees on the site. In 2016, a genetic testing service called MyHeritage DNA was launched.

history

2003–2007: Foundation and early years

MyHeritages office in the village of Bnei Atarot, Israel

MyHeritage was founded in 2003 by Gilad Japhet (now CEO ) in his living room. In 2005 the company received funds from business angels . The business model was switched from a free service to a freemium model.

MyHeritage was collecting genealogical information from its users. The information could be viewed online but not edited. In 2006, MyHeritage hired facial recognition software that recognizes facial features from a photo database and then links people together. In December 2006, the company acquired Pearl Street Software, the author of Family Tree Legends. In addition, GenCircles, a pedigree submission site with over 160 million profiles and 400 million public records, was acquired.

In 2007, MyHeritage had over 150,000 family trees, 180 million profiles, 100 million photos, and 17.2 million users. MyHeritage received a total of $ 9 million from investors, half of which came from Accel .

2008–2012: acquisitions and developments

The headquarters of MyHeritage in Or Yehuda, Israel

In 2008, MyHeritage received an additional $ 15 million u. a. from Index Ventures and Accel and bought Kindo, a family tree-building service in the UK . At that time the website had over 260 million profiles, 25 million users and 230 million photos and offered its services in 25 languages.

In 2010, MyHeritage acquired Germany- based OSN Online Social Networking GmbH , a family tree website with seven genealogical versions. The versions were u. a. Verwandt.de from Germany, moikrewni.pl from Poland and dynastree.com from the United States . The acquisition brought several new features to MyHeritage (including coat of arms , family tree linking, and an option to venture into mobile applications).

Other acquisitions in 2011 include the Dutch family network Zoof, BackupMyTree, a backup service designed to store up to 9 terabytes of family history data, and FamilyLink, a developer of family history websites and owner of a large database of historical records (WorldVitalRecords .com, which provides censuses, birth, death, and wedding records, and an archive of historical newspapers). The company released an app for iOS and Android devices.

In 2012, MyHeritage recorded 1 billion profiles and presented several new features including Supersearch, a search engine for billions of historical records, and Record Matching, a technique that automatically compares MyHeritage's historical records with the profiles on the website and notifies users as soon as a match is found Pedigree was found.

In November 2012, MyHeritage acquired Geni.com , one of its main competitors. Geni remained as an independent brand. MyHeritage received an additional $ 25 million in a financing round with Bessemer Venture Partners .

2013 – present: partnerships and growth

In 2013, MyHeritage entered into a strategic partnership with FamilySearch. In this way, the techniques could be used to present users with faster results. At the time of business, MyHeritage had 75 million registered users and 1.6 billion profiles. The company also got access to all censuses of the United States from 1790 to 1940. In April 2013, MyHeritage released version 7.0 of the Family Tree Builder. MyHeritage introduced a web function that finds connections between different historical records.

In February 2014, the company partnered with BillionGraves to digitize and document graves and cemeteries around the world. In October 2014, the company also partnered with EBSCO Information Services to provide educational institutions (bookhouses, universities, etc.) with free access to MyHeritage's database of historical records. In December 2014, MyHeritage entered into an agreement with the National Archives of Denmark to index censuses and community records from 1646 to 1930.

In 2014, the company released the Instant Discoveries feature , which enabled users to add entire branches of relatives to the family tree at once.

In 2015, MyHeritage offered 6.3 billion historical records and had 80 million registered users. It also released Global Name Translation technology, which automatically translates names from different languages ​​to make searching for ancestors more efficient.

Products and services

MyHeritages products and services are available in the areas of web, mobile and software. The company's website, MyHeritage.com, operates on a freemium business model. The MyHeritage online database contains 6.3 billion historical records, including censuses, birth, marriage, death, military, immigration records, and historical newspapers. Users can also upload photos to their family tree.

Matching techniques

MyHeritage uses several matching techniques for family history research. Smart matching is used in the family tree as a cross-reference between a user and the family trees of all other users. The feature enables users to use information about their families from other, possibly related, people. Record matching works in a similar way, but it compares historical records with the data entered in the family tree.

Record Detective links historical records together and also uses existing family trees to enable connections between the records (for example a death certificate with a marriage license). Instant Discoveries compares the family trees of the users with other family trees and records and instantly points out a large amount of information about the family in the found sources. An entire tribe can thus be added to the family tree. Global name translation enables users to search for a relative in their preferred language and obtain historical documents in other languages ​​for that person.

Search Connect is a feature of MyHeritage that was released in November 2015. The function indexes search queries along with their metadata (dates, locations, relatives, etc.) and shows them in the search results as soon as others have made a similar search. The function enables users who have started a comparable search query to contact each other and thus work together.

Family Tree Builder

Family Tree Builder screenshot

The Family Tree Builder is a free software with which users can create their family tree, upload photos, view graphics / statistics. The information in Family Tree Builder can be viewed and updated on the MyHeritage website and app.

MyHeritage DNA

MyHeritage DNA is a genetic analysis service that was launched by MyHeritage in 2016. The DNA results are determined on the basis of cheek swabs , which the user can take in their own four walls. The results provide DNA matching and ethnicity estimates .

Data leak

The company announced in a press release that all email addresses and password checksums of those 92 million users stored in the database as of October 26, 2017, were found outside the company on a private server. At least since February 2019, the data of 92 million users can be purchased on the Darknet .

Recognitions and awards

In 2013, MyHeritage was selected by Globes as one of the most promising Israeli start-ups for 2013–2014. The company won 1st place. There were a total of 4,800 possible start-ups to choose from. In 2013, Deloitte also featured MyHeritage among the top 10 fastest growing companies in Europe , the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) on their Deloitte Fast 500 list.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Imprint - MyHeritage. Retrieved August 27, 2020 .
  2. ^ Company history and culture. Retrieved August 26, 2020 (American English).
  3. ↑ a b c d Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry: How A Startup No One Would Touch Crushed Silicon Valley Moguls And Became A Giant , Business Insider . July 18, 2011. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  4. ^ A b Ganna Rudenko: Anna Milkman: You shouldn't think that manna from heaven is everywhere here , Jewish News. April 29, 2015. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  5. ↑ a b Michael Arrington: MyHeritage Takes 180 Million People ProDateis To War With Geni , TechCrunch. August 28, 2007. Retrieved November 2, 2015.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / techcrunch.com
  6. ↑ Ellen Crean: Family Trees Grow Online , CBS News. November 25, 2006. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  7. ↑ Joe Heim: MyHeritage.com . In: The Washington Post , January 29, 2006. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  8. ↑ Nicholas Deleon: MyHeritage Expands Its Family Tree , TechCrunch. August 22, 2007. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  9. ↑ Ernst-Jan Pfauth: MyHeritage raises $ 15 million from Accel and Index , The Next Web. September 8, 2008. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  10. ↑ Ernst-Jan Pfauth: MyHeritage adds another branch to its tree: Kindo , The Next Web. September 23, 2008. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  11. ↑ Michael Arrington: Family Tree Wars Continue: MyHeritage Raises Big Round, Shows Impressive Growth , TechCrunch. September 6, 2008. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  12. ↑ MyHeritage takes over verwandt.de. In: deutsche-startups.de. February 2, 2010, accessed on October 23, 2019 (German).
  13. ^ Robin Wauters: MyHeritage.com Acquires Family Tree Backup Service BackupMyTree , TechCrunch. September 20, 2011. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  14. ↑ MyHeritage Unveil's Innovative Mobile Family Tree App , Business Wire. December 15, 2011. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  15. ↑ a b Jamillah Knowles: MyHeritage hits one trillion proDateis and Announces new features for historical research , The Next Web. June 11, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  16. ↑ a b Ingrid Lunden: All In The Family: MyHeritage Buys Former Yammer Stablemate Geni.com In An 8-Figure Deal, Raises $ 25M , TechCrunch. November 28, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  17. ↑ MyHeritage Releases SuperSearch - a State of the Art Search Engine for Family History , Business Wire. June 25, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  18. ^ Benny Evangelista: Family tree site Geni, which begat Yammer, sold to rival MyHeritage . In: San Francisco Chronicle , November 28, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  19. ↑ Matthew Lynley: MyHeritage Raises $ 25 Million, Aquires Geni . In: The Wall Street Journal , November 28, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  20. ^ Frederic Lardinois: MyHeritage Partners With FamilySearch To Add Billions Of Historical Records To Its Genealogy Database , TechCrunch. October 15, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  21. ↑ a b Raf Weverbergh: This Israeli startup has more proDateis than Facebook (and no bots among them): the MyHeritage story , Whiteboard Magazine . May 2013. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.whiteboardmag.com
  22. ^ A b MyHeritage Launches Record Detective ™ to Accelerate Family History Discoveries , Business Wire. May 13, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  23. ↑ MyHeritage trillion Graves to digitalize world's cemeteries . In: Globes , February 20, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  24. ^ MyHeritage Partners with EBSCO Information Services to Bring MyHeritage to Libraries and Educational Institutions Worldwide , Business Wire. October 7, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  25. ^ MyHeritage to Digitize and Add More Than 120 Million Historical Records from Denmark , Business Wire. December 22, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  26. ^ A b Frederic Lardinois: MyHeritage Wants To Bring Genealogy To The Mainstream With Instant Discoveries , TechCrunch. December 10, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  27. ↑ a b c Mike Gorrell: MyHeritage breaks down language barriers . In: The Salt Lake Tribune , July 13, 2015. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  28. ↑ Madhumita Venkataramanan: MyHeritage: reuniting the war's lost families . In: Wired UK . April 17, 2014, ISSN  1357-0978 ( wired.co.uk [accessed August 27, 2020]).
  29. ^ A b David Meyer: MyHeritage automates record-matching as genealogy wars heat up , Gigaom. September 19, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  30. ^ MyHeritage Releases Redesigned Mobile App for Family History , Business Wire. May 7, 2015. Accessed November 2, 2015. 
  31. ^ First Look at New Search Connect Feature on My Heritage , Genea Musings. November 4, 2015. Retrieved November 25, 2015. 
  32. ↑ Introducing Search Connect - every search is now a record! , MyHeritage blog. Retrieved November 25, 2015. 
  33. ↑ a b Frederic Lardinois: MyHeritage launches DNA testing service to help you uncover your family's history. In: TechCrunch. Retrieved January 13, 2017 .
  34. ^ MyHeritage Statement About a Cybersecurity Incident. In: myheritage.com. Retrieved June 6, 2018 .
  35. ↑ Holger Bleich and Dr. Michael Koch: The DNA teat. How Ancestry and MyHeritage observe the GDPR and other laws, article in issue 5/2020 from February 15, 2020, pages 20-22 of the German computer magazine c't Magazin .
  36. ^ Roy Goldenberg: "Globes" named MyHeritage most promising start-up . In: Globes , October 17, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2015. 
  37. ^ Yossi Nissan: 3 Israeli tech cos make Deloitte European top ten . In: Globes , December 1, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2015.