Tradition of innovation across generations

Our Family immigrated from Basel Switzerland to Jerusalem Israel in 1956.

From Traditional Trade Lanes to Tech Highways: A Century of Family Entrepreneurial Spirit

The entrepreneurial spirit of our great grandfather, Jacob Hecht, who founded the Rhine-based shipping empire, Neptun Transport, in the early 20th century, has continued to thrive and evolve through subsequent generations of our family. Today, his innovative legacy has diversified into a multitude of fields, including electro-optics, medical devices, and online education.

This is our family's entrepreneurial story:

Neptun Transport

1920 – 1967
Jacob Hecht and his family emigrated from Germany to Basel, Switzerland in 1919. Back then, he had already established himself as a wealthy self-made entrepreneur that founded Rhenania, a German shipping company.

In 1920 In Basel, Jacob founded Neptune Transport & Shipping.

As of early 1924, Neptun became a big company with granaries and shipyard facilities built in the new Basel port of Kleinhüningen. By 1940 Neptune became Switzerland's largest shipping and storage company in terms of ship space and size of storage facilities.

Optrotech

Today Orbotech a KLA Company

1981
Emanuel Binnun (Hecht), the grandson of Jacob Hecht, was born in Basel. Holding a master’s degree in Physics with a specialization in electro-optics, and following his work in the electro-optical industry, he co-founded Optrotech, one of the two companies that eventually merged to create Orbotech, now part of KLA (https://www.orbotech.com/)

Within 18 months of its founding, Optrotech became the first company to market an automated optical inspection (AOI) product for the printed circuit board industry. As the first mover, Optrotech became a market leader in its field, driving significant changes in the printed circuit board industry. These innovations enabled companies to achieve faster production times and greater volumes, reducing costs and accelerating the declining prices of printed circuit boards. This, in turn, fueled advancements in the global electronics and computer industries.

In 1984, Optrotech held its initial public offering on NASDAQ. By 1986, a fellow company, Orbot, surpassed Optrotech as the AOI market leader. The subsequent merger of the two companies formed Orbotech, which was traded on NASDAQ for many years and is now part of the KLA group.

Talia Technology

1991
After the merger of Optrotech and Orbot, Emanuel (Hecht) Binnun left and embarked on a new venture. Again, in the electro-optic field, but this time in the medical industry. He Founded Talia Technology, which developed and commercialized imaging systems for screening and diagnosing back-of-the-eye diseases. Talia’s product Retinal Thickness Analyzer (RTA) provides a complete retina and disc examination (including fundus imaging), enabling the detection of the following major eye diseases at their earliest stage when they can still be treated: Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) , Other Retinal Pathologies.

Talia’s RTA was FDA-approved, with thousands of installations at clinics and hospitals worldwide, and its use was reimbursed by medical insurance in the USA and many other countries.

eTeacher Group

2000
Keeping the tradition of family entrepreneurship and innovation, Yariv and Boaz Binnun, the great-grandsons of Jacob Hecht, founded eTeacher Group, Israel’s pioneers in online education and today Israel’s largest ed-tech company (education and technology). https://www.eTeacherGroup.com

eTeacher manage and operates online schools worldwide, focusing on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) education for kids worldwide and language instruction for adults.
Yariv and Boaz sold over the years majority holding of eTeacher to Pamoja Capital, a Swiss private equity firm based in Geneva.

The company employs over 1,000 employees worldwide, serving over 40,000 students annually from 200 countries. With sales reaching 35M USD a year

Dinvest

2023

From Online Education to AI-Driven Property Management

Following the success of eTeacherGroup and the experience gained in transforming traditional education into a global online experience, Yariv and Boaz decided to bring their expertise into the real estate sector with the acquisition of DInvest Bewirtschaftung. https://www.dinvest.ag

Dinvest Bewirtschaftung has positioned itself as a pioneer and leader in automation and data-driven decision-making, redefining the future of property management. By automating routine tasks, we empower our managers to focus on what truly matters—providing exceptional service and strategic property oversight.

"When we founded eTeacherGroup in 2000, we believed that the internet revolution would change the way we learn—and it did. Today, I see AI holding the same transformative potential for property management in Europe."