Dan Serfaty (born February 5, 1966 in Strasbourg, France) is a French entrepreneur and businessman. He is best known as the former co-founder and CEO of the professional social network

Viadeo Viadeo is a Web 2.0 professional social network whose members include business owners, entrepreneurs and managers. Viadeo was often compared to LinkedIn, offering free access but not being able to compete with the larger corporation. As of 2014 ...

Biography

After graduating from HEC Paris Entrepreneurship program in 1987, Serfaty spent 2 years abroad before starting his entrepreneurial life. In 1989, he acquired a company in the tourism sector, which he turned profitable before selling it in 1991. At the same time, he co-founded a company specializing in the distribution of imported clothing products from Asia, which he sold 10 years later. In 2000, he founded Agregator, a club dedicated to entrepreneurs, helping them share their experiences, ideas, and contacts with other club members. Uniquely, most of Agregator's members were the

CEOs Kea ( el, Κέα), also known as Tzia ( el, Τζια) and in antiquity Keos ( el, Κέως, la, Ceos), is a Greek island in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Kea is part of the Kea-Kythnos regional unit. Geography It is the island of ...

of small companies, financed by

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...

, bringing them

liquidity Liquidity is a concept in economics involving the convertibility of assets and obligations. It can include: * Market liquidity, the ease with which an asset can be sold * Accounting liquidity, the ability to meet cash obligations when due * Liq ...

and

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

returns. The Agregator experience was the context where Dan developed the idea for a business-oriented

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for ...

, while working originally on some software that would allow club members to access each other's contacts. In 2004, with Thierry Lunati, he co-founded Viaduc–the original name of

–investing part of the first 5 million euros raised for Agregator. In 2006, Viaduc became

, as the company was aiming toward worldwide development, including launching its English and Italian versions. With over 60 million users worldwide, Viadeo is the second largest professional social network. In 2007, Viadeo expanded to China with the acquisition of Tianji.com, a local social networking site counting 1.3 million users at that time. Tianji.com rapidly grew its user base, reaching 8 million in 2011. In January 2016, after a failed attempt to conquer international markets, Dan Serfaty left the company which was taken over by Le Figaro. In the same year, he founded Artur'In. Beginning 2020, Dan became the Co-President of Keren Hayessod France, a charity aiming at reducing the social fracture in Israel. A few months later, Dan also joined the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel

References

External links

Dan Serfaty on Viadeo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serfaty, Dan Businesspeople from Strasbourg 1966 births Living people