Mikhael Mirilashvili: Owner of Watergen

By The Olam Editorial Team · Edited Jul 7, 2026

THE BUILDERS | OLAM.BUSINESS

Owner and president of Watergen. Vice President of the World Jewish Congress. President of the Saint Petersburg Jewish Congress. One of the most consequential examples of post-Soviet Jewish capital rebuilt, anchored, and philanthropically deployed inside Israel.

Mikhael Mirilashvili is the co-owner and president of Watergen, the Israeli climate-technology company whose atmospheric-water-generation units extract drinking water from humidity in the air. Watergen has deployed in more than 100 water-stressed regions of the world — humanitarian shipments to Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, and other crisis zones; a unit installed at the Vatican; and the Abraham-Accords-era Israeli-Emirati Water Research Institute in Abu Dhabi, partnered with Tel Aviv University.

Alongside Watergen, Mirilashvili anchors a substantial Israeli philanthropic and institutional footprint. He is Vice President of the World Jewish Congress, longtime president of the Saint Petersburg Jewish Congress, and former chairman of ZAKA. He is a major funder of Migdal Ohr — whose programs have materially supported tens of thousands of Israeli children and youth — Keren Hayesod, Yad Vashem, the IDF, and the Torah and Chessed Center for Georgian Jews. The philanthropic architecture is one of the largest by any single donor family operating from Israel.

Snapshot

• Born: May 1960, Kulashi, Georgian SSR
• Education: Saint Petersburg Medical School (pediatrics)
• Primary business: Watergen (co-owner and president)
• Other holdings: Israeli real estate, private investments in green technology, biotech, and climate
• Based in: Israel
• Institutional roles: Vice President, World Jewish Congress; President, Saint Petersburg Jewish Congress; former Chairman, ZAKA

The Business Story

Mirilashvili was born in 1960 in Kulashi, a small town in Soviet Georgia with one of the older Georgian-Jewish communities. He moved to Leningrad in 1977 and trained as a pediatrician at Saint Petersburg Medical School. Through the late 1980s he joined the family business established by his father, Moshe Mikhael. As the Soviet economy liberalized, the family expanded across pharmacy, commercial real estate, construction, and energy. By the mid-1990s the operations had moved beyond the former Soviet Union and the family had begun investing in Israel.

In 2001 Mirilashvili was arrested in Russia and imprisoned for approximately eight years. The case drew significant legal debate and proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights. He was released in 2009 and moved the center of his life and business operations to Israel.

From Israel, Mirilashvili rebuilt across sectors he now considers strategic to the country: climate technology, water, real estate, hospitality, and energy. He has stated publicly that he has divested from most of his Russian-based businesses and that the center of the family operation is now Israeli.

Watergen

Watergen is the visible flagship. The technology, developed by Israeli engineer Arye Kohavi, produces drinking water from humidity in the air using a proprietary heat-exchange and filtration system. The company has deployed units in more than 100 countries. The Vatican has installed a Watergen machine. Humanitarian units have been delivered to Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, India, and other water-stressed regions.

The Israeli-Emirati Water Research Institute in Abu Dhabi — established by Mirilashvili with Tel Aviv University as academic partner — is one of the more substantive technology collaborations to emerge from the Abraham Accords.

Why He Matters in Israel

Mirilashvili is one of the clearest examples of post-Soviet Jewish wealth choosing to anchor its capital and its institutional life in Israel rather than abroad. The family operates significant Israeli real estate and owns Watergen. Through his son Yitzchak Mirilashvili, the family footprint extends into Israeli broadcast media (Channel 14) and international technology (a co-founding position at VK, the Russian internet platform, divested prior to the current cycle).

His institutional Jewish role is substantial. As Vice President of the World Jewish Congress, chairman-emeritus of ZAKA, and a longtime senior funder of Migdal Ohr, he sits at intersections of capital, technology, and Jewish institutional life that few other figures occupy.

Key Holdings

• Watergen — co-owner and president (atmospheric water generation)
• Significant Israeli real estate and construction positions
• Private investments in green technology, climate, and biotech (Vertical Field, Nanosono, others)
• Israeli-Emirati Water Research Institute (Abu Dhabi, with Tel Aviv University)
• Petromir — Russian holdings company (president; the family has publicly signalled divestment)

Philanthropic Footprint

ZAKA (former chairman), Migdal Ohr, Keren Hayesod, Yad Vashem, the IDF, the World Jewish Congress, the Russian Jewish Congress (vice president), the Torah and Chessed Center for Georgian Jews, and a broader network of Israeli and diaspora institutions. The scale and consistency of the giving is among the largest of any single donor family operating from Israel.

Why He Matters Now

In 2026, with Watergen continuing to deploy in geopolitically symbolic settings, with the family’s Israeli broadcast position increasingly consequential, and with post-Soviet Jewish capital under structural realignment, Mirilashvili sits at intersections of climate technology, philanthropy, and Israeli institutional life that few other figures occupy.

---

---

olam.business | The Builders / הבונים