Rael Levitt

Rael Levitt (born 10 May 1971) is an entrepreneur, author and business leader from South Africa. He is a double master's degree graduate from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the National University of Singapore.

Career
Levitt founded multiple real estate, investment and technology companies. He is best known for developing auctions and micro-logistics parks in Southern Africa.

Early career
While studying at the University of Cape Town, Levitt sold his first property in 1989. In August 1992, he conducted his first auction on behalf of Absa Bank Ltd and at the age of 21 founded his first auction company, Levco Auctions. Three years later Levitt sold Levco Auctions to Seeff Holdings Ltd and merged the two companies. Levitt was appointed CEO of the merged company that was renamed Seeff Auctions.

Auction Alliance
After the delisting of Seeff Holdings Ltd in 1998, Levitt completed a management buyout of Seeff Auctions, renamed the company Auction Alliance and became its CEO. In 2006, Auction Alliance sold a 25.1% stake to Amabubesi Investments and in 2010 a 31% stake to Transaction Capital. By 2011 Auction Alliance's turnover was over R300 million, with sales of over R6 billion. In 2011, after a well-publicized dispute arose at an auction, Levitt voluntarily closed Auction Alliance.

Inospace
In 2017 Levitt founded Inospace, an owner and manager of serviced industrial and logistics parks. The company began with one industrial park in Epping, Cape Town and grew through acquisitions. Under Levitt's leadership, Inospace grew its assets in South Africa and the United Kingdom to over R3billion. In 2022 Inospace concluded a R1,25billion transaction with Fortress REIT Ltd. In 2023, the company branched into the logistics sector, offering outsourced warehousing and fulfilment services to e-commerce businesses

Lisa Proptech
In 2023, Dutch-based technology platform Lisa BV acquired the core leasing technology platform from Inospace, South Africa’s largest last-mile logistics operator. Levitt was appointed as the South African CEO and Dutch non-executive Chairman.

Lift Airline
Levitt is a founding shareholder of Lift Airline, which launched on 10 December 2020. Lift operates on major domestic routes from O. R. Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg using a fleet of Airbus A320 narrow body aircraft, operated by Global Aviation. Levitt is a non-executive director of the airline.

Book
It Takes a Tsunami (2022), published by Mercury.

Community positions
In 2010 Levitt was appointed as the Chairman of YAD. He was appointed a trustee of the Rambam Trust, a board member of Glendale care services and the United Jewish Campaign. Levitt is the founding trustee of the Red Circle Trust, which focuses on entrepreneurial educational development.