LONDON, December 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
eToro, the world's leading social investment network, today
announced that it has secured an equity round from the leading
Chinese venture capital firm Ping An Ventures, a VC under
Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd., the largest non-state owned
integrated financial services conglomerate in China and SBT Venture Capital, a
fintech focused fund whose main partner is Russia's largest bank.
eToro's current investors, Spark Capital and BRM Group also
participated in the round. The new financing also includes a credit
facility from Silicon Valley Bank.
eToro is the world's largest social investment network, with 4
million registered users in more than 140 countries, with thousands
of new accounts opened each day. eToro leads the social trading
revolution through its social investment network, which enables
every investor to see, follow and automatically copy the actions of
other investors in real time.
This new financing and strategic Investment will enable eToro to
accelerate its rapid growth, generate opportunities for expansion
into new regions including China
and Russia and fast track the roll
out of the expected product roadmap.
"We're very excited to have two of the largest financial
institutions in the world join our company as
partners," said Yoni Assia, CEO and Co-Founder
of eToro. "We look forward to leveraging their deep industry
knowledge and expertise with our disruptive vision and product. We
share a vision to empower retail investors all over the world to
trade and invest in a social and transparent way, and we're proud
to partner with 2 of the largest financial institutions in the
world to lead this revolution."
"When we initially invested in eToro, we saw how it would
disrupt the financial markets with its innovative social trading
approach," said
Spark Capital Co-Founder and General Partner
Santo Politi. "We're happy to see the company's global
potential is being embraced around the world."
"eToro has become synonymous with financial innovation among
members of Gen Y all over the
world," says Mircea Mihaescu,
Managing Partner of SBT Venture Capital. "Social Investment is
changing the way people trade and invest as part of a revolution
started by eToro and we are thrilled to partner with such a
successful and promising company."
"We are extremely impressed with eToro's vision and the way its
social investment platform enables access to global markets while
connecting people from across the
world," says Jiang ZHANG,
Director of Ping An Ventures. "We are
confident that this partnership will enable eToro to quickly expand
its network in the fast-growing China market."
About eToro
eToro is the world's leading social investment network, with 4
million registered users in over 140 countries and thousands of new
accounts opened each day. eToro leads the social trading revolution
through its community powered network, which enables every investor
to see, follow and automatically copy the actions of other
investors in real time. eToro's mission is to revolutionize the way
people access the financial markets and make their trading
experience more social, simple, enjoyable and transparent.
By harnessing the wisdom of the crowd every member of eToro's
social trading network benefits from accelerated information
exchange, knowledge sharing and the ability to quickly identify the
best investment opportunities. With a wide range of award-winning
mobile and web-based social trading tools eToro appeals to every
level of trading expertise, and provides an investment experience
like no other before. For more information, visit us at
http://www.etoro.com
About SBT Venture Capital
SBT Venture Capital manages a fin-tech fund investing in the
most promising start-ups of the financial industry worldwide. SBT
brings together considerable experience in the banking industry, an
incredible network of financial services companies and related
technology vendors, and one of the biggest banks on the planet as
primary partner. SBT focuses on early-stage growth companies
already generating revenue but in need of capital and the right
network to reach scale.
For more information, please visit
http://www.sbt-vc.com
About Ping An Group
and Ping An Ventures
Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. is an integrated financial
services group with three core businesses of insurance, banking and
investment. Ping An is ranked No.128
in U.S. Fortune's Global 500 ranking, and No.1 among China's non-State owned enterprises. It has
about 557,000 life insurance sales agents and 203,000 full-time
employees. As at 31 September 2014,
the Group's consolidated total assets and equity attributable to
shareholders of the parent company reached RMB3.86 trillion and RMB218.68 billion, respectively. For more
information, visit at
http://about.pingan.com/en/index.shtml.
Ping An Ventures is the venture capital investment platform
under Ping An Group, focusing on early stage global innovative
companies. Back by Ping An Group, Ping An Ventures brings not only
capital but also management experience, platform and resources to
its portfolio companies, providing one-stop shop services.
About Spark Capital
Spark Capital is a bi-coastal, boutique venture capital firm
that partners with bold entrepreneurs who are passionate about
reaching millions of people through new ideas in design and
technology. Founded in 2005, Spark Capital manages approximately
$1,825,000,000 across five funds. We
are in Boston, New York, and San
Francisco, and we invest wherever we see the right
opportunities. We are currently investing Spark IV, a $450,000,000 fund raised in 2013 and Spark
Capital Growth Fund, a $375,000,000
fund raised in 2014. Spark Capital focuses on Internet and mobile
investments across the following key categories: advertising &
monetization, commerce & services, content & media,
financial services, hardware & infrastructure, mobile and
social. Some of Spark Capital's most notable investments include
Adap.tv (acquired by AOL), AdMeld (acquired by Google), Oculus
(acquired by Facebook), OMGPOP (acquired by Zynga), Tumblr
(acquired by Yahoo!), and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR). For more
information, visithttp://www.sparkcapital.com.
For further details:
Nadav Avidan
Head of Communications at eToro
+972-522-316661
nadavav@etoro.com