Etoro, a competitor to multi-asset investing and trading platform and Robinhood, announced on Tuesday it would go public through a merger with SPAC FinTech Acquisition Corporation V in a go $10.4 billion deal. Once the transaction closes in the third quarter, the consortium expected to operate as etoro Group Limited and listed on the Nasdaq Exchange.
The 14-year-old Israeli company founded based on the “dream of opening a capital market”. It launched its platform in the United States about two years ago and has seen rapid growth as of late. Last year, Toro reported that it added more than 5 million new registered users and grossed $605 million in total revenue, representing 147% year-over-year. In January alone, the company added more than 1.2 million new registered users and executed more than 75 million trades on its platform.
This compares with 2019 when the average of monthly registrations averaged 192,000 and 2020, when they increased to 440,000. eToro said its platform is capitalizing on a number of secular trends, such as the rise of digital wealth platforms, increased retail partnerships and the adoption of mainstream crypto.
Because of the so-called “meme stock” activity that began with Redditors Trading GameStop Stock to frustrate the company’s short sellers, the company benefited from retail investment interest, and in particular consumer investment applications and services. The platform, which acquired the “social” stock trading and cryptocurrency exchange Delta in November 2019, is the crypto portfolio tracker app.
EToro claims to be one of the first regulated platforms to deliver cryptoassets. Its platform controlled in the United States, Europe, Australia, the United States and Gibraltar. Top $650 million ordinary shares of top investors, including ION Investment Group, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Third Point LLC, Fidelity Management and Research Company LLC, and Wellington Management, were included in the private placement transaction.
The total equity value of $10.4 billion included in the consolidation includes an underlying enterprise value for $9.6 billion.
EToro currently has more than 20 million registered users in 100 countries, and its social community is expanding rapidly as part of secular trends such as the development of digital asset platforms and the growth of retail participation.
