eToro goes public: the platform has officially announced that its shares will be publicly tradable.
Technically there will be a merger with the financial company FinTech Acquisition Corp. V (FTCV), backed by banking entrepreneur Betsy Cohen. The combined assets will be about $10.4 billion, and the new company will be called eToro Group Ltd.
There will also be a private placement of common stock worth a total of $650 million involving investors such asION Investment Group, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Third Point LLC, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC and Wellington Management.
FinTech Acquisition Corp. V is already listed on NASDAQ under the symbol FTCV, and its share price yesterday jumped from $10.71 to $15.29, a 42% increase in just one day.
In fact, during 2020, eToro added over 5 million new registered users, generating gross revenues of $605 million (+147% compared to 2019). In other words, it is going through a phase of great growth, so much so that in 2019 it executed about 8 million average monthly trades, while in 2020 these became 27 million, and in January 2021 over 75 million.
eToro goes public, the comments
FinTech V’s Chairman of the Board, Betsy Cohen, said:
“As a pioneer in the evolution of SPACs, Fintech Masala, our sponsor platform, seeks out companies with outsized growth, effective controls and excellent management teams. eToro meets all three of these criteria. In the last few years, eToro has solidified its position as the leading online social trading platform outside the U.S., outlined its plans for the U.S. market, and diversified its income streams. It is now at an inflection point of growth, and we believe eToro is exceptionally positioned to capitalize on this opportunity”.
eToro CEO Yoni Assia added:
“Today marks a momentous milestone for eToro as we embark on our journey to become a publicly traded company with Betsy Cohen and the team at FinTech V. I want to express my gratitude for the passion, hard work, drive and determination of all of the eToro team members over the past 14 years who have helped make this a reality”.