Israeli Digital Trading Platform Raises $250M, Valued At $3.5BN

An Israel-founded digital currency trading platform has raised $250 million. 

eToro, which now has a value of $3.5 billion, was founded with the vision of opening up the global market so that everyone can trade and invest in a simple and transparent way.

Today, its community of over 30 million users can easily buy, hold, and sell assets, and monitor their portfolio in real time.

In 2022, the platform earned $631 million in commissions, with digital currencies accounting for six percent of the earnings, while equities (stocks) and commodities (selling real-world assets like oil, gold, and cocoa electronically) made up 48 percent and 27 percent, respectively.

This is a fall in revenue from $972 million in 2021, however the company expressed satisfaction with its financial performance despite the 35 percent drop. Trading activity in cryptocurrencies has decreased significantly, with traders instead switching to investing in commodities such as natural gas, crude oil, and gold.

eToro also experienced a number of setbacks prior to raising the capital. In 2021, it announced that it would go public via merger with FinTech Acquisition Corp. V in a $10.4 billion deal. 

But a year later, its valuation had been cut by over 15 percent to $8.8 billion. And by July, the two parties mutually agreed to terminate the deal, due to “regulatory changes in regard to companies involved in cryptocurrencies”.

“At eToro we need no reminder that markets are cyclical. The diversified nature of our multi-asset product offering ensured that commissions from equities and commodities partially offset the decrease in commissions from cryptoassets in 2022,” said eToro CFO Meron Shani. 

“It’s also worth noting that we were not impacted by the liquidity concerns which plagued many in the crypto industry.”

eToro was founded in 2007, and is headquartered in London. It has offices in Israel, New York, Australia, and Cyprus.