eToro raises $100m to support global expansion and the development of blockchain-backed technologies

eToro, the world’s leading social trading and investment platform, today announced a Series E fundraise of $100 million to support its expansion into new markets as well as its continued research and development of blockchain technology and the digitisation of assets.

Led by China Minsheng Financial, the round of funding was participated in by SBI Group, Korea Investment Partners, World Wide Invest and other investors. Rothschild acted as the exclusive financial adviser to eToro.

eToro joined the London Stock Exchange’s ELITE programme in 2015 and completed its capital raising with the support of ELITE Club Deal, London Stock Exchange Group’s private placement platform.

The new investment brings the total capital raised by the business to $162 million and follows a period of significant growth for the business driven, in part, by demand for investments in the cryptocurrency market.

Commenting on the fundraise, Yoni Assia, CEO and founder of eToro, said: “eToro was built with the vision of democratizing financial markets by making trading and investing accessible to all. Since launching, we’ve seen strong customer demand for our approach and today’s announcement is an important milestone in marking the success that we’ve had and signalling a new period of growth and expansion for our business.

“This round of investment will be critical in helping us to further develop our technology infrastructure to support the rapid growth that we’ve recently experienced. It will also help us to enter new markets, enabling us to bring our social approach to investing to more people around the world, and providing more people with safe and secure access to the markets.  

“On top of this, as new technology continues to change finance, we want to remain at the forefront of that change. So today’s announcement will help us to continue our market leading work in blockchain research and the development of digital assets.”

eToro was founded in 2007 and now has a community of over 9 million users. In 2017, eToro received over $1bn in customer deposits and over one million new registrations in Q4 alone. This has led to a period of expansion for the business globally, including the opening of new offices and a drive to increase headcount.