Israel online trading platform eToro could be set for a Wall Street IPO in the coming days. The company, which tried to go public through a SPAC merger in 2021 but was forced to cancel the deal, recently filed a prospectus for an IPO but deferred the flotation last month due to market volatility. Now "Bloomberg" reports that eToro is expected to launch its IPO very soon, perhaps even this week.
According to the report, no final decision has yet been taken, but if the offering goes ahead, it will be the first among companies that postponed their flotations due to President Trump's imposition of tariffs on "Liberation Day" in early April.
eToro, which was founded in 2007 by CEO Yoni Assia, Ronen Assia and David Ring, has developed a trading platform for investors in a range of assets, from stocks and indices to commodities and cryptocurrencies. The prospectus that the company recently filed did not specify the value it is targeting for the offering, but "Globes" has reported that it is seeking to raise $300-400 million based on a company valuation of nearly $5 billion, after money. The research firm Renaissance Capital, which monitors the IPO market, estimates the scope of the fundraising at about $750 million.
The most recent financing round completed by eToro was in 2023 at a company valuation of $3.5 billion. However, in 2021, which was a record year for the tech sector and SPAC mergers, eToro was aiming for a $10.4 billion valuation. After delays in completing the merger and amid changes in market conditions, the valuation was cut to $8.8 billion, after money, but in the end the merger was not completed and the valuation continued falling.
eToro filed a prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), at the end of March. The markets were already volatile at the time, but Trump's tariff announcement led to sharp volatility and market declines, which weighed on IPOs market and led the company to postpone its flotation. Since then, things have changed. Despite the clouds of uncertainty still hanging over the markets, most of the tariffs have been postponed for the time being, and Wall Street indices have returned to their pre-Liberation Day levels. This has created a more favorable climate for IPOs, at least for large companies.
Another channel that has recovered significantly in recent weeks is Bitcoin, whose price has risen by 23.8% since the first week of April to about $96,000. eToro's platform is benefiting from the increase in demand for cryptocurrencies, and Bitcoin in particular. In its prospectus the company noted, "In 2013, we became one of the first regulated brokers in the EU offering Bitcoin trading." In a letter to investors attached to the prospectus, Assia wrote, "From the outset, eToro has been a pioneer in the cryptocurrency world. This was partly due to my early adoption and personal belief in Bitcoin and the transformative potential of blockchain technology."
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An additional positive factor that may explain the desire move forward with the IPO now is that two companies that offer trading platforms to investors, similar to eToro, have recently shown strong results. These are the renowned US rival RobinHood, and Israel's Plus500 (LSE: PLUS). These companies often benefit from volatile market trends, which increase investor interest in the markets and expand the scale of activity on their platforms.
eToro's prospectus does not yet include data for the first quarter of 2025. According to 2024 results published in it, the company recorded (gross) revenue of $12.6 billion last year, of which net revenue from stocks, commodities and currencies was $329 million up 7.5%; revenue from cryptocurrency assets jumped from $3.4 billion in 2023 to $12.1 billion last year, but net income from trading in them was negative at $131 million. eToro’s net profit in 2024 jumped to $192 million, almost 13 times higher than in 2023, compared with a loss of $215 million in 2022. At the end of 2024, eToro had 1,501 employees.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on May 4, 2025.
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