CommerzVentures invests into social investing company eToro Group

First investment of CommerzVentures
CommerzVentures joins existing investors in a Series D financing

CommerzVentures GmbH, the Corporate Venture Capital subsidiary of Commerzbank launched around six months ago, has made its first investment in a fintech company. It joined the venture arms of Sberbank and Ping An as a follower investor in the Series D financing of the social investment platform eToro Group Ltd. The total investment volume raised among the investors amounted to USD 39 million. This includes a credit line of USD 10 million‎ by Silicon Valley Bank.

Since the launch of CommerzVentures in the first quarter of 2014, the team has met far more than one hundred entrepreneurs and companies. „We aim at further improving Commerzbank’s ability to access innovations and trends in the financial sector. We have examined quite a number of interesting companies during the past months. Their potential alone shows that we are on the right track,“ said Bettina Orlopp, Member of the Divisional Board for Group Development & Strategy at Commerzbank and member of the CommerzVentures investment committee.

eToro Group Ltd. was founded in 2007 with the vision of developing a platform that would open the financial markets to everyone by simplifying the user’s experience. eToro then developed a contracts for difference (“CFD”) trading platform, which was launched in 2008. Following the rise of popular social networks, the company decided to launch its own social investing platform called “OpenBook” in 2010. The aim of social trading is to promote transparency by allowing traders from all across the globe to copy and learn from one another. To date, eToro has over 4 million registered users and offers hundreds of CFDs on currencies, stocks, indices, and commodities.

„At CommerzVentures we want to work with the best entrepreneurs who can articulate why they can dominate a given market segment. eToro is a perfect fit as it has firmly established itself as the leader in social trading and as it is run by ambitious and very talented management“, said Stefan Tirtey, co-managing director of CommerzVentures.

Yoni Assia, eToro's co-founder and CEO said: “These are truly exciting times for us at eToro as new partners begin to share our vision of recreating personal finance. The new funds raised will help us scale globally and grow faster than ever before. With new offices opened and others soon to follow, we will continue to dominate the field of social trading. Later this year, we are planning to introduce a completely new platform alongside our revamped popular investors program. The program gives traders the opportunity to earn a monthly income from trading and being copied by others on our platform.”

About Commerzbank

Commerzbank is a leading international commercial bank with branches and offices in more than 50 countries. The core markets of Commerzbank are Germany and Poland. With the business areas Private Customers, Mittelstandsbank, Corporates & Markets and Central & Eastern Europe, its private customers and corporate clients, as well as institutional investors, profit from a comprehensive portfolio of banking and capital market services. Commerzbank finances more than 30 per cent of Germany’s foreign trade and is the unchallenged leader in financing for SMEs. With its subsidiaries comdirect and Poland’s mBank it owns two of the world’s most innovative online banks. With approximately 1,100 branches and approximately 90 advisory centres for business customers Commerzbank has one of the densest branch networks among German private banks. In total, Commerzbank boasts approximately 15 million private customers, as well as 1 million business and corporate clients. The Bank, which was founded in 1870, is represented at all the world’s major stock exchanges. In 2014, it generated gross revenues of almost EUR 9 billion with an average of approximately 52,000 employees.

About eToro

eToro is the world’s leading social investment network, with more than 4 million registered users in over 140 countries and thousands of new accounts opened each day. eToro leads the social trading revolution through its community powered network, which enables every investor to see, follow and automatically copy the actions of other investors in real time. eToro’s mission is to revolutionize the way people access the financial markets and make their trading experience more social, simple, enjoyable and transparent. By harnessing the wisdom of the crowd, every member of eToro’s social trading network benefits from accelerated information exchange, knowledge sharing and the ability to quickly identify the best investment opportunities. With a wide range of award-winning mobile and web-based social trading tools, eToro appeals to every level of trading expertise, and provides an investment experience like no other before. For more information, visit us at www.etoro.com .