LONDON, December 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

eToro, the world's leading social investment network, today announced that it has secured an equity round from the leading Chinese venture capital firm Ping An Ventures, a VC under Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd., the largest non-state owned integrated financial services conglomerate in China and SBT Venture Capital, a fintech focused fund whose main partner is Russia's largest bank.

eToro's current investors, Spark Capital and BRM Group also participated in the round. The new financing also includes a credit facility from Silicon Valley Bank.

eToro is the world's largest social investment network, with 4 million registered users in more than 140 countries, with thousands of new accounts opened each day. eToro leads the social trading revolution through its social investment network, which enables every investor to see, follow and automatically copy the actions of other investors in real time.

This new financing and strategic Investment will enable eToro to accelerate its rapid growth, generate opportunities for expansion into new regions including China and Russia and fast track the roll out of the expected product roadmap.

"We're very excited to have two of the largest financial institutions in the world join our company as partners,"  said Yoni Assia, CEO and Co-Founder of eToro. "We look forward to leveraging their deep industry knowledge and expertise with our disruptive vision and product. We share a vision to empower retail investors all over the world to trade and invest in a social and transparent way, and we're proud to partner with 2 of the largest financial institutions in the world to lead this revolution."

"When we initially invested in eToro, we saw how it would disrupt the financial markets with its innovative social trading approach,"  said Spark  Capital Co-Founder and General Partner Santo Politi. "We're happy to see the company's global potential is being embraced around the world."

"eToro has become synonymous with financial innovation among members of Gen Y all over the world,"  says Mircea Mihaescu, Managing Partner of SBT Venture Capital. "Social Investment is changing the way people trade and invest as part of a revolution started by eToro and we are thrilled to partner with such a successful and promising company."

"We are extremely impressed with eToro's vision and the way its social investment platform enables access to global markets while connecting people from across the world,"  says  Jiang ZHANG, Director  of Ping An Ventures. "We are confident that this partnership will enable eToro to quickly expand its network in the fast-growing China market."

About eToro 

eToro is the world's leading social investment network, with 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 http://www.etoro.com

About SBT Venture Capital 

SBT Venture Capital manages a fin-tech fund investing in the most promising start-ups of the financial industry worldwide. SBT brings together considerable experience in the banking industry, an incredible network of financial services companies and related technology vendors, and one of the biggest banks on the planet as primary partner. SBT focuses on early-stage growth companies already generating revenue but in need of capital and the right network to reach scale.

For more information, please visit http://www.sbt-vc.com

About  Ping An Group and  Ping An Ventures 

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. is an integrated financial services group with three core businesses of insurance, banking and investment. Ping An is ranked No.128 in U.S. Fortune's Global 500 ranking, and No.1 among China's non-State owned enterprises. It has about 557,000 life insurance sales agents and 203,000 full-time employees. As at 31 September 2014, the Group's consolidated total assets and equity attributable to shareholders of the parent company reached RMB3.86 trillion and RMB218.68 billion, respectively. For more information, visit at http://about.pingan.com/en/index.shtml.

Ping An Ventures is the venture capital investment platform under Ping An Group, focusing on early stage global innovative companies. Back by Ping An Group, Ping An Ventures brings not only capital but also management experience, platform and resources to its portfolio companies, providing one-stop shop services.

About Spark Capital 

Spark Capital is a bi-coastal, boutique venture capital firm that partners with bold entrepreneurs who are passionate about reaching millions of people through new ideas in design and technology. Founded in 2005, Spark Capital manages approximately $1,825,000,000 across five funds. We are in Boston, New York, and San Francisco, and we invest wherever we see the right opportunities. We are currently investing Spark IV, a $450,000,000 fund raised in 2013 and Spark Capital Growth Fund, a $375,000,000 fund raised in 2014. Spark Capital focuses on Internet and mobile investments across the following key categories: advertising & monetization, commerce & services, content & media, financial services, hardware & infrastructure, mobile and social. Some of Spark Capital's most notable investments include Adap.tv (acquired by AOL), AdMeld (acquired by Google), Oculus (acquired by Facebook), OMGPOP (acquired by Zynga), Tumblr (acquired by Yahoo!), and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR). For more information, visithttp://www.sparkcapital.com.

For further details: 

Nadav Avidan
Head of Communications at eToro
+972-522-316661
nadavav@etoro.com

SOURCE eToro