Singapore-based technology company Prytek is buying control of Israeli financial information company TipRanks at a valuation of $200 million, the companies announced this morning. Prytek will acquire a 40% stake in TipRanks from the founders, the employees, and some of the investors, and will become the controlling shareholder in the company with a total holding of 80%. 20% will remain with the financial institutions that participated in TipRanks’ last financing round, among them More Investment House and Analyst. Among the shareholders selling their shares are Moneta Venture Capital, Liwa Capital, and Roni Michaely. Bank Hapoalim’s investment platform Poalim Equity formerly held shares in the company, but it sold them to Analyst, which, as mentioned, remains a minority shareholder.
So far, TipRanks has raised $45 million, and has sold shares for $60 million in secondary deals. Prytek led a $77 million investment round in the company along with More Investment House and Poalim Equity. Prytek first invested in TipRanks six years ago, and since then it has continued to buy shares through financing rounds and through secondary deals in which it bought shares directly from the founders and employees.
TipRanks was founded in 2012 by Uri Gruenbaum and Gilad Gat. It started out as a system for measuring and ranking professional stock analysts, and later set up a content and financial analysis website, which has some 50,000 paying subscribers. Its financial data system for enterprises is integrated into the trading systems of Morgan Stanley, Nasdaq, eToro, and most of the Israeli banks, enabling traders to obtain real-time information on securities and commodities. The company’s annual revenue is estimated at $20-30 million.
Prytek is a group of technology companies serving financial institutions. It was founded by Israeli Andrey Yashunsky, and its chairperson is Yair Seroussi, who is chairperson of shipping company ZIM and was formerly chairperson of Bank Hapoalim. Prytek also holds an investment fund that has invested in dozens of startups, among them Cyrebro and HopOn, according to IVC. The company is managed from Singapore, and employs a large team from Russia, Israel, and India. It has Russian roots: it began with the support of a large Russian investor whose shares were sold when Russia invaded Ukraine. It acquired Delta Capital, which provides financial services and technology to banks, and its interest in TipRanks began from there.
TipRanks employs 120 people, and is expected to hire more this year. The two founders, Gruenbaum and Gat, will continue to head it in the coming years under the Prytek umbrella. The company received an acquisition offer from a large US internet company, but, as the largest shareholder, Prytek refused to sell its shares, and instead bought out the original shareholders and it now holds TipRanks in the belief that its value can be grown considerably.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on August 15, 2024.
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