Social investment giant eToro takes stake in Malta-based company

The social investment platform eToro, one of the largest self-directed investing companies in the world, has taken a small stake in the UK and Malta-based fintech start-up CityFALCON.

eToro, valued at around €8 billion, has over 27 million users and claims to operate in over 140 countries. It also issues VISA debit cards to UK users.

The Israeli company’s trading platform includes a news feed which features content from CityFALCON to help users make informed investment decisions.

CityFALCON makes used of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data to personalise content feeds from thousands of financial sources, leading it to be referred as the “Spotify of Financial Content”.

In the equity fundraising campaign run on Seedrs, the company managed to secure £1.65 million (€1.92 million), leveraging individual investors from its growing fanbase while also bringing institutional investors into play.

eToro was not the only company to smell an opportunity – the Canadian global early-stage venture capital firm and platform The Holt Xchange, and the UK-based property investment company Terance Butler Holdings (TBH) have both taken stakes.

CityFALCON CEO Ruzbeh Bacha commented that: “We are grateful and very excited about this round, especially during these volatile and uncertain times,” before adding that users, clients and investors on Seedrs have been “amazingly supportive”.

“We are excited to invest in CityFALCON at what we believe is a pivotal time for the company,” TBH Investment Director Stephen Walker said.

“Having gained traction, we believe now is the right moment for the company to scale up its sales and marketing effort whilst continuing to develop the product,” he continued.

Seedrs Chief Investment Officer Kirsty Grant also highlighted CityFALCON’s success, as the funding “far outstripped” the company’s initial expectations, also indicating “the investor demand for opportunities even amidst the current economic climate”.

The Holt Xchange Managing Partner Elisabeth Laett emphasised the importance of the “democratisation of financial information” as it is the result of “a global demand to access better education and deeper financial insights” for a wider audience.

“We have been impressed with the team’s mission at CityFALCON and pleased to further support them in this seed round,” she concluded.

The company’s Malta office was set up in 2019, through support from Malta Enterprise (ME), which were “instrumental in assisting CityFALCON’s expansion” to the country.