Investing and trading platform eToro has entered into an agreement to acquire investing app Spaceship.
The deal, believed to be worth up to $80 million, will see eToro broaden its product offering with easy access to Spaceship’s super product, Spaceship GrowthX Option.
The option returned 19.41 per cent in the financial year 2023–24 and has seen 11 per cent annualised performance from its launch in 2017.
Meanwhile, Spaceship’s Global Index investment option returned 16.99 per cent in the last financial year, with an annualised performance of 10.48 per cent since 2017.
With the acquisition, Spaceship customers are expected to gain gradual access to eToro’s multi-asset investment platform that includes equities, funds, commodities, crypto, ETFs, and educational resources. The Spaceship brand is expected to stay in place.
“Spaceship and eToro share the goal of making investing accessible for everyone. Like us, they look to the future and we are excited to welcome their team and their clients into the eToro family,” said Yoni Assia, CEO and co-founder of eToro.
“With almost two decades of experience building, innovating and serving clients around the world, I believe that together eToro and Spaceship can take our offering for Australian users to the next level.”
He described the acquisition as a “key step” on the firm’s journey to expand its investment proposition, highlighting the deal could be the first of more such consolidation activity towards building out localised product offerings in key markets.
The firm’s managing director Robert Francis said: “This is a significant milestone for eToro in Australia and underscores our commitment to growing our presence here. We want to give Australians everything they need to meet their investing goals.
“By combining Spaceship’s superannuation proposition with eToro’s multi-asset investment offering, we can better support our users throughout their investment journeys. I look forward to working with the Spaceship team.”
eToro, founded in 2007, has over 38 million registered users across 75 countries.
Spaceship’s CEO Andrew Moore said the acquisition also marks a “pivotal” moment for Spaceship on its own growth journey.
“We’re deeply aligned with eToro’s goal of making investing accessible for everyone, and this partnership will enable us to reach new heights as we expand our product offering to customers, while continuing to provide top-tier value,” he said.
“Moreover, it offers our customers a promising opportunity to be part of a forward-looking company that aligns with our future ambitions.”
Spaceship holds more than $1.5 billion in funds under management, servicing over 200,000 clients across its super options, Spaceship Super, and selection of professionally managed investment portfolios, under Spaceship Voyager. It also launched a new US Investing Service in 2023.
Super funds had a “tremendous month” in November, according to new data.
Australia faces a decade of deficits, with the sum of deficits over the next four years expected to overshoot forecasts by $21.8 billion.
APRA has raised an alarm about gaps in how superannuation trustees are managing the risks associated with unlisted assets, after releasing the findings of its latest review.
Compared to how funds were allocated to March this year, industry super funds have slightly decreased their allocation to infrastructure in the six months to September – dropping from 11 per cent to 10.6 per cent, according to the latest APRA data.