Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC (“Euromoney”), the international online information and events group, today announces that it has acquired a 10 percent interest in Zanbato Inc (“Zanbato”), an international private capital placements platform and workflow tools provider, for a consideration of US$5.5m, funded from its existing cash resources. The investment is part of a US$14m Series B funding round aimed at expanding the capital base of Zanbato. Other key investors include Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale, Formation8, a Silicon Valley technology investment fund, and Accelerate-IT Ventures, a US-based venture capital firm which led the round. As part of the transaction Euromoney will also receive a seat on the Zanbato board.
Zanbato (www.zanbato.com), founded in 2010 and chaired by Joe Lonsdale, is a California-based business focused on building technology to address inefficiencies in private capital markets. Zanbato’s business comprises: i) Zanbato Private Label, an enterprise SaaS solution that enables broker-dealers, placement agents and fund managers to handle the placement of their offerings securely within their proprietary networks: the custom branded and configured solution is trusted by leading financial institutions because of its data rooms, investor analytics, compliance suite, enterprise-calibre security, e-signature integration and due diligence support; and ii) Zanbato Marketplace, software that enables institutional investors and family offices to access direct private investment opportunities. The software is used across several verticals, including fund stakes, pre-IPO company shares and real estate.
Earlier in 2015, Zanbato and Institutional Investor, a division of Euromoney, agreed to enter into a joint venture to bring together the technology of Zanbato and the market reach of Institutional Investor’s Investor Intelligence Network, a private online membership, to serve the institutional segment of the private placements market. Euromoney’s investment strengthens this strategic partnership by providing Zanbato with the financial resources to accelerate its product and business development plans.
Euromoney’s decision to invest in Zanbato is consistent with its strategy of expanding its digital offering into workflow solutions and follows the recent investments in Dealogic, a leading SaaS platform for the global investment banking sector, and Estimize, a crowdsourcing platform for corporate earnings’ forecasts.
Commenting on the announcement, Euromoney Chairman Richard Ensor said:
“Over 45 years, Euromoney has built a wealth of trusted relationships with the buy-side and sell-side of the global asset management and capital markets sectors, which we are now using to create specialist digital communities. Our partnership with Zanbato will enable our Institutional Investor division to expand further its digital revenue streams by tapping into the fast-growing online private placement market. Over the next five years, this sector has the potential to create a significant opportunity for placement platforms. With its advanced SaaS technology, Zanbato is well placed to take an important share of this market.”
Commenting from Zanbato, Founder and Chairman Joe Lonsdale said:
“Innovation in finance is critical to advance modern society – technologies that make the global financial system more effective and efficient ultimately benefit all of us. Leaps in progress are often made by applying new ideas to the reach and impact of established players. We have a great respect for the platform Euromoney Institutional Investor has built, and believe our partnership will be formidable as each company brings unique and necessary ingredients required to transform private capital markets. I’m proud to see the innovation behind Zanbato having an increasing impact.”