Aiming at international markets? Amnon Shashua's First Digital Bank announced this afternoon that it had chosen a new name, and that from today it will be known as ONE ZERO. The name change comes just two weeks before the bank opens its digital doors to the public.
"We called it ONE ZERO because we have come to win and offer a real, comprehensive, and new alternative to bank customers. We have come to triumph over lost time and availability, over the complexities and headache of managing money, over bureaucracy and everything that caused us all so much pain up until today," the bank's CEO Gal Bar Dea said.
"ONE ZERO is also the triumph of technology. A bank that already speaks three languages, even before it has learned to walk - Hebrew, English, and Binary. A bank with artificial and human intelligence combined," Bar Dea added.
The First Digital Bank is the first independent bank to receive a banking license from the Bank of Israel for over 43 years in which no new bank was established in Israel. The bank has developed artificial intelligence-based technology designed to give households private banking services that up to now were available only to the few who could afford them.
Last March, the bank began a running-in period with the aim of launching its activity gradually for the general public. The original plan was to open up to the public at the end of 2021, but the launch date was eventually postponed to early 2022, in order to complete preparations, which included raising finance from overseas investors. The first people who will have the opportunity of opening an account at the bank will be the more than 60,000 who are already on the waiting list.
The First Digital Bank, owned by Mobileye founder and CEO Amnon Shashua, announced two weeks ago that it had raised $120 million from local and international investors, led by Swiss bank Julius Baer, Chinese technology giant Tencent, and Japanese financial services group SBI. The valuation for the purposes of the investment was $320 million.
The three lead investors in the current round are joined by US investment fund West Coast Equity Partners, the provident fund of the Hebrew University workers, and Singapore-based fund Far East Ventures. The bank says that it is in advanced talks with additional investors who could join the investment agreement, which may lead to the expansion of the amount invested. The deal is expected to close this January.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 30, 2021.
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