Just a few weeks after investors in startup company Joonko began investigating suspicions of forged documents designed to inflate the number of the company’s customers, it emerges that another Israel company, insurtech company Vesttoo is undergoing an investigation of its own. Directors at the Tel Aviv-based company are investigating the suspicion that guarantee documents backing deals were forged. The directors, among them Pasha Romanovski of Hanaco Ventures and Chris Gottschalk of Mouro Capital, have hired a large law firm to carry out the investigation, which could take several days.
$108 million have been invested in the Israeli company by investors such as Mouro Capital, which is backed by Banco Santander, Black River, and Hanaco. According to PitchBook, in its last funding round in January this year, the company had a post-money valuation of $785 million. Its annual revenue is estimated at $100 million, but it is not known whether or not it is profitable.
Vesttoo, founded by Yaniv Bertele (CEO), Alon Lifshitz (chief financial engineer - no connection to Alon Lifshitz of Hanaco), and Ben Zickel (CTO), is a platform connecting insurance companies and reinsurers to the capital market. Through this platform, insurers can transfer some of their risk to capital market players via various financial instruments.
The company employs 150 people, most of them in Israel, and in offices in Dubai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, New York, and London. Several senior managers at the company have left their posts in the wake of the suspicions.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 18, 2023.
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