Israeli online genealogy platform MyHeritage announced Wednesday it has reached an agreement with Francisco Partners, by which the private US equity firm will buy it. The deal is said to be worth $600 million.
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Formed in 2003, MyHeritage.com lets people test DNA and track their family lineage. It has a reported 62 million users worldwide and offers its services in 42 languages. The company's database is said to include 13 billion historical records and 58 million family trees on its platform.
The company has so fur raised 49 million in five financing rounds, the last held in 2012.
Francisco Partners, founded in 1999, focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses. Based in San Francisco and London, the company's website states that it has raised $24 billion of capital to date, making it "one of the largest and most active technology-focused private equity firms in the world."
In a statement released on Wednesday, MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet said, "When I founded the company from my home 18 years ago, I had a clear vision that drove me, and continues to drive me today – to make family history discovery easier using technology and to unlock the fun in genealogy: the human pursuit that bonds people.
"With the help of an excellent and dedicated team, years of hard work, and with constant technological innovation, we created new and exciting ways for people to learn about their origins.
"In Francisco Partners we see a true partner for our journey ahead, not only demonstrated by the trust they are placing in our company through this acquisition, but in their desire for us to remain true to our vision by continuing along our path and helping us do what we do best – putting our users first and giving them life-enriching, and sometimes life-changing, experiences. This move will enable us to reach new heights, invest more resources in creating greater value for our users and to reach a larger audience. We're incredibly excited for this next chapter in our company's evolution."
Eran Gorev, who heads Francisco Partners activities in Israel, said, "By leveraging our operational expertise, market resources and strong industry networks, we believe Francisco Partners is uniquely positioned to help MyHeritage accelerate its vision for growth.
"We are deeply impressed by the incredible achievements and relentless determination of Gilad, a visionary leader in genealogy who has grown the company from a startup to a profitable global market leader. We are looking forward to partnering with Gilad and the entire MyHeritage team to help drive market expansion for the company."
Gorev will be joining the MyHeritage board of directors along with Francisco's Europe head Matt Spetzler.
"Francisco Partners shares MyHeritage's vision for growth as well as its intense commitment to ensuring the privacy of its users," Spetzler said Wednesday.
"The users' personal data is an extremely important priority and we will work together with MyHeritage to expand its already strong privacy framework going forward."
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