Teddy Sagi

Teddy Sagi (Hebrew: טדי שגיא; born 1971) is an Israeli billionaire businessman based in London and Cyprus. Sagi is the founder of the gambling software company Playtech, and cybersecurity company Kape Technologies (owns ExpressVPN) and owner of London's Camden Market. His personal wealth is estimated at US$5 billion, with interests in real estate, gambling software, payments processing, and digital advertising.[1][2]

Teddy Sagi
Born1971 (age 51–52)
Tel Aviv, Israel
NationalityIsrael
Cyprus
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder of Playtech
Founder of SafeCharge International
Founder of Pay.com
PartnerYael Nizri (2010–)
Children7

Personal life

Sagi was born in 1971 in Tel Aviv, the only child of Ami Sagi, a businessman who owned a travel agency, and his wife Lizi, a cosmetician who sold make-up.[3][4][5] He grew up in Tel Aviv's Shikun Lamed neighborhood.[5]

In 1996 Sagi received a nine-month prison sentence after being convicted in Israel of bribery and fraud.[6]

In 2009 Sagi obtained Cypriot citizenship as part of a 'golden visa' scheme by Cyprus government. As Cyprus is part of the European Union, Sagi obtained a Passport of the European Union.[7] In 2013, The Guardian reported that Sagi had "been based in Cyprus for some years".[8][9]

Since 2010, Sagi has been living with Yael Nizri, the 2006 Miss Israel, and they have two daughters together. Sagi owns the most expensive home in Israel, located in Herzliya. The home, which he bought in 2010, lies in the wealthy neighborhood of Herzliya Pituah on Galei Techelet Street, Israel's most expensive street. It is a 2,000 square meter house on a half-acre lot on the shore, and has a fitness room, wine cellar, sealed room, and an elevator to the beach. Sagi also owns two penthouses in Herzliya, and other homes in Tel Aviv (including an apartment in the Tzameret Towers purchased from former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak), London's Knightsbridge, Cyprus, and Berlin.[10][11][12]

Career

On 2 January 2022, Forbes listed his net worth at US$5.7 billion.[13]

Playtech

Sagi founded Playtech in 1999. It was floated in 2006 on the London Stock Exchange at a price that valued the business at approximately £550 million.[14] He has since scaled down his holdings to 4.6%, as opposed to 81% at the time of its IPO.[15] He has since invested in hi-tech companies and real estate.

SafeCharge

Sagi was majority shareholder (with 68% control) of the company, which is a credit card clearing company for the online gambling industry.[16]

Primarily based in Bulgaria, SafeCharge was traded on London's AIM, with a market cap of £385 million. The company was listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.

In 2019, Nuvei Corporation announced its acquisition of SafeCharge, and agreed to pay $889 million in cash for it. In August 2019, Nuvei completed the acquisition.

Kape Technologies plc

Kape Technologies is a United Kingdom-based[17][18] cybersecurity software company.[19] Kape owns VPN services and cybersecurity tools, including CyberGhost, Private Internet Access (PIA), ZenMate, and Intego.[20]

In late 2012, Sagi acquired the start-up company Crossrider for $37 million. The company went public on AIM at a value of $US 250M. Crossrider started off by making a software development kit (SDK) for the deployment of browser extensions to a variety of platforms with support for monetizing extensions.[21][22] The monetization options were used by major ad injectors which used man-in-the-browser to change or add advertisements to what users saw.[22] Over time, Crossrider's services became increasingly utilized by malware and adware developers and the company was unable to combat misuse.[22]

In June 2016, following the appointment of new management team, the company changed its strategy to focus to cyber-security with a focus on digital privacy and protection of digital data.[22] In practical terms, the company stopped its browser SDK business to focus on the VPN sector, purchasing CyberGhost VPN in 2017.[23]

In March 2018, the name of the company was changed to Kape Technologies plc.[24] Kape then purchased VPN carriers Zenmate in 2018 and Private Internet Access in 2019.

On September 13, 2021, Kape acquired ExpressVPN,[20][25] raising concerns based on Kape Technologies' predecessor Crossrider's history of making tools that were used for adware.[26][27][28][29] It also acquired the VPN review publisher Webselenese in 2021.[23]

Stucco Media

In 2015 Sagi acquired the start-up company Stucco Media for $43 million. The acquisition was made by Market Tech, and the company is now owned by him. Stucco Media develops eCommerce website technology.[30]

Glispa

Also in 2015, Sagi acquired the German start-up for €32 million. Glispa is an advertising company, mainly via mobile phones.[31]

Mobfox

In November 2018, Sagi acquired the mobile advertising company Mobfox from Matomy Media for $7.5 million.[32]

Camden Market

Camden Market Holdings, the owner of Camden Market, Stables Market and Camden Lock Developments was bought by Sagi in March 2014 for £400 million ($664 million) from Bebo Kobo (50% owner), and Richard Caring and Elliott Bernerd for 2.3-2.6Bn ILS, which later turned out to be the biggest LSE IPO of 2015.[33][34] Sagi has continued to buy property in the Camden Market area and as of March 2015, owns the four most important of the six sections of the market, London's second most popular tourist attraction after Buckingham Palace.[35]

In July 2017 Sagi has completed delisting Market Tech from the LSE, at a value of 1.1Bn ILS.[36]

Sagi intends to invest £300 million in developing the market area by 2018.[35]

Other real estate ventures

In June 2017 Sagi acquired 44% of Brack Capital Properties N.V, which is a listed real estate company, owning and developing residential and commercial properties in Germany.[37]

Sagi is also reported to enter the co-working share workspace sector with an international brand LABS. The first location is slated to open in London.[38]

In August 2015, The GoodVision Trust (beneficiary Teddy Sagi) sold a 24.79% stake of Austrian real-estate company conwert Immobilien Invest SE to the German real-estate company Adler Real Estate AG. The market value of these shares was 250 million euros.[39]

In March 2020, Labtech, the property investment firm owned by Teddy Sagi, completed the sale of Holborn Links Estate for 245 million euros to investors Tristan Capital Partners and Cording Real Estate Group.[40]

Wealth

According to Forbes, Sagi has a net worth of $5.6 billion, and is the fourth-richest person in Israel.[41][42]

He was one of 565 Israelis listed in the Pandora Papers, published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, according to Shomrim, an Israeli investigative journalism nonprofit organization that took part in the investigation.[43]

Globe Invest is Sagi's family office managing investments on behalf of Sagi and also acts as a holding company for his investments. [44]

References
  1. "Teddy Sagi". Forbes. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  2. "Teddy Sagi sells Playtech shares for $139m - Globes English". Globes (in Hebrew). 15 March 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  3. Tsipori, Tali (17 May 2010). "Israel's young billionaire". Globes. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  4. "The Story of Teddy Sagi". 20 October 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  5. "Teddy Sagi - Israeli Billionaire and Founder of Playtech". Gamblingsites.org. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  6. Blitz, Roger. "Playtech founder cashes in after creating multiple millionaires". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  7. Farolfi, Sara (17 September 2017). "The billionaires investing in September Cyprus in exchange for EU passports". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  8. Bowers, Simon (18 March 2013). "The super-rich who have made Cyprus their home". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  9. "Teddy Sagi: Israeli billionaire bachelor who has just saved spread-betters Plus500 for £500m". ibtimes.co.uk. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  10. "Israel's most expensive home sold for NIS 135m - Globes English". Globes. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  11. "Teddy Sagi buys 2 Herzliya penthouses - Globes English". Globes. 20 April 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  12. כלכליסט, שי סלינס (19 March 2012). "טדי שגיא הוא רוכש הדירה של ברק באקירוב". Ynet. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  13. "Teddy Sagi". Forbes.
  14. Garrahan, Matthew (17 February 2006). "Playtech plans to raise £175m in IPO". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  15. "Playtech founder Teddy Sagi cuts stake to fund real-estate move". Financial Times. 27 June 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  16. "Teddy Sagi's SafeCharge raises $126m on AIM - Globes English". Globes (in Hebrew). 31 March 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  17. Kape Technologies buys ExpressVPN for $936 mln. Reuters. 13 September 2021. Accessed 3 March 2022. Archived.
  18. "KAPE TECHNOLOGIES PLC - Our story". London Stock Exchange. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  19. Privacy is Our Priority. Kape.com Accessed 3 March 2022. Archived.
  20. "Kape Technologies Agrees to Buy ExpressVPN for $936 Million". Bloomberg.com. 13 September 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021..
  21. "Adware.CrossRider". Malwarebytes Labs. n.d. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  22. Taylor, Sven (29 November 2021). "Taking a Closer Look at Kape Technologies, Crossrider, and Malware". RestorePrivacy. Archived from the original on 22 January 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  23. "Former Malware Distributor Kape Technologies Now Owns ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, Zenmate, and a Collection of VPN "Review" Websites". RestorePrivacy. 16 September 2021.
  24. "Teddy Sagi's Crossrider to raise $75m in London IPO - Globes English". Globes (in Hebrew). 19 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  25. "Kape Technologies buys ExpressVPN for $936 mln". Reuters. 13 September 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  26. "Gen Z is behaving recklessly online - and will live to regret it". TechRadar. 15 November 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  27. Dobberstein, Laura. "ExpressVPN bought for $1bn by Brit biz with an intriguing history in adware". The Register. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  28. Hodge, Rae (13 September 2021). "Kape Technologies buys ExpressVPN as part of a $936 million deal". CNET. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  29. "ExpressVPN Acquired by Kape Technologies: How Does It Affect You?". Make Use Of. 19 September 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  30. "Sagi buys Israeli e-commerce co Stucco Media - Globes English". Globes (in Hebrew). 7 May 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  31. "Teddy Sagi's Market Tech acquires glispa - Globes English". Globes (in Hebrew). 23 March 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  32. "Matomy Media To Sell Advertising Platform Mobfox For USD7.5 Million". 15 November 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  33. Minchom, Clive. "Teddy Sagi Buys London's Camden Stables Market In Deal Valued At US$664 Million". JewishBusinessNews.
  34. "Restaurant tycoon Richard Caring earns £260m 'war chest' for new ventures after Camden Market deal | London Evening Standard". Standard.co.uk. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  35. "Teddy Sagi buys more Camden Market properties". Globes. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  36. "Teddy Sagi delisting Market Tech from LSE - Globes English". Globes (in Hebrew). 23 April 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  37. "Teddy Sagi buys control of Brack Capital - Globes English". Globes (in Hebrew). 23 May 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  38. "Teddy Sagi to launch shared workspace co LABS - Globes English". Globes (in Hebrew). 3 May 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  39. PTA-PVR: conwert Immobilien Invest SE: Änderung der Stimmrechtsanteile FinanzNachrichten.de, 20 August 2015
  40. "Teddy Sagi's Labtech sells Holborn Links Estate for £245m". CityAM. 2 March 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  41. "Teddy Sagi". Forbes. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  42. staff, T. O. I. "Israel says 'Iranian terror' targeted Israeli businesspeople in Cyprus". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  43. staff, T. O. I. "Pandora Papers: Teddy Sagi, Idan and Eyal Ofer named in latest documents". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  44. "About Globe Invest". Globe Invest. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
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