Storytel the Swedish leading streaming provider is acquiring Israeli iCast for more than NIS 20 million

the Swedish company that is one of the leading streaming Storytelervice providers in the world for recorded books and digital books, is acquiring the Israeli iCast. The companies did not provide the purchase amount but estimate that the purchase amount is over NIS 20 million.

Established and launched as a podcast service in 2006, Icast expanded into the field of recorded books, entering into agreements with leading publishers and writers. Today, Icast offers a catalog of more than 2,500 Hebrew titles, including bestsellers and classics such as Margaret's Story of a Slave. Atwood, "A Brief History of Mankind" by Yuval Noah Harari, "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, crime thrillers by David Baldachi and bestsellers by prominent Israeli writers.
The acquisition will form the basis for the launch of Stroytel's service in Israel in the first quarter of 2021. The transaction was led by Rosario Capital in Israel. The acquisition of iCast is a key step in Storital's preparations for the full launch of its operations in Israel, planned for the first quarter of 2021. Storitel currently operates in 20 markets, owns a huge library of over 500,000 titles and its subscriber base includes over 1.2 million recorded book consumers.
Jonas Talender, CEO and founder of Storytel, stated: "This is a winning combination of Icast's unique expertise in the content market and the preferences of the Israeli listener, and Storytel's proven commitment to investing in user-friendly technology, content and unparalleled accessibility to popular titles. This combination of forces certainly implies great potential for growth in the Israeli market and a leap forward in the status of the recorded book. "
Motti Lipman, founder and CEO of iCast, will serve as Israel's Regional Director at Storytel. "The unique international and technical capabilities of Story will push the Israeli market forward in terms of user experience, content development and production and marketing, which will make the recorded books relevant to more consumer groups."
The transaction was accompanied by Rosario Capital, an investment banking company, led by Boaz Levy, Head of the Mergers and Acquisitions Department, the Israeli representative of the Global Mergers and Acquisitions Advisory Organization. Attorney Nili Peleg Shapolansky and attorney Moran Shachar of the Department of Industry and Regulation of Goldfarb Seligman & Co. represented the company being sold and its shareholders in the transaction.