EasyEquities-owner buys Australian company for R175 million
Purple Group Limited, the company that owns EasyEquities, has signed an agreement to acquire Australia-based Telescope AI.
Purple Group said that Telescope AI’s technology already reaches more than 3 million investors across 7 countries and 13 languages through platforms such as the IG Group and CMC Markets.
The deal is worth up to US$10.75 million (about R175 million) and marks a new era for the two companies that have worked together since Telescope’s founding.
AI Baskets, which has been one tool in Telescope’s suite, has been live with EasyEquities clients since 2024 and has been used to build more than 5,000 baskets.
The deal brings the full Telescope suite and the team behind it into Purple Group for deployment across the group’s entire product stack.
This includes retail investing, retirement funds, fractional property and crypto. Purple Group CEO Charles Savage said that the deal will lead to three outcomes.
“Acceleration of our product ambitions across all product verticals. Greatly improved customer experiences at every touchpoint,” said Savage.
“And the discovery, implementation and execution of new product verticals that will come from leveraging our combined distribution, data, team capabilities and AI at scale.”
Luc Pettett, Telescope founder, will join Purple Group as Chief AI Officer and will lead AI initiatives across the Group. He will also continue to lead Telescope as CEO with a minimum five-year commitment.
Telescope will still operate independently, with the same team, products and global partnerships.
“Joining forces with Purple is a wonderful fit that ultimately gives our partners and end-users better AI capabilities,” said Pettett.
“Rapid deployments across millions of investors give us immediate feedback on which solutions drive value, and that learning accelerates what we build for every partner.”
Completion of the deal is subject to approval from the South African Reserve Bank’s Financial Surveillance Department and customary closing conditions, expected in the ordinary course.
Purple Group’s most recent results showed revenue up 8.8% to R258.5 million and profit before tax up 33.3%.
The group has over 3 million registered clients, 1.3 million of them active, with R100 billion in assets on a platform built over more than a decade.
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