NextVision secures foreign investment with $52M deal
Investment bank and Clal insurance buy into drone camera company, driving major shareholder gains.
A first foreign investor has entered NextVision, a company that manufactures cameras for drones, purchasing 2.5% of its shares for NIS 192 million ($52 million). The investor is a foreign investment bank, and alongside it, the insurance company Clal acquired shares worth approximately NIS 40 million ($11 million). This brings Clal’s total holding to 6.5% of the company’s shares, valued at approximately NIS 493 million ($135 million). In total, a group of shareholders in the company earned NIS 230 million ($63 million) in the transaction.
The company's shares were sold for NIS 88.5 per share ($24.17). As part of the transaction, Chairman and co-founder Chen Golan sold shares worth NIS 55 million ($15 million), reducing his stake in the company to 5.7%.
CTO Boris Kipnis, also a co-founder, sold shares worth NIS 40 million ($10.92 million). CEO Michael Grosman sold shares worth NIS 50 million ($13.65 million). Veteran investor Yosef Sandler sold shares for a total of NIS 44 million ($12 million), reducing his stake to 8.5%. Director Nachman Benchaya sold shares worth NIS 39 million ($10.65 million).
NextVision is benefiting from the growing demand for camera systems used in drones and small UAVs, partly due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which has spurred a global arms race, as well as the war in Israel.
The company ended 2024 with a 120% increase in revenue compared to the previous year, totaling $115 million, exceeding forecasts. Its net profit soared 2.4 times, reaching $66.5 million.
NextVision is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange with a market value of NIS 7.73 billion ($2.11 billion), bringing it closer to inclusion in the Tel Aviv 35 index. Since the beginning of the year, its stock has surged by 60%, bolstered by over 10 new orders worth tens of millions of dollars for stabilized cameras for aircraft that enable both day and night photography. One of these orders, valued at $30 million over three years, was received last week, and will see the company supplying a customer with cameras and complementary products.
The transaction is still subject to regulatory approval, which has not yet been granted. According to the agreement between the company and the customer, if the approval is not received, the customer has the option to cancel the transaction without penalty. This order adds to NextVision’s backlog, which now totals approximately $100 million.
