B.C. Strategy Ltd

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Israeli private company that trades as Black Cube

B.C. Strategy Ltd

Type Private company (Israel), company number 514587591
Founded 7 March 2011, Tel Aviv (as Zorella Ltd); some reports give 2010
Headquarters 23 Yehuda Halevi Street, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel (Discount Bank Tower)
Industry Private intelligence; litigation support
Subsidiaries B.C. Strategy UK Ltd; Tzur Intelligence Ltd
Number of employees About 200 (May 2026)

B.C. Strategy Ltd (Hebrew: בי.סי. אסטרטגיה בע"מ, company number 514587591) is the Israeli private company behind the private intelligence firm Black Cube. It was registered in Tel Aviv on 7 March 2011 as Zorella Ltd by Dan Zorella, and later renamed.[1][2] The Times of Israel described it as "B.C. Strategy Ltd., also known as Black Cube Israel", and its English subsidiary as B.C. Strategy UK Ltd.[2]

Its registered address is 23 Yehuda Halevi Street, Tel Aviv-Yafo, the Discount Bank Tower, which is also the firm's Tel Aviv office.[1][3] Its founders are Dan Zorella and Avi Yanus.[4] Companies House records the company as holding 75 per cent or more of the shares and votes in B.C. Strategy UK Ltd, the London company that operates the Black Cube website.[5][6]

This page covers the company. The firm's operations, people and court cases are on the Black Cube page.

History

Founding as Zorella Ltd

According to a 2013 lawsuit filed in Tel Aviv by Vincent Tchenguiz's company Vincos Ltd, and reported by the Times of Israel, Dan Zorella set up "his own Israeli business intelligence company, which he called Zorella Ltd" on 7 March 2011, and "later changed its name to B.C. Strategy Ltd., aka 'Black Cube'".[2] The Israeli register gives the same incorporation date.[1]

Globes reported in 2017 that the firm was founded in 2011 by Zorella, who had served in an elite unit of IDF Military Intelligence, and Dr Avi Yanus, and that the late Mossad director Meir Dagan advised it from the start.[4] Haaretz gave a different year in 2019, saying the firm was "founded in 2010 by Zorella and Avi Yanus, who met during studies at the Technion".[7] The firm itself says it "was founded in 2011".[3]

Vincent Tchenguiz

The Vincos complaint said Tchenguiz met Zorella in 2010, when Zorella was said to be working for the web-intelligence firm Businessscope, and turned to him after the Serious Fraud Office raided his home and office on 10 March 2011, three days after Zorella Ltd was registered.[2] It said Tchenguiz agreed to pay the new company's costs plus 15 per cent from December 2011, and that Vincos paid it £844,790 between December 2011 and December 2012.[2]

On 4 February 2012 Tchenguiz and B.C. Strategy signed an agreement giving him, for five years, an option to acquire 49 per cent of the company and to appoint himself a director.[2] According to the complaint, Tchenguiz came to suspect that the founders had padded their reports, stopped paying and halted negotiations over the option.[2] On 23 March 2013 Vincos sued B.C. Strategy Ltd, B.C. Strategy UK Ltd, Zorella, Yanus and an employee in the Tel Aviv District Court for £924,790, alleging fraud, breach of contract and unjust enrichment, after Black Cube had sued Tchenguiz in London for unpaid bills.[2] Both claims were settled in April 2013 on undisclosed terms.[8] More detail is on the Vincent Tchenguiz page.

Magnet/Meimad grant application

Documents filed in the 2013 suit showed that, with Tchenguiz's support, the company applied for a grant from the Office of the Chief Scientist in Israel's Economy Ministry under the Magnet/Meimad programme, which the Times of Israel described as "specifically geared towards military exports abroad". Tchenguiz later wrote to the ministry withdrawing his support for "B.C. Strategy's application". A ministry spokeswoman would not say whether the company received a grant.[2] In November 2017 the Defence Ministry accepted Black Cube's statement that it did not export military products or know-how, and so did not require an export licence.[2] See Black Cube and the Israeli state.

Growth

In May 2026 Globes reported that the company, with about 200 staff and some 40 more being recruited, had leased a second floor of the Discount Tower in Tel Aviv for NIS 2 million a year.[9] The Financial Times gave the firm's offices as Tel Aviv, London, Madrid and Singapore in November 2025.[10]

Corporate structure

B.C. Strategy Ltd is the Tel Aviv parent. Its English subsidiary, B.C. Strategy UK Ltd (company 08153977), was incorporated on 24 July 2012. Companies House records three persons with significant control of the UK company, all notified from 6 April 2016: B.C. Strategy Ltd, with 75 per cent or more of shares and votes and the right to appoint or remove directors; Dan Zorella, with more than 50 but less than 75 per cent of shares and votes "as a member of a firm"; and Avi Yanus, with significant influence or control.[5] Yanus is the only director the UK company has filed, appointed on the day of incorporation; his residence is given as Israel.[11]

Companies linked to B.C. Strategy Ltd
Company Number Jurisdiction Incorporated Relationship
B.C. Strategy Ltd (formerly Zorella Ltd) 514587591 Israel 7 March 2011 Parent; trades as Black Cube[1][2]
B.C. Strategy UK Ltd 08153977 England and Wales 24 July 2012 Subsidiary; B.C. Strategy Ltd holds 75 per cent or more[5]
Tzur Intelligence Ltd 08785913 England and Wales 21 November 2013 B.C. Strategy Ltd notified as person with significant control, 75 per cent or more[12]
B.C. Strategy Holdings Limited 10483521 England and Wales 17 November 2016 Not owned by B.C. Strategy Ltd; Yanus is the person with significant control[13]

The Companies House record for Tzur Intelligence Ltd gives the Tel Aviv parent's Israeli number as 514587571, against 514587591 on the B.C. Strategy UK Ltd record and the Israeli register; the address and name are the same, and the difference is probably a filing error.[12][5][1] The Black Cube website names B.C. Strategy UK Limited as its operator, but its terms of use are governed by Israeli law, with exclusive jurisdiction in the Tel Aviv courts.[6]

Operations

B.C. Strategy Ltd trades as Black Cube. Its operations, including work for Harvey Weinstein, the 2016 operation in Romania against Laura Codruța Kövesi, and the Playtech–Evolution affair, are set out on the Black Cube page and the linked case pages. In 2019 Haaretz reported that the Israeli Defence Ministry had hired Black Cube for intelligence projects between 2012 and 2014.[7] See Black Cube and the Israeli state.

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 בי.סי. אסטרטגיה בע״מ (B.C. Strategy Ltd), company 514587591, Open Budget (mirror of the Israeli Registrar of Companies), accessed 17 October 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 ToI Staff, Cambridge Analytica-linked businessman helped start Black Cube, lawsuit claims, Times of Israel, 23 August 2018.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 About us, Black Cube website (the firm's own material), accessed 17 October 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Hadas Magen, Black Cube - a "Mossad-style" business intelligence co, Globes, 2 April 2017.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Persons with significant control: B.C. Strategy UK Ltd, Companies House, accessed 17 October 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Terms of Use, Black Cube website (the firm's own material), accessed 17 October 2026.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Gur Megiddo, Israel Hired Black Cube, Allowing Spy Firm to Operate Out of Military Intel Base, Haaretz, 22 August 2019.
  8. ↑ Simon Bowers, Vincent Tchenguiz settles Black Cube legal dispute, The Guardian, 22 April 2013.
  9. ↑ Arik Mirovsky, Black Cube doubles office space in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem Post/Globes, 20 May 2026.
  10. ↑ Euan Healy, Inside Black Cube: how notorious intelligence firm rakes in client fees, Financial Times, 3 November 2025.
  11. ↑ Officers: B.C. Strategy UK Ltd, Companies House, accessed 17 October 2026.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Persons with significant control: Tzur Intelligence Ltd, Companies House.
  13. ↑ Persons with significant control: B.C. Strategy Holdings Limited, Companies House.
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