Undoubtedly, Robinhood has come out to become one of the largest online brokerages during the ongoing pandemic. Recently, most of the online stocks apps, including Trading 212, Robinhood and others faced an onslaught of demand on cash amidst the stock market frenzy associated with Gamestop. As this activity has subjected Robinhood to strain, it didn’t stop the California company from raising additional funding from existing investors.
Funding for customer growth
Recently, Robinhood announced that it raised $1B (nearly £0.73B) pumped into it on January 29. With this, the overall investment raised by this service accounts to $3.4B (nearly £2.5B).
Ribbit Capital led this investment round along with participation from existing investors including ICONIQ, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, leading London-based Index Ventures, and NEA. Robinhood will use it to invest in record customer growth. The company also announced that investors would help the online trading app continue to serve people through exponential growth.
“This round of funding will help us scale to meet the incredible growth we’ve seen and demand for our platform. We are humbled by our customers’ response to our offering, and remain inspired by everyday people taking control of their financial futures,” said Jason Warnick, CFO, Robinhood.
Focus on first-time investors
Founded by Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev in 2013, Robinhood witnessed a movement of people who take control of their own financial futures, of late. Most of them were first-time investors. With the latest investment, Robinhood will build and enhance their products to give more people access to their financial system.
The company will also invest in expanding access to financial literacy, which is their mission to democratise finance for all. The trading platform offers commission-free trading in one, user-friendly platform.
“Robinhood has served millions of people who have felt left behind by America’s financial system. We’re confident that Robinhood will emerge stronger through this phase of growth and unprecedented demand,” said Micky Malka, Managing Partner, Ribbit Capital.