In addition to being on the news in the context of the “meme” stock market frenzy over the past few weeks, US-based online trading platform developer Robinhood announced that it had raised a total $3.4bn in new funding, including $1bn of funding on January 29 and an additional $2.4bn agreed subsequently. The company counts internet technology group Alphabet and entertainment agency Roc Nation as previous backers. Venture capital firm Ribbit Capital led this latest round, which also featured existing investors including Iconiq Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Index Ventures and New Enterprise Associates (NEA).
The company had reportedly secured $1bn in equity financing from existing investors including Sequoia Capital and Ribbit Capital, along with $500m to $600m in a credit line from six banks. The extra cash was needed to cover minimum levels of capital required to meet regulatory demands related to a considerable growth in the trading of ‘meme’ stocks such as GameStop, AMC and Nokia. The company needed $3bn to meet collateral requirements of its clearing house.
Founded in 2013, Robinhood has built a commission-free trading app called Robinhood Financial to buy and sell exchange-traded funds, options and stocks, including fractional shares. It also runs a cryptocurrency trading platform called Robinhood Crypto. The company recently reported a high of 2.6 million daily users.
Robinhood is part of the broader fintech space which has received much attention from corporate venture investors as the GCV Analytics here illustrates. The number of corporate backed rounds in this spaces has grown severalfold from 121 in 2014 to 436 last year, along with the total estimated dollars in those rounds as well – from an estimated $2.55bn in 2014 up to $14.66bn in 2019 and then sliding down to $13.38bn by the end of last year.
