Robinhood, the US-based share trading app developer backed by internet technology group Alphabet and entertainment agency Roc Nation, received $200m in series G financing from investment firm D1 Capital Partners yesterday.
The transaction valued Robinhood at $11.2bn, up from the $8.3bn valuation at which it closed a $600m series F round led by Sequoia Capital and backed by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Ribbit Capital, 9Yards Capital, Unusual Ventures, TSG Consumer Partners and IVP last month.
Founded in 2013, Robinhood has built a commission-free trading app called Robinhood Financial that allows customers to buy and sell exchange-traded funds, stocks and options. Users can trade cryptocurrencies using its Robinhood Crypto app.
The company also offers Learn, an online portal with more than 650 articles on the basics of investing, market trends and financial terms, and Robinhood Snacks, a newsletter and podcast with easily digestible financial news.
The $200m investment will be allocated to the further development of Robinhood’s core offering and the bolstering of its customer experience capabilities. It is in the process of hiring hundreds of registered financial services professionals in the states of Texas and Arizona.
Robinhood has now raised some $1.7bn in funding altogether. DST Global led its $373m series E round in October 2019 with commitments from NEA, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital and Thrive Capital.
DST also led a $363m series D round for Robinhood in May 2018 that included Alphabet’s CapitalG unit, Sequoia, NEA, Thrive Capital, Iconiq Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers. It came three months after an investment of undisclosed size by Arrive, the investment and startup services arm of Roc Nation
The company’s shareholders also include another Alphabet unit, GV, which participated in its $3m seed round in 2013, as well as Andreessen Horowitz, Greenoaks Capital, Index Ventures, Rothenberg Ventures, Queensbridge Venture Partners, Social Leverage and Vaizra Investments.
