Alphabet and Roc Nation-backed trading app developer Robinhood is reportedly looking to secure funding at a valuation of more than $7bn.
Robinhood, the US-based online financial trading service backed by internet and technology group Alphabet and music management agency Roc Nation, is seeking at least $200m in funding, Bloomberg has reported.
The money is set to come from existing investors, according to people familiar with the deal, and is likely to value the company at $7bn to $8bn, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
Founded in 2013, Robinhood is the operator of a mobile app with more than 5 million users that allows people to trade shares, options, exchange-traded funds and cryptocurrencies without paying a deposit or commission on their trades.
The cash is being raised as the company prepares to relaunch its cash management service later this year, having withdrawn it at the end of 2018 amidst concerns over whether it was adequately insured.
Robinhood last secured funding in March 2018, when it received $363m from investors including Alphabet’s growth capital unit, CapitalG, at a $5.6bn valuation, boosting its overall funding to $540m in the process.
The round was led by DST Global and also featured Sequoia Capital, Iconiq Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and existing backers that included Thrive Capital and New Enterprise Associates (NEA). It came after Roc Nation’s Arrive subsidiary invested an undisclosed sum the month before.
Robinhood’s first external funding came in 2013 when it secured $3m in seed capital from GV, the Alphabet unit formerly known as Google Ventures, as well as Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Rothenberg Ventures and various angel investors.
DST Global, Index Ventures, NEA, Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital and Greenoaks Capital had provided $110m in series C funding for the company in a 2017 series C round that valued it at $1.3bn. Its existing investors also include Queensbridge Venture Partners, Social Leverage and Vaizra Investments.
Image courtesy of Robinhood Financial LLC.