Robinhood Markets Inc., the online brokerage that’s suffered repeated outages during the recent market turmoil, is close to raising new funding at a valuation of about $8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup is raising about $250 million from investors led by Sequoia Capital, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. The company was most recently pegged to be worth $7.6 billion after a round of funding that closed in July. The new $8 billion figure is a pre-money valuation, the people said, meaning it refers to the value assigned to the company before the latest round of funds is received.
A final deal hasn’t been reached and might not be, the people said. Representatives for Robinhood and Sequoia declined to comment.
Robinhood has blamed frantic trading and record new account sign-ups for the technical problems that plagued its platform earlier this year. One outage on March 2 lasted for the entire U.S. trading session, a session in which the S&P 500 climbed 4.6%.
The company said in a statement in March that it was learning from its mistakes and was focused on continuing to improve the stability of its service and overall customer experience.
Robinhood has seen record revenue growth during the coronavirus pandemic, the people said. The volatility of the markets led to new account sign-ups, they said.
The firm had about $60 million in revenue in March, roughly tripling from the same month last year, one of the people said.
Prior investors include Alphabet Inc.’s GV, DST Global, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Enterprise Associates and Index Ventures. Sequoia is also an existing investor.
Founded in 2013, Robinhood allows commission-free stock trading via a mobile app, a format that’s since been copied by traditional brokers including Charles Schwab Corp. The company, which also provides other financial services, passed 10 million users in December.
&Partners has also added a $357 million Texas family practice, while Janney recruits a $250 million Edward Jones advisor in Miami
Linda Patel will lead J.P. Morgan Advisors in Florida and Georgia as Bank of America adds nonprofit specialists in New York
Interval funds and other semi-liquid or illiquid products are typically two to three times more expensive than plain vanilla stock or bond mutual funds or exchange-traded funds.
The royalty statements looked normal - until someone checked the electronic files.
They allegedly fabricated SEC certificates to dupe investors.
Knighthead Life entered the market with a competitive MYGA. A strong launch earned advisor confidence and paved the way for FIAs.
As AI makes financial information more accessible than ever, Lana Hock explains why human judgment, trust, and empathy remain the qualities clients value most in a financial advisor
