Robinhood looking to raise at least $200M in new funding round

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Robinhood, the popular trading app, is set to raise at least $200 million, a report by Bloomberg has revealed. The new funding round will value the startup between $7 billion and $8 billion.

Citing a person familiar with the matter, the report revealed that the new funding would come from existing investors. The funding negotiations are yet to be concluded, however, the source revealed.

Another report by The Information further revealed that this funding round could be a prelude for a much larger funding round which could value the company at $10 billion. The report stated that the larger funding round would be dependent on a few factors. They include the startup’s ability to roll out new initiatives in the coming months including launching new banking products and a planned expansion into the U.K.

In the past, Robinhood has had challenges with the launch of its products. In December last year, the company was forced to scrub off its checking and savings product after it emerged that it hadn’t contacted the relevant regulators before launching the product.

Based in Menlo Park, California, the startup has experienced tremendous growth since it was founded in 2013. Its zero fees model was an instant hit, quickly pushing it to become one of the biggest online stock brokerage firms. Last year, it launched a crypto platform that allowed its users to purchase Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin Core (BTC). Riding on the popularity of the product, it surpassed perennial online stock brokerage leader E*Trade Financial Corp. in number of users.

Its value has also been skyrocketing with every fundraising round. Last year, the startup raised $363 million in a fundraising round that saw its value shoot up fourfold to $5.6 billion, up from $1.3 billion a year earlier.

Robinhood acquired the BitLicense earlier this year and begun to offer crypto trading for its users in the state of New York last week. New Yorkers can now trade in Bitcoin SV (BSV) and six other cryptos.