Robinhood Valued At $32 Billion Following IPO
Trading platform Robinhood has raised close to $2 billion after selling shares in its initial public offering (IPO) at $38 a piece.
Before floating on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange on Thursday, Robinhood priced shares at the low end of the $38 to $42 range. The trading platform sold 52.4 million shares, generating a profit of just under $2 billion. The company’s co-founders Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt each sold around $50 million worth of stock.
Robinhood, which claims its mission is to “democratise” investing, has become a central gateway to the markets for first-time, and often young, investors. The trading platform offers equity, cryptocurrency and options trading, and cash management accounts. During the pandemic and the meme stock craze, the platform saw record trading levels.
Robinhood has an estimated 22.5 million funded accounts as of the second quarter of the year. In the first quarter of 2021, this figure stood at 18 million. The trading platform was last valued in September in the private markets at £11.7 billion. This latest valuation, following its IPO, marks a significant milestone for the company.
In its updated prospectus, Robinhood estimated revenue of $546 million to $574 million in the second quarter, a substantial increase from $244 million in the second quarter of 2020. Revenue soared 309% in the first quarter to $522 million, up from $128 million the year before.