Inside Robinhood: From 2013 to Now Into a $5.6 billion business
Founders: Vlad Tenev, Baiju Bhatt
Founded Year: 2013
Investors: DST Global, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital
Funding Raised: $5.6 billion
What Is the business model of Robinhood?
Financial services company offering commission-free stock and crypto trading via a mobile app; makes money from payment for order flow, interest on cash, and premium subscriptions
How Robinhood got started?
Tenev and Bhatt, inspired to “democratize finance,” launched Robinhood in 2013 to let anyone trade stocks with no fees, initially courting tech-savvy millennials and first-time investors with a simple, gamified app
what growth strategy has Robinhood followed?
Attracted millions of users with a free-to-trade model and viral referral marketing, forcing legacy brokers to drop commissions and riding social media buzz to become a leading retail brokerage
what are the top products/features of Robinhood
Robinhood trading app, Robinhood Gold, Robinhood Cash Card
what was the biggest challenge faced by Robinhood?
During the 2021 meme-stock frenzy (GameStop saga), it halted buy orders due to liquidity issues, sparking public outrage and investigations into its business practices