Despite that Robinhood had not officially announced the IPO, the sources stated that the trading company would go public before the end of 2021 Q1.
Trading platform Robinhood Markets Inc has chosen investment banking company Goldman Sachs to lead its initial public offering (IPO) in 2021. The trading app also hopes that the IPO would push the company’s valuation to over $20 billion.
Citing familiar sources, the New York Post said in a report that the time and valuation of the offering will be subject to market conditions. The report noted that the company had already secured more than $2 billion from private investors.
Robinhood Hires Goldman Sach to Lead IPO in 2021
In November, Coinspeaker reported that Robinhood was seeking advisors ahead of its IPO in 2021. At the time, the report referred to anonymous sources who confirmed the IPO plan. Now, more sources noted that the company has hired Goldman Sachs to lead the upcoming Robinhood IPO.
Despite that Robinhood had not officially announced the IPO, the sources stated that the trading company would go public before the end of 2021 Q1. Also, the anonymous sources added that Robinhood may decide to go against the IPO plans.
Over the past months, Robinhood has been raising major cash injections from several investors. Some of the company’s investors are 9Yards Capital, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, DST Global, and Andreessen Horowitz.
As of May, Robinhood’s valuation jumped to $8.3 billion after the company secured $280 million through cash investments. Shortly after the $280 million cash investment, the company added $320 million, pushing its valuation further to $8.6 million. Furthermore, Robinhood raised $200 million from D1 Capital Partners, increasing the trading company’s valuation to $11.2 billion.
In addition to Robinhood’s significant cash investments in 2020, the company secured an additional $660 million in a Series G funding round in September. Robinhood spokeswoman noted that the funding raised the company’s valuation to $11.7 billion. At the time, Robinhood said the secured funds would be used to develop customer experience and support its core business.
In addition, Robinhood plans to broaden its employees base in Arizona, Temple, Southlake, and Texas.
Robinhood Hack Attacks
After a hacking spree on the Robinhood platform in October, the trading platform claimed that the hack affected a “little number” of accounts. However, Bloomberg stated that hackers hit nearly 2,00 Robinhood Markets accounts. According to the Bloomberg report, an anonymous internal source gave the estimated figures of accounts affected by the hack.
The hack stirred reactions from users who expressed their displeasures on Reddit and Twitter. Some users claimed that the hackers had access to their accounts despite implementing two-factor authentication.
To prevent future hacks, the company urged users to apply two-factor authentication for protection. The two-factor authentication is an additional security layer on users’ accounts and alerts Robinhood of fraudulent activities.
Founded in April 2013, Robinhood has about 13 million users, according to its most recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).