Robinhood Markets facts for kids
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| Public | |
| Traded as |
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| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | April 18, 2013 |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters |
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U.S.
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Area served
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Key people
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Vladimir Tenev (CEO) |
| Services |
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| Revenue |  US$2.95 billion (2024) |
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Operating income
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US$1.05 billion (2024) |
| US$1.41 billion (2024) |
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| Total assets | US$26.2 billion (2024) |
| Total equity | US$7.97 billion (2024) |
| Owners |
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Number of employees
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2,300 (2024) |
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Robinhood Markets, Inc. is a company based in Menlo Park, California, in the United States. It offers an online platform where people can buy and sell different types of investments. These include stocks (small pieces of companies), exchange-traded funds (groups of investments), and cryptocurrency (digital money like Bitcoin).
Robinhood also provides other services like cryptocurrency wallets (where you store digital money), wealth management (helping people manage their money), and credit cards. Some of these services are offered with partner banks. The company also has a news website called Sherwood.News.
The company earns money in a few ways. They get fees from trades, earn interest from money customers keep with them, and from subscriptions. Robinhood has many customers, with millions of funded accounts and billions of dollars managed on their platform. Their services are available in the U.S., the UK, and parts of the European Union for cryptocurrency and tokenized investments.
The company is named after the legendary character Robin Hood. This name was chosen because their goal is to make financial markets open to everyone, not just people who are already wealthy. Robinhood was one of the first companies to offer stock trading without charging a commission (a fee for each trade). Many of their customers are young adults, with an average age of 35 in March 2025.
Robinhood does not allow trading in all types of investments. For example, you cannot trade mutual funds or certain high-risk penny stocks on their platform.
Contents
How Robinhood Started
Robinhood was created in April 2013 by two friends, Vladimir Tenev and Baiju Bhatt. Before starting Robinhood, they had experience building fast trading systems for big financial companies in New York City. Their idea was to make a mobile app that was free, easy to use, and helpful for everyone.
They showed their new mobile app at an event called LA Hacks in April 2014. A test version of the app was released later that year. The official Robinhood mobile app launched in March 2015.
In February 2018, Robinhood started offering cryptocurrency trading on its platform. This allowed users to buy and sell digital currencies. In December 2019, they launched banking products that were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) through partner banks.
During the second quarter of 2020, when the stock market saw big changes, Robinhood's trading activity grew a lot. In March 2024, Robinhood expanded its services to the United Kingdom. In April 2024, they launched their "Sherwood News" website, which shares financial news. In March 2025, Robinhood announced new wealth management services to help customers manage their money better.
In April 2025, Robinhood received a special license from the Bank of Lithuania. This allowed the company to operate in Lithuania. By June 2025, Robinhood began offering trading in tokenized ETFs and stocks in the European Union.
Robinhood's Growth: Buying Other Companies
Over the years, Robinhood has bought other companies to add new features and services.
- In August 2021, they bought Say Technologies. This company helps shareholders vote and ask questions to company leaders.
- In December 2021, Robinhood acquired Cove Markets, a company that develops platforms for trading cryptocurrency.
- In June 2023, Robinhood bought X1, a company that created a credit card with rewards. This credit card was later renamed the Robinhood Card.
- In December 2023, Robinhood acquired Chartr, which publishes a daily financial newsletter.
- In March 2024, Robinhood bought Marex FCM, a company that helps with futures contracts (agreements to buy or sell something at a future date).
How Robinhood Got Funding
To grow their company, Robinhood received money from many investors over time. This money helped them build their platform and offer new services.
- In September 2014, they raised $13 million from investors like Index Ventures and even famous people like Jared Leto, Snoop Dogg, and Nas.
- In May 2015, they raised another $50 million.
- By April 2017, Robinhood was valued at $1.3 billion after raising $110 million more.
- They continued to raise large amounts of money, including $363 million in May 2018 and $323 million in July 2019.
- In May 2020, they raised $280 million, and in August 2020, they received another $200 million.
Robinhood became a public company on July 29, 2021. This means its shares could be bought and sold by anyone on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
See also
In Spanish: Robinhood (empresa) para niños
