As the Fintech market soars high, minting billionaires by the month, California-based online brokerage startup Robinhood market Inc. is all set to go public eyeing a market valuation of around $35 billion. The company has already found itself embroiled in this year’s meme stock phenomenon and was rated high by punters.
The year 2021 witnessed a billionaire boom in the fintech sector, with Coinbase’s co-founder leading the ranks and followed on the heel by founders of companies like Affirm and Marqeta. Silicon Valley has been trying to tame the banking incumbents for a long and taking them by the horn with innovation and technology, easing banking services for a better customer experience.
Robinhood files updated IPO prospectus
The experience got accentuated by emerging trading apps and payment upstarts riding on the back of which online lenders are achieving big public market valuations. In an updated IPO prospectus as part of regulatory filing carried out on July 19, 2021, the company mentioned that it would price the 55 million shares in a range of $38 to $42 per share. The company will raise around $2.3 billion if shares are sold at the high end of the range.
The Californian startup is mulling to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ‘HOOD,’ providing its investors a chance to be a part of a fast-growing company that has pepped up the traditionally sedated brokerage business and opening it up for better participation.
Some offerings to be reserved for app users
Stanford roomies Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt, founders of Robinhood who met each other almost a decade back, are offering almost 2.63 million of those shares, the filing showed. Proceeds from those will not go to Robinhood. Once the listing concludes, CEO Tenev and creative officer Bhatt will each have 7.9 percent of the company’s outstanding shares, as per the filing.
Robinhood plans to reserve some of its offerings for users of the trading app. The filing said between 20 and 35 percent of shares will be allocated to users, dependent on demand from customers and other investors.
Till July this year, at least 12 companies went public through an IPO, direct listing, or through a special purpose vehicle (SPAC), clocking a market capitalization of around $ 10 billion and more. Out of these companies and few others with lower valuation, the tech industry alone had minted around 16 billionaires in 2021.
