Robinhood Financial LLC has been valued at $1.3 billion as it nears completion of another round of financing, according to a TechCrunch report.
The company, known for its stock-trading app, is looking to fund its fight against the dominant names of online investing, including E*TRADE Financial Corp., Charles Schwab Corp., TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. and Fidelity Investments.
Robinhood’s millennial-focused mobile app lets users trade stocks for free, a business model that undercuts the per-trade fee that online brokerages charge users.
E*TRADE, Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade and Fidelity recently underwent a new round of commission fee-cutting, bringing the industry's average trading price down. Robinhood said in a statement at the time that it views any commission fees as "arbitrary mark-ups like taxes, which discourage participation in the financial markets."
DST Global, an investment fund belonging to Russian investor Yuri Milner that has invested in Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and Groupon Inc., is reportedly leading the round of fundraising. Robinhood declined to comment to TechCrunch.