Robinhood raises $2.1B in its IPO after selling 55M shares at the low end of its $38 to $42 range, giving it a valuation of $31.8B
Robinhood Markets Inc, the owner of the trading app which emerged as the go-to destination for retail investors speculating on this year's “meme' stock trading frenzy …
Reuters
Context & Ripple Effects
Robinhood reached the public market after a rapid private-valuation climb: a $8.6B funding valuation in July 2020 was followed by a $11.7B Series G extension two months later. The IPO converts that financing trajectory into a public-market test.
Its filing had sought up to $2.3B at $38–$42 per share; pricing 55 million shares at $38 raises $2.1B and sets the initial public valuation below the filing’s top-end scenario.
First-order effects
Robinhood receives $2.1B in IPO proceeds and begins with a $31.8B public valuation, while IPO buyers enter at the bottom of the marketed price range.
The low-end price gives Robinhood’s existing private investors a public reference point after the company’s 2020 funding rounds.
Second-order effects
The $38 pricing becomes a benchmark for investors assessing whether Robinhood’s private-market valuation growth can hold up under public-market trading.
Future fintech issuers and their bankers gain a visible example of a large consumer-trading platform raising substantial capital while accepting the low end of its proposed range.
Third-order effects
The offering points to private-market fintech valuations increasingly being validated through public price discovery rather than successive venture rounds.
If similar listings price conservatively, access to public capital may depend more on investors’ appetite at launch than on the valuation targets issuers present in filings.
The trend: Private-market fintech valuations are moving into public-market price discovery, where IPO demand determines whether ambitious funding-round valuations translate into durable market value.
For those that haven't read Robinhood's 360-page S-1 and subsequent registration amendment, some brief observations follow on some of the most egregious aspects of one of the most one-sided, enrich the insider casino offerings I've ever seen, and there have been some doozies. 1/
100% they underprice IPO in order to transfer wealth to their customers. Their auditors should ask why they are able to have a massive customer rebate that never hits the income statement. And the “market” price will be discovered the next day when they open (using DL process). h…
No idea when $HOOD will start trading today, but an interesting valuation benchmark is “the $50 to $60 range” at which secondary shares have been trading for the past few months, per PitchBook https://pitchbook.com/...
If Robin Hood robbed the rich to give to the poor, the modern-day version is now in the business of gutting the sheep and pocketing the wealth of the retail speculator for himself. Fleecing at least. “Robinhood is democratizing finance for all,” reads the prospectus. Sure. 2/
The expected $2.3B brought to the party by new shareholders represents almost 30% of all of capital raised since 2013, including proceeds raised in the offering. For their money these new “investors” will only own 7% of the company and far less voting rights. Dilution, baby. 4/
From its founding in '13, $HOOD raised $5.6B in a series of $2.2B convertible preferreds and 2 tranches of $4.7B in converts (the converts sold just this year). Additional paid in capital totals $149m. The balance sheet has $4.8B cash with shareholder equity a negative $1.5B. 6/
Robinhood, who in December paid a $65 million fine (without admitting or denying guilt, wink) for best execution and payment for order flow alleged violations, will raise on the order of $2.3 billion from new shareholders in its upcoming IPO. What does The IPO investor get? 3/
That's $500 million to more than $600 million. Rob from the fools, give to the poor insiders. What a deal. But it's a brokerage firm. With capital requirements. Growing revenues will require new capital, either retained profit or new capital. Regardless, let's talk dilution. 10/
Including proceeds from the IPO, the VAST MAJORITY of capital will have been raised just in the past two years, mostly 2021. Reread the breakdown of how much capital the IPO buyers are investing and what percent of the company they will own. This makes SPACs look non-dilutive. 5/
Regulators are investigating the fact that Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev is not licensed by FINRA, the online trading platform says. The news comes on the eve of a blockbuster initial public offering that could value Robinhood at $35 billion. https://www.cnn.com/...