Robinhood is finally rolling out a beta version of its non-custodial crypto wallet to 10,000 customers on its waitlist after announcing the product in May, its CTO and general manager of crypto, Johann Kerbrat, told TechCrunch. The product is called Robinhood Wallet and will be the company’s first internationally available app, Kerbrat said.

The company revealed new details about the offering in conjunction with the beta launch, most notably that it will launch exclusively with Polygon, a popular layer-two blockchain that plugs into Ethereum and makes the network faster and cheaper to use.

This means beta users will be able to purchase the Polygon MATIC token on Robinhood’s main exchange app and transfer it to their Robinhood Wallet. They will also be able to access dApps directly on the Polygon network, including DeFi apps such as Uniswap, Balancer and Kyberswap, and metaverse games such as Decentraland, a spokesperson for Polygon said in an email to TechCrunch.

Over time, the Robinhood team plans to build out multichain support for the wallet beyond the Polygon ecosystem, Robinhood crypto product manager Seong Seog Lee told TechCrunch.

“I think there are two or three main considerations [around going multichain],” Lee said. “The first is, we do want to get this initial wallet out into the world and see what user feedback is like. I think the demand for multichain is something that we’re going to keep at the forefront if a lot of users are asking for it … I think number two is, if we think that going multichain ends up delivering a better, more liquid decentralized trading experience, that’s also something that will prompt us to go multichain. And the third is, in the future, as we look into use cases like NFTs, we think multi-chain might be a great, great way to achieve that goal.”

Robinhood rolled out a custodial crypto wallet to its users earlier this year and says it plans to complete a full rollout of the non-custodial wallet to 1 million+ users on the waitlist after the beta is complete, sometime before the end of 2022.

Beta users will be able to fund their wallets using USDC stablecoin tokens, trade and swap crypto and connect to dApps to earn yield, according to the company. However, NFT marketplace integration and the ability to view NFTs within the Robinhood Wallet won’t be available until the public launch later this year, Kerbrat said.

Notably, Robinhood says it won’t charge Robinhood Wallet users network or gas fees for transactions, differentiating its non-custodial offering from other popular non-custodial wallets such as Metamask and Coinbase Wallet.

Lee said the gasless swap feature, in particular, is “an important step in lowering the friction for users to get started doing on-chain things.”

“We wanted to keep the features of what a decentralized trading experience allows you to do, which is swap from coin to coin. But at the same time, we wanted to simplify that into a mobile-friendly user interface,” Lee said.

Robinhood debuts new non-custodial crypto wallet with Polygon to 10K beta users by Anita Ramaswamy originally published on TechCrunch

You’d be forgiven for expecting public fintech companies that facilitate consumer trading to be under pressure this week. And yet, after reporting earnings, the share prices of two pandemic-era highfliers gained ground. Coinbase and Robinhood up? In this economy? Yes.

Of the out-of-fashion tech sectors, consumer trading has to be among the most out of favor. And yet.

TechCrunch wanted to better understand investor response to results from both Coinbase (crypto-focused) and Robinhood (equities-focused) to figure out what drove each company’s shares higher in the wake of their reports. The answers, it turns out, are partially related.

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In an ironic twist, some of the forces that have made consumer trading less attractive are the very same impulses helping the two companies derive more revenue from a previously less-critical part of their business. The Federal Reserve taketh away, and the Fed also giveth some back.

Why Robinhood and Coinbase gained ground after reporting earnings by Anna Heim originally published on TechCrunch

Retail trading app Robinhood is entering the retirement game.

The Menlo Park, California-based company today launched a waitlist for its new offering, Robinhood Retirement, which it describes as the “first and only” individual retirement account (IRA) with a 1% match on every eligible dollar contributed.

The move is a big bet on the part of the fintech giant that the traditional 9-to-5 employee is no longer the norm. It is targeting gig workers and contractors, for example, who have historically found it challenging to save for retirement without the benefit of a full-time job and access to an employer-sponsored plan.

In an interview with TechCrunch, CEO and co-founder Vladimir “Vlad” Tenev said Robinhood is addressing the current trend away from a single employer model:

There are a lot of people who are contractors or who are working multiple jobs that don’t have access to a traditional safety net pension plan or 401(k)s with a match. Employer-sponsored 401(k)s are a really huge force behind getting people to save for retirement. But not everyone is privileged enough to be eligible for one – either they don’t have full-time employment or if the day, their employer is too small or doesn’t offer a match…We’re building this for them.

The company has “been thinking about what a retirement product could be for Robinhood for a while,” Tenev added, saying the new offering is representative of the company’s focus on expanding products “to meet customers at every stage of their financial journey.” Earlier this year, for example, it also rolled out stock lending and a cash card.

The retail investment behemoth’s plan to diversify isn’t shocking, considering the turbulent year it has had in terms of both its stock and the company’s performance. (It was also previewed earlier this year.)

In early August, Robinhood slashed 23% of its workforce just three months after it cut 9% of full-time staff  in two rounds of layoffs that were believed to have impacted some 1,000 workers. Also in early August, Robinhood was slapped with a $30 million fine by a New York financial regulator, specifically on its cryptocurrency trading arm.

Robinhood’s stock price has been volatile over the past year, as well. Shares closed down 3.2% at $9.67 on December 5, down from a 52-week high of $23.74.

To get the product up and running as soon as possible, Robinhood is inviting anyone with an existing Robinhood account or who is eligible to create a Robinhood account — meaning they are 18 and over and meet other standard criteria — to join the waitlist. (Waitlisting users is a move that Robinhood has used numerous times, including with its crypto product, to both build buzz and ensure a smoother experience for users as they are moved past the figurative velvet rope.)

Robinhood doesn’t charge any fees to maintain an account and says the retirement accounts will have “zero commissions or account minimums,” but that “other fees may apply (referring to any current fees in the company’s fee schedule).

Users will have one login to access both their primary investing and retirement accounts.

Historically, Robinhood has been the target of lawsuits and criticism that it wasn’t doing enough to educate its client base about what they were doing with their money. To head off similar criticism with this new product, the company is taking early steps to provide what Tenev described as in-app guidance, education and guardrails for users.

“A lot of the regulatory backdrop on what makes an IRA different and unique is unclear and opaque . . .” said Tenev. “So we want to make sure that people are not putting money in the wrong way, or taking it out the wrong way, without being fully aware of the tax penalties.”

The plan is for the bulk of customers to be onboarded by the end of January, so that those who are interested in making a contribution can do so before filing taxes. Meanwhile, users who are “really excited to use it early” will get an instant access option — but only if they refer someone, even existing Robinhood customers, to the waitlist using their referral code, said Sam Nordstrom, Robinhood’s manager of product management. 

Once onboarded, users will have the choice of investing in stocks and ETFs through either a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA, says Robinhood. Customers can build a “custom” portfolio through “tailored” in-app recommendations or by choosing their own investments — or a mix of both. They also can earn interest on cash stock lending.

Adding to its bottom line

Robinhood needs the product to work. It reported losing 1.8 million monthly active users in the third quarter, a quarterly decrease of 12.8% to 12.2 million, “the lowest level since it listed as a publicly traded company,” according to Yahoo News.

On a positive note, in early November, Robinhood reported third-quarter financials that beat revenue and earnings estimates mainly due to higher interest earned from rising rates. Specifically, it notched revenue of $361 million on a net loss of $175 million, or 20 cents diluted earnings per share versus expectations of $357.7 million on expectations of 27 cents diluted earnings per share.

It’s easy to see how retirement accounts could quickly add to its bottom line. Robinhood has several revenue streams, including through subscriptions via a “Gold” product. But much of the money it makes from its taxable brokerage accounts is through payment for order flow, a controversial practice that last year, the Securities & Exchange Commission threatened to ban, before reversing course this fall.

Layering retirement accounts into the mix will only increase the amount of orders flowing through its platform. Indeed, the expectation is that Robinhood will see a “a significant increase in assets on the platform, and activity, over time,” Tenev says.

Robinhood is also banking on the fact that there are plenty of Gen Z and millennials who are interested in retirement but have not yet started amassing assets toward that end. And it’s hoping to entice them to do so during a down market.

The decision to add a retirement offering, the company claims, is in part based on customer feedback of the desire to have “all their financial investment accounts in one place,” according to Tenev. 

“We’re building a product home for all your money,” Tenev said.

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Robinhood banks on retirement to slow user attrition by Mary Ann Azevedo originally published on TechCrunch

Later today Coinbase, the American crypto giant will report its fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 results. Given continued turbulence in the cryptocurrency market, and a rough doubling in the value of Coinbase’s stock since the December timeframe, TechCrunch has long awaited this particular set of data.

While Coinbase is no longer a startup, it is a goliath in one of the largest web3 markets. That means its results will help us understand the American crypto market more generally, both in terms of the company’s historical results through the end of last year (how things went), and how the company details its expectations for this year to the investing public (what’s ahead).

Investors have recently taken a shine to Coinbase shares after bidding their value down sharply in 2022; after trading to the low $30s last December, the company’s stock has recovered to the mid-$60s today. That’s a comeback worth billions in market cap. Startups might view the recovery in Coinbase’s worth a positive harbinger for their own value. We’ll see.

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3 questions for Coinbase as we count down to its Q4 earnings by Alex Wilhelm originally published on TechCrunch

Robinhood announced Wednesday that its self-custodial crypto wallet app is now available for all users on iOS. The wallet debuted last September in beta with 10,000 users and no network charges for swapping Polygon’s MATIC tokens. In January, the company rolled it out to more than 1 million users on the waitlist.

While the app first launched exclusively with Polygon, the company has now included the Ethereum blockchain in the fold along with support for more than 50 ERC tokens like COMP, MATIC, SHIB, SOL, UNI, USDC and more.

“Users told us they want access to more coins on more chains, which is why we’ve quickly added support for Ethereum. While we recognize it’s been a tumultuous few months in the crypto space, we remain committed to our mission to make Robinhood the most trusted, lowest cost, and the easiest-to-use on-ramp to crypto,” Johann Kerbrat, GM of Robinhood Crypto, said in a blog post.

The Robinhood Wallet also lets users hold their Polygon and Ethereum-based NFTs. Plus, they can access dApps like Uniswap, Balancer and Kyberswap. The company noted that it will still not charge any network fees on Polygon.

The fintech company said that for security, users will have to set up a Face ID/Touch ID unlock or a custom PIN to access the app every time. Plus, just like other self-custodial wallets like MetaMask, users will have to generate and store a recovery phrase.

Robinhood said that the app is available across 130 countries on the Apple App Store, and it is working on launching the Android version later this year.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) subpoenaed the company over its cryptocurrency dealings. Meanwhile, robo-advisor company Wealthfront launched has launched a rival stock trading solution that lets users invest as little as $1.

Robinhood’s wallet app is now available to all iOS users by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

U.K.-based stock-trading startup Lightyear is finally expanding to the web, nearly two years after the company first emerged out of stealth.

Founded out of London in 2020, Lightyear is one of a number of fintechs that promise an easy conduit for the general public to invest their money in some of the world’s biggest companies. But while mobile may be the preeminent internet device for most people these days, people still like the option to peruse their investments on a larger-screened device such as a laptop — and that is what Lightyear is now offering.

The company said that a web-based interface has been its “most highly requested feature” since its launch in 2021, and today sees it follow in the footsteps of others in the space such as European rival Freetrade, which landed on the web exactly a year ago, though that remains in beta and available to premium subscribers only for now. Another European neobroker called Bux is also working on a web app, though there is no indication when that might launch. Across the water in the U.S., Robinhood brought its web version to market in 2017, four years after launch.

In short, Lightyear really has to match its rivals at the very least, and big-screen access could be a deciding factor for would-be customers.

“Many investors prefer to manage their portfolios on the big screen — myself included,” Lightyear co-founder and CEO Martin Sokk said in a statement. “We knew a web app would be a part of Lightyear’s journey in the long term, but by speaking to customers we quickly realised it wasn’t something we should kick down the road.”

Lightyear arrives on the web. Image Credits: Lightyear

Lightyear has secured some $35 million in funding from a slew of high-profile institutional and angel investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus. While the trading platform was initially limited to the U.K. market, Lightyear expanded into mainland Europe last summer.

The new web app will support most of the core platform’s features, allowing users to manage their portfolios and make trades, and track their portfolio performance. There are some differences though, for example the main portfolio screen has a chart-drag view that enables users to view their stocks’ performance over a custom time frame.

While the company plans other web-only features in the long run, the initial release of the web app will be missing some key features from the mobile app that will be added in time, such as the personalized “events” calendar for owned stocks, analyst price targets and fund highlights.

European stock-trading app Lightyear arrives on the web by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch

As the crypto market works its way through a downturn, more incoming money and users could help it weather the storm.

But right now, it’s sometimes challenging for the layperson to get into crypto. Understanding gas fees and wallets isn’t intuitive, and the perceived miasma of complication that currently surrounds the space is no help, either. To help foster user adoption and the resulting capital inflow, web3 needs smoother on- and off-ramps to make it easier to buy into and interact with blockchains.

Trusted providers with existing mainstream audiences are betting they can help fill that gap.

In recent weeks, a number of brand-name mainstream financial institutions have been rolling out new crypto products and services in an attempt to make the space more accessible. At the end of April, Mastercard, PayPal and Robinhood all independently talked about the measures they’re taking to do so at Consensus 2023 and how they are furthering their moves into the crypto ecosystem.

“Despite the market, we continue to be at the cusp of mainstream adoption,” Jose Fernandez da Ponte, SVP and GM of blockchain, crypto and digital currencies at PayPal, told TechCrunch+. “We got into this technology because we believe it contributes to the idea of a faster, more inclusive financial services environment,” Ponte said.

The crypto ecosystem is in a “transitionary period,” according to Raj Dhamodharan, EVP of blockchain and digital currencies at Mastercard. The industry is figuring out the technology and what else can be extracted from it, and “a lot of energy is going to figuring out the next use cases,” he said.

People new to crypto are likely to be more willing to use a platform that they already know and trust to buy into web3 products and services. Household financial names opening their doors to the ecosystem could prove to be the catalyst that pushes crypto from a niche to something more.

On April 28, Mastercard launched “Crypto Credential,” a set of standards and infrastructure that aims to help certify interactions between consumers and businesses using blockchain networks.

“We’re excited about the underlying technology and the promise the technology offers,” Dhamodharan said. “We think public blockchains can be a utility to store and move value over time … and you have to show that you can do it in a regulatory compliant way.”

Mastercard, PayPal and Robinhood dive deeper into crypto as industry shows ‘promise’ by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch

Robinhood announced on Thursday that it was acquiring X1, a no-fee credit card startup, for $95 million in cash.

X1, which offers an income-based credit card with rewards, raised a total of $62 million in venture-backed funding from investors like Soma Capital, FPV, Craft Ventures and Spark Capital since its 2020 inception. The company announced its most recent raise of $15 million in December, when it also touted a 50% boost in its valuation.

On the one hand, while X1’s valuation is not known, it looks like Robinhood is getting a good deal with $95 million. If you take a look at recent raises by other credit card companies, you might say that X1 raising $62 million should yield a high valuation in the hundreds of millions. So, the purchase price may reflect the dip in fintech valuations we’ve seen in the past six months. 

For example, Petal raised $140 million in 2022 at an $800 million valuation. Granted, Petal has been around longer and raised more. A better example might be Yonder, a U.K.-based credit card startup that raised $15.4 million in April at an $89 million post-money valuation, converted in today’s U.S. dollar from the pound. 

On the other hand, Robinhood noted in its announcement that this move is “an important step in our journey toward broadening our product offerings and deepening our relationship with existing customers.” Not only has crypto trading slowed down, but its core trading business overall saw declines in May, most likely prompting that desire to diversify its business. 

Indeed, the acquisition of X1 gets Robinhood into the credit card business with the interchange fee revenue that comes with it. Robinhood currently earns interchange fees from its debit card. The startup first made headlines for its unique model, which allows it to underwrite customers based on their income rather than their credit scores. (Since then, other players have emerged with similar models — such as Tomo Credit, which offers credit based on cash flow rather than credit). X1 doesn’t charge an annual fee for its stainless steel Visa card, has no late or foreign transaction fees and rewards users with “points.” The company also claims that its card is “smart” in that it has built software features that work with the credit card.

X1 co-founders Deepak Rao and Siddharth Batra will oversee the new business for Robinhood, and Rao will serve as general manager of credit cards. 

Robinhood said it expects the deal to close in the third quarter of this year.

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Robinhood acquires credit card startup X1 for $95M by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

Hello, and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

Mary Ann and Alex are back, and once again they tapped the TechCrunch roster for expert input. This week, we’re lucky enough to have Kirsten Korosec back on the podcast. She’s TechCrunch’s mobility lead, hosts a podcast of her own and is one of our favorite humans.

All the cool kids are filling out the Equity listener survey. We want to hear from you! 

The summer slowdown is far from happening yet, so we had a whole raft of stuff to chew through. It was a good thing that we had six hands on deck! Here’s the rundown:

• Deals of the Week: Mary Ann wanted to talk about Robinhood buying X1, a deal that seemed inexpensive but we lack enough numbers for full confidence; Alex wanted to riff on Dropbox’s new AI fund, even if it does feel a little small; and Kirsten had notes for the team on Cruise’s latest app rollout. Even if Mary Ann and Alex cannot find a way to agree on self-driving cars, we all thought that the Cruise bus is cute.
• Twitch and Reddit try to balance corporate requirements with community power: Building off our recent show digging into the creator economy, the crew tackled the latest from Twitch (a new creator-corporate revenue split of sorts) and Reddit (where the battle between the company and its power-users continues to blaze). It’s feeling more hot war than cold war lately on the internet, with platforms struggling to find a way to keep revenue growth coming while not estranging the folks who make their services tick.
• The power of Not Boozing: How big is the market for non-alcoholic drinks? Smaller than the market for vodka, certainly, but we’re curious. Also there’s a new app in the market that is helping folks find non-booze bevies, which we dig.

A big thanks to Kirsten for swinging by, and we’ll chat with you Monday morning!

Dropbox hearts AI, the creator-platform wars and why we’re bullish on fake booze by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

Welcome back to The Interchange! If you want this in your inbox, sign up here. We’re back after a brief hiatus, with lots of fintech news, including Robinhood’s latest acquisition, Plaid’s newest product and a ChatGPT-powered AI tool that aims to help you save money on bills.

Robinhood’s motives

When Robinhood announced on June 22 that it was acquiring credit card startup X1 for $95 million, it caused all sorts of chatter in the fintech world.

Why would Robinhood want to buy a credit card startup? Did it get a good deal, considering that X1 has raised only $62 million over its lifetime? Did its investors get a good deal or just a return on their investment? Why X1 in particular over the many other credit card startups out there?

Let’s talk about that last point first.

When we talked to X1 in December at the time of its last fundraise, founder and CEO Deepak Rao told us the company was launching a new trading platform that would give its cardholders the ability to buy stocks by using earned reward points. He even singled out Robinhood as a company he was hoping to compete with, telling TechCrunch: “By using credit card points to buy stock instead of cash or their savings, we feel this is a safe way for many consumers to start investing. There is no real downside as their investing is technically free.”

Aha.

Could that be what drew Robinhood to X1??

On this week’s Equity podcast, we chatted about that possibility, with co-host Alex Wilhelm noting that one would have to earn a lot of rewards before being able to buy many stocks. He also pointed out that Robinhood perhaps had some money to burn, as well as the company declaring that it was looking for something new as a way of “broadening [its] product offerings” and “deepening” its relationship with existing customers.

If you’ve been following Robinhood’s performance over the past year, a desire to diversify its business is probably not a surprise. We noted that not only has Robinhood’s crypto trading slowed, but also the company has seen significant user attrition. So an X1 acquisition gets Robinhood into the credit card space and an additional revenue stream.

Still, one observer noted that while X1’s basic premise of offering credit based on income rather than credit score was innovative, since it first formed in 2020 it has not really since delivered anything — other than the new stock feature — that stands out in the market.

Fintech analyst Alex Johnson shared a similar sentiment, tweeting: “The brand alignment is strong. Both companies have a certain unearned machismo about them. Other than that though, I don’t get this for Robinhood. X1 doesn’t have a lot of customers (did it ever even fully launch?) and none of its features are revolutionary.”

It is true that X1 may not have had a lot of customers, especially in comparison to a giant like Robinhood, but the company claimed to be on a growth trajectory, with Rao telling us last December that the company saw $3 million a month in revenue last October, giving it an annual revenue rate of $36 million.

Not everyone is down on the deal, though. Better Tomorrow Ventures’ Sheel Mohnot tweeted that while X1 may not have a lot of customers, Robinhood does. He added: “[T]his seems like a good acquisition to me, cheaper to cross-sell than to sell to new customers.”

— Mary Ann and Christine

Image Credits: X1

Weekly News

Fintech startup Plaid got its start as a company that connects consumer bank accounts to financial applications but has since been gradually expanding its offerings to offer more of a full-stack onboarding experience. And on June 22, Plaid announced even more new product releases that moved the company into a whole new direction while also helping to diversify its revenue streams. At the top of that lies Beacon, which it is describing as a “collaborative anti-fraud network enabling financial institutions and fintech companies to share critical fraud intelligence via API across Plaid.” More here.

Navan (formerly TripActions) offers both a corporate card and a subscription to its software. In a twist, the company announced on June 12 the launch of a new product called Navan Connect, which it describes as a patented card-link technology that gives businesses a way to offer automated expense management and reconciliation without having to change their corporate card provider. For the initial launch, Navan has partnered with Mastercard and Visa, with plans to announce additional network tie-ups in the near future. More here.

Spend management startup Brex was named to Time’s 100 Most Influential Companies list. As it made the recognition, Time wrote: “Co-CEO Henrique Dubugras says think of Brex as a ‘spend platform.’ The company launched its corporate charge card for startups five years ago, and has since grown into a fintech conqueror. Valued at $12.3 billion in 2022, it has made 10 acquisitions, and after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, it received $2 billion in deposits and opened 4,000 new accounts. Last year Brex launched Empower, software that links Brex cards and accounts to a custom expense-­management service. The company services startups, helping new businesses get off the ground, as well as enterprise clients, including DoorDash, Indeed, Coinbase, SeatGeek, and Lemonade.” Ramp, another spend management startup, also made the list, with Time writing: “Notching an $8.1 billion valuation just three years after being founded is striking, even for a tech startup. While many fin­tech companies struggled last year, Ramp’s meteoric rise accelerated. The business-expense-software firm saw revenues quadruple as its customers looked to stay lean through inflation. Ramp’s Visa cards are tied to employer-­set policies, so employees instantly know if charges are approved; reports and receipts aren’t always needed. Employers get alerts about duplicate expenses and items they may be overpaying for. ”

Brubank, an Argentina-based digital bank founded by former Citibank executive Juan Bruchou, shared with TechCrunch that since launching in 2019, it has brought in nearly 3 million clients, making Brubank “the largest Spanish-speaking digital bank in Latin America, with a 50% activity rate,” according to the company. It also has been sustaining bottom line profitability for the past 12 months.

At least two companies are poised for a credit card launch this summer: Snowfoll, one of three startups that pitched at TC Early Stage Boston in April, will launch a credit card in July that is tailored to users in the U.S. and India so they can more easily transmit cash cross-border. The company said users in the U.S. are eligible for limits as high as $30,000, and the card reduces the need for having separate bank accounts in the U.S. and India. In addition, the process is instant and cost-free. Meanwhile, Step, the financial platform tailored to teens, their families and young adults, opened up a waitlist for its latest card, Step Black Card. Cardholders will be eligible for perks, including earning 5% on savings balances up to $1 million and up to 8x the points on purchases. Read TechCrunch coverage on Step here and here.

Other headlines

This ChatGPT-powered AI tool can help you haggle to save money on bills

PayEm integrates spend management and procurement platform with American Express

Stripe launches payments for bookings in Google Calendar

Transactions: Citizens selects embedded payments provider Wisetack

Amsterdam’s fintech unicorn Adyen partners with Shopify to strengthen its commerce capabilities

Visa launches fintech accelerator in Africa

TTV Capital continues buildout with hiring of ex-Global Payments CFO

Funding and M&A

Seen on TechCrunch

Volt, an open banking fintech for payments and more, raises $60M at a $350M+ valuation

Heard Technologies grabs another $15M to develop therapist accounting tools

Nasdaq to acquire financial services software company Adenza from Thoma Bravo for $10.5B

With Equifax in its sights, TransUnion invests $24M in income verification platform Truework

Finfra lets Indonesian businesses add embedded finance to their platform

And elsewhere

Dallas-based Yendo raises $24M in Series A funding

Fintech firm Rho in talks to buy startup formerly known as Party Round

Car-insurance firm Root gets takeover bid (Interestingly, the company’s stock got a big boost when the news came out, spiking from an opening price of $5.92 per share to close at $12.62 that day.)

Neo-lender Gulp Data secures $25m, bringing data-backed loans to startups 

Alternativ raises $10 million as digitally native RIAs pick up steam

Fortis expands to Canada, adds fee collection feature, acquires SmartPay

Join us at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco this September as we explore the impact of fintech on our world today. New this year, we will have a whole day dedicated to all things fintech, featuring some of today’s leading fintech figures. Save up to $600 when you buy your pass now through August 11, and save 15% on top of that with promo code INTERCHANGE. Learn more.

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

Did this one feature entice Robinhood to acquire X1? by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

Ten years ago, Robinhood was founded to “democratize” stock trading, or more simply, to make it more accessible for anyone to trade stocks. Over time, the now publicly traded company has broadened its offerings – allowing users to do far more than just buy shares of stocks. Today, its goal is simple: To democratize finance […]

© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

We knew it was coming, but stock-trading platform Robinhood is finally open for business in the U.K. — its first international market since debuting in the U.S. more than a decade ago. Robinhood is granting early access to the app starting today for those who join the waitlist, with things gradually opening up to everyone […]

© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Robinhood’s long-awaited international expansion is at full throttle. The consumer trading and investment app tailored to the younger generations is launching its crypto app to all eligible users in the European Union, the company said Thursday. The announcement comes on the heels of its foray into the U.K. just a week ago. While it’s taking […]

© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The platform might not be as highly technical as one that’s crypto-focused, but Robinhood is doing research to understand what customers want and are missing.

© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

As 2023 comes to a close, we’re here to look back at the biggest fintech stories of the year. Silicon Valley Bank’s implosion felt like a fintech story in that a number of startups (Brex, Arc and Mercury, for example) in the space leapt to fill the hole left by its collapse. But it truly […]

© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech (formerly The Interchange)! This week, we’re looking at a new finance-based dating app, Robinhood’s earnings results and the startup in which PayPal Ventures made its first AI investment. Let’s dive in! To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech stories delivered to your inbox every Sunday at 7:30 […]

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Eight months after acquiring credit card startup X1 for $95 million, Robinhood announced today the launch of its new Gold Card, with a list of features that could even give Apple Card users envy. Robinhood, better known for its brokerage app aimed at the everyday investor, is touting all sorts of benefits with its new […]

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Robinhood’s new credit card was revealed Tuesday, and though it’s only available for Robinhood Gold members, the Gold Card does have a feature that’s spurring headlines: the ability to invest cash-back bonuses into investments. The announcement comes eight months after the acquisition of the startup X1 for $95 million, and it just so happens one […]

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Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech (formerly The Interchange)! This week, we’re looking at Robinhood’s new Gold Card, challenges in the BaaS space and how a tiny startup caught Stripe’s eye. To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech stories delivered to your inbox every Sunday at 7:30 a.m. PT, subscribe here.  The big […]

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When IVP recently announced the closing of its 18th fund, I called Eric Liaw, a longtime general partner with the growth-stage firm, to ask a few questions. For starters, wringing $1.6 billion in capital commitments from its investors right now would seem a lot more challenging than garnering commitments during the frothier days of 2021, […]

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