
Robinhood rockets to a $5.6B valuation with a massive new funding round - doppp
https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/10/robinhood-rockets-to-a-5-6b-valuation-with-a-massive-new-funding-round/
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mehrdada
Gambling closely ties into a fundamental human interest.

A legal gambling app is definitely hugely valuable.

I truly mean to say this in the most positive angle possible. I think they are
providing a valuable service and a great app, but it is a very nice business
as well due to the above.

Kudos to the team.

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49bc
I’ve yet to see any indication that people “gamble” (day trade) more when it’s
free versus fee. Is this a fair criticism to level on Robinhood?

Besides, they have day-trading limits built into the app. It’s really just a
mobile-first brokerage with extremely low net fees. And I’m grateful for it.

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mehrdada
It was not aimed to be critical at all, just a comment on the attractiveness
of the business.

Anecdotally, it definitely feels like it has broadened the base of the retail
investor audience (which I think is a great thing) and if you have seen the
options and crypto currency UIs it strikes similarities with fantasy football
and makes those objects shinier.

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whack
I'm not a Robinhood user, so correct me if I'm wrong. But as someone who's
used ~5 different online brokerages, I'm having a hard time understanding what
innovation they brought to the table. Buying/selling stocks online is already
pretty damn simple, and takes 1-2 minutes tops. Where exactly is the
innovation here? _" We're going to undercut the competition and save users a
couple clicks"_ is now a $5B business idea? Kudos to the founders, but this
hardly seems like the stuff movies are made of.

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kaycebasques
No commissions on any stocks or ETFs. No commissions is huge when you want to
create a diversified portfolio, buying only a few shares of each at a time. No
other brokerage has even come close to trying to provide this. Robinhood
earned a lot of brand reputation with this move.

UX. Try out a few other brokerage experiences, and then try Robinhood, and
you’ll see that the market was ripe for the taking for a team with design
sensibilities.

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perl4ever
Using a broker because they have $0 commissions seems to me like going to a
car dealer because they don't charge a $50 doc fee when you buy a car.

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robotkdick
The thing about Robinhood is that it doesn't feel like a financial services
company.

Their advantage is an ineffable quality.

The closest I can come to describing that feeling of using the service is it's
like someone in your family made it for you.

This may sound strange, but there's a lot of love there. That level of
attention to detail and quality is rare and apple-like.

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perl4ever
I found it amusing that Baiju Bhatt compared ill-informed investing encouraged
by Robinhood to dropping your iPhone in the toilet.[1]

[1] [http://fortune.com/2015/03/12/robinhood-investing-
app/](http://fortune.com/2015/03/12/robinhood-investing-app/)

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ddp
Oh, that's nice. Can it land on a barge?

