Jay Z lead management, publishing and entertainment company Roc Nation’s investment division Arrive is taking a stake in Robinhood.
Launched in 2015 by Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt, Robinhood’s investment platform allows trade of U.S. stocks, ETFs, options, and soon, cryptocurrencies. Unlike many other online trading platforms, Robinhood does not charge a fee on trades but instead makes money by collecting interest on cash left in a user’s brokerage account that is not invested.
Robinhood boasts that it has over three million users and is valued at $1.3 billion. Last year, the company released Robinhood for Web, complete with research and discovery tools, as well as commission-free options trading. Last week, the company announced Robinhood Crypto, which will bring commission-free trading of Bitcoin and Ether to the Robinhood platform.
The company has won both an Apple Design Award and a Google Material Design Award.
“We believe in Baiju and Vlad’s mission to make the financial markets more accessible and cost-efficient for customers of all size,” said Arrive’s President Neil Sirni. “Robinhood will have our support as they execute the long-term vision of their company.”
Robinhood will be the third major investment for Arrive after it was launched last March by Roc Nation. Arrive has also invested in French audio technology company, Devialet, and the location sharing platform, InSite Applications, which is scheduled to launch in the first half of 2018.