Robinhood files to go public

Popular investing app Robinhood on Thursday publicly filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public offering. In its S-1 filing with the SEC, the company revealed that it has about 18 million funded accounts on its platform. Robinhood was also profitable last year, generating net income of $7.45 million on net revenue of $959 million in 2020, according to the filing.

"By untethering investing from the desktop computer, we've seen new categories of people, including gig economy workers, first responders, construction workers, and many more, discovering Robinhood and becoming investors," wrote company co-founders Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt in a letter for future shareholders. "We believe democratizing finance for all is a one-way door, and these forces of change are more likely to accelerate than reverse."

Earlier this week, Robinhood agreed to pay about $70 million in fines and restitution after financial regulators accused the company of showing false and misleading information to customers. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority also said the app suffered a number of outages from 2018 through 2021 that caused customer losses, most prominently during the GameStop stock surge. The investing app also became the target of lawmakers, leading to a congressional hearing and investigations about Robinhood's decisions.

In its filing, Robinhood said it will reserve between 20% and 35% of its IPO shares for its customers, most of whom are retail investors. The company also highlighted cryptocurrency trading on its platforming, noting that the "growing interest and adoption of cryptocurrency will drive increased customer interest in our platform."

The company plans to trade under the symbol HOOD on the Nasdaq. 

The price range and number of shares to be offered haven't yet been determined. Robinhood listed the size of its offering at $100 million as a placeholder, but that amount will change once it sets terms for the share sale, according to Bloomberg.