Online retail investing app Robinhood publicly filed its stock prospectus with the SEC on Thursday to be listed on the Nasdaq stock market under the ticker symbol HOOD. The company confidentially submitted a draft registration with the SEC in March.
Online retail investing app Robinhood publicly filed its stock prospectus with the SEC on Thursday to be listed on the Nasdaq stock market under the ticker symbol HOOD. The company confidentially submitted a draft registration with the SEC in March.
The filing is one of the public’s first comprehensive looks at Robinhood’s financials.
Silicon Valley-based Robinhood was founded in 2013 by Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt. The company’s S-1 document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed HOOD;s plans. Robinhood’s mission to democratize finance by enabling users to trade stocks and ETFs for free on its mobile app. During 2020, its popularity rose to new heights as amateur investing surged amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Revenue Sources
Robinhood doesn’t directly charge its users for trades, it mainly makes money from market makers and high frequency trading firms like Citadel who pay for the order flow from its retail traders. Payments for order flow, or PFOF, accounted for roughly 75% of the company’s revenue last year.
Robinhood also earns revenue from interest on securities and margins loans. Other services including the Robinhood Gold premium subscription service, which gives users access to features including professional research and margin trading.
Robinhood transaction-based revenues has grown 320% from around $170 million in 2019 to about $720 million in 2020. In Q1 2021, transaction revenues grew further by about 340% year-over-year to $420 million.
The revenue surge comes as more retail investors have been attracted to the stock markets from the stay at home forced upon them through the Covid-19 pandemic. From there we have had the meme stock trading frenzy with GameStop the poster child.
The number of funded accounts on Robinhood grew from around 5.1 million at the end of 2019 to about 12.5 million in 2020 and stood at an estimated 22.5 million as of the end of June 2021. The average revenue per user rose from $65.70 in 2019 to $108.90 in 2020 and to about $137 in Q1 2021, on an annualized basis.
- Options remain the largest driver of Robinhood’s transaction revenue (47% of sales),
- Cryptocurrency business is the fastest-growing.
- In Q1 2021, crypto-related revenue soared by around 20x year-over-year to almost $88 million.
Robinhood’s other segments have also been expanding, with net interest revenue and other revenue together rising by almost 3x in Q1 compared to last year. Robinhood is dependent on its transaction revenues, which accounted for almost 81% of sales over Q1, versus about 75% last year. The biggest risk to Robinhood, other than another Gamestop disaster would be the end of the stockmarket bull market
From the prospectus
Cultural Impact.
We pioneered commission-free stock trading with no account minimums, which the rest of the industry emulated, and we have continued to build relationships with our customers by introducing new products that further expand access to the financial system. We believe we have made investing culturally relevant and understandable, and that our platform is enabling our customers to become long-term investors and take greater control of their finances. Over half of 18-44 year olds in the United States know who Robinhood is according to an internal brand study that we conducted in March 2021. As a further sign of our relevance today, Robinhood reached the number-one spot on the Apple App Store multiple times in the first quarter of 2021 and was frequently ranked number one in the Finance category on the Apple App store during 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.
Finances
For the year ended December 31, 2020, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2019:
- •our total revenue grew 245% to $959 million, up from $278 million;
- •we recorded net income of $7 million, compared to a net loss of $107 million; and
- •our Adjusted EBITDA was $155 million, compared to negative $74 million.
In addition, for the three months ended March 31, 2021, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2020:
- Our total revenue grew 309% to $522 million, up from $128 million; •we recorded net loss of $1.4 billion, which included a $1.5 billion fair value adjustment to our convertible notes and warrant liability, compared to a net loss of $53 million; and 3
- Our Adjusted EBITDA was $115 million, compared to negative $47 million. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for more information about Adjusted EBITDA, including the definition and limitations of such measure, and a reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA. Future Vision.
Our vision is for Robinhood to become the most trusted, lowest-cost, and most culturally relevant money app worldwide. We innovate at the epicenter of finance, technology and access for all. As we look to the future, we want to help Robinhood customers manage all aspects of their financial lives in one place. We envision them moving seamlessly between investing, saving and spending all on the Robinhood platform. When we check our email, there is a go-to app. When we need a map, there is a go-to app. We envision a world in which Robinhood is that go-to app for money. We believe people want to build financial independence and have the tools and ability to own their financial well-being. We look forward to being our customers’ single money app that enables them to achieve those goals.
It is worth repeating, to emphasis that Robinhood makes money through a practice known as “payment for order flow,” in which retail brokers route trade requests to other firms to execute in exchange for a commission. Citadel is one of its main sources of revenue.
For Robinhood it will be a test of a new business line: It only announced its IPO Access platform in May. Clear Secure (YOU.N) used it for 1% of its float earlier this week, and Duolingo also plans to do so. If retail allocations catch on, that’s a boon for the business. This is a developing story.
Source: SEC
From The TradersComuunity News Desk