Trading startup Robinhood announces $200 million in new funding

Aug. 17 (UPI) -- The stock trading startup Robinhood announced Monday a $200 million, Series G funding round, its third major investment in five months, upping its valuation to $11.2 billion.

The new venture capital cash appears to confirm that investors are counting on Robinhood to continue to make inroads with small-time clients while they are at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

"For seven years, the team at Robinhood has been focused on enabling more access to the markets for more people," Robinhood said in a statement Monday. "With this funding, we'll continue to invest in improving our core product and customer service. We're inspired by the ways people are using Robinhood to learn more about the markets."

Robinhood's newest investor, D1 Partners of New York, joins other backers like Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins and Google's venture capital firm GV. Robinhood and publicly traded firms TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab and E-Trade have experienced record growth this year despite the pandemic.

"We believe investing at its core is a democratic concept -- it allows people to take part in the success of a company or sector they believe in," Robinhood said. "With our latest round of funding, we'll continue empowering people in their financial lives and enabling a more democratic financial system."

Robinhood said earlier this month it plans to hire hundreds of new team members, including registered financial representatives and support staff.

"Supporting and communicating with our customers -- both those new to investing and those with more experience -- is a critical part of our responsibility to them," said Alex Mesa, head of Robinhood's customer experience. "We've more than doubled our support team since January and we'll continue to grow our teams to provide timely, helpful responses to our customers."