Robinhood seeks $35-billion valuation in mega initial public offering

Robinhood Markets is seeking a valuation of $35 billion in its initial public offering, just short of the highest analyst projections, as the free trading app advances toward a debut likely to draw in buyers from its own novice investor base.
 

The company at the centre of this year’s meme stock frenzy will market 55 million shares for $38 to $42 each, according to a filing Monday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Bloomberg Intelligence in March estimated Robinhood could be valued in a range of $13 billion to $40 billion.
 

Robinhood aims to raise more than $2 billion in its public debut, planned for later this summer. With the price range set, it will now proceed with its IPO roadshow and will start meeting with investors this week. Its valuation could still change depending on demand from investors.
 

As a publicly traded brokerage, Robinhood will join the ranks of Coinbase Global, a cryptocurrency trading platform that debuted this year and is currently worth almost $47 billion, and industry heavyweight Charles Schwab Corp., which bought competitor TD Ameritrade last year and has a market value of about $130 billion.
 

With plans to raise more than $2.2 billion, Robinhood’s IPO would be the fifth-biggest on a US exchange in 2021. This year has already set an all-time record with 648 firms raising a total of about $218 billion, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg.