The Team Behind Robinhood, the Brokerage Disruptor Now Worth $8.6 Billion

US-based commission-free online brokerage Robinhood has added $320 million to its Series F funding round, bringing the total to $600 million, and giving the company a $8.6 billion valuation. In a previous blog post about the funding round, the company stated that the money would be used to “invest in scaling our platform, building new products, and accelerating build-out of our operations. That means hiring more top talent across all of our offices, including our newest office in Denver.”

Founded in 2013, Robinhood offers users the ability to engage in commission-free trading with as little as $1. This low barrier to entry has proven particularly attractive as the company has attracted over 10 million users, most of whom are millennials and new entrants to the stock market.

In 2019, the company expanded its operations to include cash management services that can allow users to earn interest on cash they have deposited into their Robinhood accounts but not yet used to purchase securities.

The all-digital financial services company employs a non traditional leadership structure, with its co-founders, Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev, serving as co-CEOs. But, these two leaders can't do it alone and have amassed a vast team to help execute all aspects of its business and drive the company's continued growth.

Robinhood’s Head of International Expansion, Patrick Kavanagh, is in charge of leading the company into new markets and is a central part of the company's growth strategy. Robinhood had aimed to launch its service in the UK in early 2020, but was forced to delay its plans. The company is still committed to launching its service in the country this year, making Kavanagh a figure to watch.

Surabhi Gupta is a relatively new face at Robinhood, as she joined the company in late May 2020 as VP of Product Engineering. In her role, she oversees all customer-facing products on the company's platform, including cash management and investing in stocks, options, and cryptocurrency. In a blog post, the company stated, “Surabhi will play an integral role in leading our growing engineering teams as we continue working to improve our product experience and roll out new features like fractional shares.”

As cryptocurrency continues to gain mainstream popularity, Sina Nader, Robinhood’s head of crypto, will be central to the growth of the company’s crypto trading services. The company initially launched its cryptocurrency trading platform in 2018 and expanded it to additional US states in October 2019.

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