The groundbreaking app turning millenials into stock traders is now said to be worth more than $1 billion

March 31, 2017

The groundbreaking app turning millenials into stock traders is now said to be worth more than $1 billion

Robinhood

Robinhood, the app that lets you trade stocks without paying any fees, is reportedly now valued at $1.3 billion, according to a report in TechCrunch, citing sources.

The new round of funding is reportedly led by Yuri Milner's investment arm, DST Global, and values the investing app at over $1 billion. That makes it a "unicorn" in Silicon Valley terms.

Robinhood declined to comment on the new funding round. Fortune previously reported that the startup was looking to raise at a valuation over $1 billion, after going out to raise new venture capital earlier in the fall.

Robinhood launched in December 2014 and quickly became a favorite among younger people looking to invest without paying the $7 per trade demanded by established firms. The app itself is stylish and simple, which helped lure the first-time stock traders that made up Robinhood's first big wave of users.

According to TechCrunch, investors were excited by the success of its new Robinhood Gold subscription plan, which launched in September. While the main service does not charge fees to trade stocks, Robinhood Gold subscribers pay $10 a month to get an extra 2.5 hours of trading, an extra line of credit, and bigger instant deposits of up to $2,000 into their bank account.

Even before the addition of Robinhood Gold, the app had become a favorite especially for millennials to dip their toes in stock trading. The company's low-cost, easy-to-use platform — users can start trading within minutes of opening an account — has cemented its popularity among a younger, phone-first generation. The company has more than a million users, who combined have transacted over $25 billion on the platform, according to the firm.

In February, Robinhood told Business Insider that most popular stocks by percentage of ownership of its users include Apple, Twitter, GoPro, and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: These apps for your iPhone are better than the ones Apple makes