A girl holds a smartphone with the Robinhood brand within the background.
Rafael Henrique | Sopa Pictures | Lightrocket | Getty Pictures
Robinhood mentioned Tuesday it has agreed to shop for Ziglu, a London-based fintech app that we could customers business bitcoin and a number of other different cryptocurrencies. The purchase will assist Robinhood enlarge into the U.Okay. and Europe, the corporate mentioned.
The announcement comes just about two years after Robinhood halted plans to release within the U.Okay. On the time, the corporate mentioned it used to be prioritizing its trade at house over global growth.
Stocks of Robinhood had been up greater than 3% Tuesday.
The deal may supply a a very powerful spice up to Robinhood’s enlargement possibilities. Its efficiency has weakened for the reason that GameStop buying and selling frenzy closing yr.
Robinhood reported a drop in per thirty days lively customers within the fourth quarter of 2021 — from 17.3 million to 18.9 million within the earlier quarter —and mentioned it expects first-quarter 2022 earnings of not up to $340 million, down 35% from the similar length a yr in the past. The corporate has misplaced more or less two-thirds of its price since debuting at the Nasdaq closing summer time.
Vlad Tenev, Robinhood’s CEO and co-founder, mentioned the corporate’s acquire of Ziglu “will assist us boost up our international growth efforts.”
“Along with the Ziglu staff, we’re going to paintings to leverage the most efficient of each firms, exploring new tactics to innovate and spoil down obstacles for patrons throughout the United Kingdom and Europe,” Tenev mentioned in a weblog put up.
Phrases of the purchase weren’t disclosed. The deal is topic to regulatory approvals and different normal ultimate stipulations, Robinhood mentioned.
Based in 2018, Ziglu we could customers make bills, spend money on a variety of cryptocurrencies, and earn pastime on holdings of bitcoin and British kilos sterling.
The corporate has raised a complete of £17.5 million ($22.8 million) to this point, together with £13.4 million from retail traders throughout the fairness crowdfunding platform Seedrs. It used to be closing valued at £85 million.
It is among the few crypto companies that has controlled to sign up with the U.Okay.’s Monetary Habits Authority. Registration is a key requirement for virtual asset companies taking a look to perform within the nation.
The regulator lately prolonged a closing date for corporations to make the minimize after a large number of firms withdrew their packages.
Mark Hipperson, Ziglu’s CEO, used to be prior to now a co-founder of British virtual financial institution Starling. Ziglu and Robinhood “proportion a commonplace set of objectives,” he mentioned.
“As a part of Robinhood, we’re going to supercharge Robinhood’s growth throughout Europe and convey higher get right of entry to to crypto and its advantages to thousands and thousands extra shoppers,” Hipperson mentioned.
