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September 23, 2014

A new way to invest, for a new generation

As many of you know, we’ve embarked on a big mission: to create a better way for the next generation to invest. The idea for Robinhood stemmed from our days on Wall Street, where we realized that institutional investors can access public markets for dramatically cheaper prices than the rest of us. Today, the average individual has to pay up to $10 per trade. We believe there’s something inherently wrong with that, and we’re on a path to change it. Robinhood’s powerfully engineered technology and carefully designed mobile experience will allow everyday investors to trade with zero commissions.

Over the past several months, our team has been blown away by the unwavering support and enthusiasm for Robinhood. Almost a half-million people are on our wait list, and our early beta program is providing us with valuable customer feedback that will improve the Robinhood experience.

We are working as fast as we can to share Robinhood with everyone, and today, we are one giant leap closer to that goal. We’re thrilled to announce we closed a $13 million Series A financing round from some of the world’s most notable investors. It’s humbling and inspiring to know that some of the smartest minds in finance and technology share our vision to democratize access to the financial markets.

Index Ventures led the round and Jan Hammer will join our Board of Directors. Also joining the round is Ribbit Capital; Howard Lindzon, Co-Founder of StockTwits and General Partner at Social Leverage; Aaron Levie, Founder of Box; Dave Morin, Founder of Path; Jared Leto; Snoop Dogg; and Nasir Jones of QueensBridge Venture Partners. We are excited to welcome them to the Robinhood family, which includes some top-tier seed investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures.

This new funding will allow us to hire talented engineers and designers, expand our beta program, and pave the way for a successful public launch early next year.

We appreciate everyone’s wonderful enthusiasm and patience as we gear up for a busy next few months. In the meantime, keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter, and if you haven’t already, reserve your portfolio here.

If you’d like to become a hoodling and start trading, check out our openings.

Cheers,

Your friends at Robinhood

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