Fintech/News/ Trade Republic hits $5.3bn valuation in record-breaking fundraise led by Sequoia Exclusive: The trading app has bagged the funding after a mammoth year, now counting 1m+ users By Isabel Woodford 20 May 2021 \Fintech Crypto trading platform Bitpanda cuts headcount by a third By Amy O'Brien 24 June 2022 Fintech/News/ Trade Republic hits $5.3bn valuation in record-breaking fundraise led by Sequoia Exclusive: The trading app has bagged the funding after a mammoth year, now counting 1m+ users By Isabel Woodford 20 May 2021 Trade Republic has raised one of the biggest fintech rounds in European history after securing $750m in fresh funding. The German trading app is also now valued at $5.3bn, soaring from its $600m price tag just last April. The Series C round is being led by Sequoia, the US venture firm that counts Google and Apple in its portfolio, and recently opened an office in London. Sequoia is also an investor in Robinhood, the US trading app with 13m users that Trade Republic modelled itself on, as a low-commission, smartphone-based broker. Robinhood put plans to expand into Europe on hold last year, but has not ruled it out in the long-term, leading one fintech founder to call the Sequoia investment in a potential competitor “really awkward.” Aside from Sequoia, US-based firms TCV and Thrive also financed the round, alongside all existing investors including Creandum, Accel, Project A, and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. Meanwhile, early backer Sino has cashed in $150m in a secondary sale, with the new investors scooping up their stake. That takes the total monetary exchange for the round up to $900m. Founded in 2015, Trade Republic is now live in Germany, Austria and France, and has hit the 1m user milestone, as well as over $6bn in assets under management. It is now one of the largest brokers in Germany. However, the company does not publicly disclose its financials, and its revenues are unknown. Making a splash Trade Republic has grown wildly in the past year, download data shows, buoyed by market frenzies like the Gamestop saga. It has recently started expanding its feature pool too, including offering bitcoin alongside stocks. The fintech is one of several newcomers looking to lure scores of customers away from incumbent brokers in Europe; in some cases, offering 20x cheaper trading. The European ecosystem now counts the likes of Bux, eToro, Revolut, Freetrade, as well as crypto-only startups like Bitpanda. One criticism levelled at these fast-growing brokers is whether they are encouraging young (largely male) users to invest without knowing the risks. Trade Republic’s founders told Sifted earlier this year that it had a big emphasis on “responsible investing,” and was “nothing like Robinhood” in the way it settles trades or has gamified buying stocks. The VCs, at least, aren’t concerned; so much so that Trade Republic has been notoriously picky about investors in the past. It’s kept a tight cap table, and Accel — a high-profile fund — has previously said that its team had to convince the founders to let them invest. Sifted and Finance Forward first reported the fundraising news alongside TechCrunch. Related Articles This female fintech CEO just raised $18m — and others look set to follow suit By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more Member The “Fin-influencer” boom: Why Instagram and TikTok are the new battlegrounds for digital banks By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more Meet the fastest growing fintech startups in Germany By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more The short story of RBS’ failed digital bank Bó By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more Most Read 1 \Startup Life Where are Europe’s top digital nomad villages? 2 \Public & Academic UCL and Oxford are Europe’s ‘worst universities for spinouts’ 3 Member \Venture Capital The top early-stage investors in the Netherlands 4 \Consumer Pitch tops Europe’s B2B tech soonicorns list 5 \Venture Capital Octopus Ventures launches its first-ever pre-seed fund of £10m Join the conversation Subscribe Notify of new follow-up comments new replies to my comments
This female fintech CEO just raised $18m — and others look set to follow suit By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more
Member The “Fin-influencer” boom: Why Instagram and TikTok are the new battlegrounds for digital banks By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more