Public. com, a social-focused free stock trading service, is nearing the close of a Series D just two months after raising a $65 million Series C , sources familiar with the matter uttered to TechCrunch.
The San Francisco-based fintech aims to pass over people the ability to invest in companies choosing any amount of money, with a focus on luxurious activity over active trading. It also competes with Robinhood, M1 Financial and other American fintech companies that comes with consumers a way to invest in equities with low otherwise zero fees .
Public. com obviously got a flurry of dealer interest over the past couple of weeks after Robinhood found itself in hot water and even essentially raised $3. fundamental billion in a matter of days to help procure itself out of a mess.
That spanking new capital came at a challenging a chance to the unicorn, which can easily pursue an IPO this year . And some investors apparently want a piece of rival Public. com’s pie.
One source told TechCrunch a number of of those offering term sheets comprehend there could be “a mass exodus by means of Robinhood” and want a way to grab that value.
Public now shook up its business model , moving away from generating revenue from order flow repayment schedules, a key way that Robinhood monetizes, to collecting tips from buyers in exchange for executing their sales. Payment for order flow, properly PFOF, has become a touchstone in the porfía surrounding low-cost trading platforms, and how end users may pay for their transactions in the other case in direct fees.
Investors betting on to Public, then, would be placing a bet on not merely future user to turn into, but the startup’s ability to monetize on a in the future.
The article resources for this story were granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions.
Public planted quickly in 2020, expanding it’s actually user base by a multiple of 8 since the start of the year.
Co-founder Leif Abraham told TC’s Alex Wilhelm keep away from that the company’s growth has been powerful instead of lumpy, expanding at with 30% each month. The co-founder simultaneously stressed that most of Public’s customers find its service organically, suggesting that the startup’s marketing costs haven’t been extreme, nor its financial growth artificially boosted.
We don’t know yet how much Public is raising within the Series D, or who nearly is investing. Public has not responded to multiple requests for comment. VC firm Accel — which led its Sections A, B and C rounds — also diminished to comment. But we’ll categorically report details as we get them.
