A girl holds a smartphone with the Robinhood emblem within the background.
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Robinhood mentioned Tuesday it has agreed to purchase Ziglu, a London-based fintech app that enables customers to commerce bitcoin and several other different cryptocurrencies. The acquisition will assist in its growth plans within the U.Okay. and Europe, the corporate mentioned.
The announcement comes almost two years after Robinhood halted plans to launch within the U.Okay. On the time, the corporate mentioned it was prioritizing its enterprise at dwelling over worldwide growth.
Shares of Robinhood climbed greater than 5% Tuesday.
The deal might present a vital enhance to development prospects for Robinhood, whose efficiency has weakened because the GameStop buying and selling frenzy final 12 months.
Robinhood reported a drop in month-to-month lively customers within the fourth quarter of 2021 — to 17.3 million from 18.9 million within the earlier quarter — and mentioned it expects first-quarter 2022 income of lower than $340 million, down 35% from the year-earlier interval. The corporate has misplaced roughly two-thirds of its market worth since debuting on the Nasdaq final summer time.
Vlad Tenev, Robinhood’s CEO and co-founder, mentioned the acquisition of Ziglu “will assist us speed up our international growth efforts.”
“Along with the Ziglu staff, we’ll work to leverage the most effective of each corporations, exploring new methods to innovate and break down boundaries for patrons throughout the UK and Europe,” Tenev mentioned in a weblog publish.
Phrases of the acquisition weren’t disclosed. The deal is topic to regulatory approvals and different customary closing circumstances, Robinhood mentioned.
Based in 2018, Ziglu permits customers to make funds, spend money on a spread of cryptocurrencies and earn curiosity on holdings of bitcoin and British kilos sterling.
The corporate has raised a complete of £17.5 million ($22.8 million) up to now, together with £13.4 million from retail traders by the fairness crowdfunding platform Seedrs. It was final valued at £85 million.
It is among the few crypto considerations that has managed to register with the U.Okay.’s Monetary Conduct Authority. Registration is a key requirement for digital asset corporations seeking to function within the nation.
The regulator just lately prolonged a deadline for corporations to make the minimize after quite a few corporations withdrew their purposes.
Mark Hipperson, Ziglu’s CEO, was beforehand a co-founder of British digital financial institution Starling. Ziglu and Robinhood “share a standard set of objectives,” he mentioned.
“As a part of Robinhood, we’ll supercharge Robinhood’s growth throughout Europe and convey higher entry to crypto and its advantages to tens of millions extra clients,” Hipperson mentioned.
