Public.com has raised $220 million in a Series D funding round, raising the company’s valuation to $1.2 billion.
The round was raised from some notable investors like Tiger Global, The Chainsmokers’ Mantis VC, Will Smith’s Dreamers VC and YouTube star Phil DeFranco. It was also raised from existing investors Accel, Greycroft and Lakestar as well.
The news comes after the investing social network raised $65 million in a Series C fundraise two months ago, bringing its total funding to date to $310 million. The New York-based unicorn has also attained a milestone of reaching one million members 18-months after it launched, according to a press release.
Public.com provides a platform where its members can own ETFs, fractional shares of stocks, follow other investors and share ideas.
The company will use the funding to grow its infrastructure and scale its product, with upcoming features including crypto, pre- and post-market trading, and other types of features.
“We’re seeing a steady acceleration of interest in the stock market, with topics previously isolated to Wall Street entering the cultural zeitgeist in ways never seen before,” Public.com co-CEO and co-founder Jannick Malling said in a statement. “This movement has sparked curiosity among millions of people who, for the first time, are looking to learn more and participate themselves.”
On Feb. 1 Public announced it got rid of the Payment for Order Flow from its business model, “a practice where brokerages are paid to route orders to market makers for trade execution, creating a potential conflict of interest between brokerage and customer,” the company said in a Public.com blog post. The payment for order flow practice has been under increased scrutiny by stock trading platform users and regulators in recent weeks. This practice has long been seen as an important component of many low-cost / no-fee trading business models.
In a brief statement issued Jan. 28, New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was reviewing Robinhood’s involvement in this week’s sudden, unexpected rise in the stock price of beleaguered video game retailer GameStop. James’ Texas counterpart, Attorney General Ken Paxton, has gone much farther in responding to the Robinhood-GameStop controversy. On Jan. 29, Paxton issued civil investigative demands against 13 corporate entities seeking documents related to the Robinhood brouhaha. The attorney general sent the investigative demands to three Robinhood entities along with Public and other companies.