Robinhood, Moving Beyond Meme Stocks, Now Wants to Be Your Bank
Robinhood will roll out checking and savings accounts later this year to its paying 'Gold' subscribers, but with a few twists. The Menlo Park, California-based firm aims to be less of a traditional bank for its customers and more of a private banking-like experience, according to Deepak Rao, vice president and general manager of Robinhood Money.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TechCrunch
22 minutes ago
- TechCrunch
Kleiner Perkins is having a very good week
Even while the tech industry is still fanning its face over Figma's hot IPO on Thursday, another significant tech IPO occurred this week: Ambiq Micro. On Wednesday, the chip maker for wearable devices saw its shares climb from the initial price of $24 to over $42 on Friday. There's one thing both companies have in common: Kleiner Perkins was a major investor. So it's been a very good week for the venerable venture firm. Just for fun, we've calculated the value of Kleiner Perkins' stake in each company. Kleiner sold 1,346,499 shares of Figma at the IPO price of $33, Figma disclosed, and could have sold as many as 2,756,020 shares at that price if the bankers exercised their option to nab additional shares. Given how much demand outstripped supply for shares of Figma, we're going to assume the bankers will, or already have, snapped up the full tranche. Meanwhile, Kleiner still holds 52,364,374 shares of Figma, the company says. Share prices are still fluctuating wildly in heavy trading on Day 2, from about $110 to over $142, but closed Day 1 at $115, so we'll use that number. For Figma: An estimated $91 million returned from share sales and a remaining stake worth more than $6 billion. (2,756,02 shares at $33 = $90,948,660. 52,364,374 shares at $115 = $6,021,903,010). For perspective this stake in Figma alone is worth 3x the last mega funds the firm raised, which was $2 billion across two vehicles in 2024. By the way, the Kleiner partner who oversaw its investment was Figma board member Mamoon Hamid. Ambiq is much smaller company and it was a much smaller IPO. It sold a total of 4 million shares and raised $96 million for itself in its IPO. Existing shareholders are subject to the classic 180 days lock-up before they can sell. Kleiner holds 2,081,831 shares, the company disclosed. Shares are still trading at a premium to the IPO price as of Friday and closed Thursday at $43.85. So we'll use that price. Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW Ambiq stake: $91.3 million (2,081,831 at $43.85 = 91,288,289). But wait! There's more. Kleiner is also having a good month and possibly year (Kleiner has declined comment for this story). The firm reportedly scored a decent return earlier this month as part of Google's deal to license tech from Windsurf and hire away its top talent. We don't know exactly how much of the $1.1 billion or so VCs obtained from the Windsurf deal went to Kleiner specifically. But TechCrunch's Marina Temkin reports the total return was about 3x the original funding. And at least one more Kleiner-backed company is waiting in the wings to IPO. Fleet tracking startup Motive Technologies raised $150 million led by Kleiner Perkins, with Ilya Fushman joining the board, the company announced this week. Bloomberg reported in December that Motive is gearing up for an IPO, potentially still in 2025.
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Robinhood Wants to Serve More Than Just Retail Customers, CEO Tenev Says
Robinhood Markets Inc. wants to go global and serve more than just retail customers, says CEO Vlad Tenev. Second-quarter earnings beat estimates and the company is now worth more than Intel. Tenev talks about that and expansion plans on "Bloomberg Open Interest." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Apple CEO Tells Staff AI Is ‘Ours to Grab' in Hourlong Pep Talk
(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, holding a rare all-hands meeting following earnings results, rallied employees around the company's artificial intelligence prospects and an 'amazing' pipeline of products. The World's Data Center Capital Has Residents Surrounded An Abandoned Art-Deco Landmark in Buffalo Awaits Revival We Should All Be Biking Along the Beach Budapest's Most Historic Site Gets a Controversial Rebuild San Francisco in Talks With Vanderbilt for Downtown Campus The executive gathered staff at Apple's on-campus auditorium Friday in Cupertino, California, telling them that the AI revolution is 'as big or bigger' as the internet, smartphones, cloud computing and apps. 'Apple must do this. Apple will do this. This is sort of ours to grab,' Cook told employees, according to people aware of the meeting. 'We will make the investment to do it.' The iPhone maker has been late to AI, debuting Apple Intelligence months after OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Microsoft Corp. and others flooded the market with products like ChatGPT. And when Apple finally released its AI tools, they fell flat. But Cook struck an optimistic tone, noting that Apple is typically late to promising new technologies. 'We've rarely been first,' the executive told staffers. 'There was a PC before the Mac; there was a smartphone before the iPhone; there were many tablets before the iPad; there was an MP3 player before iPod.' But Apple invented the 'modern' versions of those product categories, he said. 'This is how I feel about AI.' An Apple spokesperson declined to comment on the gathering. The hourlong meeting addressed a range of topics, including the retirement of operating chief Jeff Williams, increasing Apple TV+ viewership and advances in health care with features like the AirPods Pro hearing-aid technology. It also touched on donations and community service by Apple employees, the company's goal to become carbon neutral by 2030, and the impact of regulations. 'The reality is that Big Tech is under a lot of scrutiny around the world,' Cook said. 'We need to continue to push on the intention of the regulation and get them to offer that up, instead of these things that destroy the user experience and user privacy and security.' Cook often holds town hall-style chats when visiting Apple's offices around the world, but companywide meetings from the Steve Jobs Theater at headquarters are unusual. The remarks followed a blockbuster earnings report, with sales growing nearly 10% during the June quarter. That beat Wall Street expectations and eased concerns about iPhone demand and a slowdown in China. Apple still faces myriad challenges, including Trump administration tariffs and a regulatory crackdown on its business practices. The company said Thursday that tariffs would bring a $1.1 billion headwind this quarter, though Apple was upbeat about sales growth. It also said that App Store revenue rose by a percentage in the double digits last quarter, despite efforts in the EU and elsewhere to further restrict that business. Echoing comments he made during the earnings conference call, Cook told employees the company is investing in AI in a 'big way.' He said 12,000 workers were hired in the last year, with 40% of the new hires joining in research and development roles. Apple's chip development efforts, led by executive Johny Srouji, are key to the company's AI strategy, Cook said. Apple is working on a more powerful cloud-computing chip — code-named Baltra — to power artificial intelligence features, Bloomberg News has reported. It's also setting up a new AI server manufacturing facility in Houston. The meeting included Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering, who discussed the future of Apple's Siri voice assistant. The company had planned to roll out a Siri overhaul as part of Apple Intelligence earlier this year, adding the ability to tap into user data to better fulfill requests. It was delayed, spurring management changes for the company's AI work. Federighi explained that the problem was caused by trying to roll out a version of Siri that merged two different systems: one for handling current commands — like setting timers — and another based on large language models, the software behind generative AI. 'We initially wanted to do a hybrid architecture, but we realized that approach wasn't going to get us to Apple quality,' Federighi said. Now, Apple is working on a version of Siri that moves to an entirely new architecture for all of its capabilities. That iteration is slated for as early as spring, Bloomberg News has reported, though Apple executives haven't confirmed a timeline other than a release next year. 'The work we've done on this end-to-end revamp of Siri has given us the results we needed,' the engineering executive told employees. 'This has put us in a position to not just deliver what we announced, but to deliver a much bigger upgrade than we envisioned. There is no project people are taking more seriously.' Federighi cited leadership changes, including putting Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell and his headset software leadership team in charge of Siri, as a driving force in improving the product. He said Rockwell and his group have 'supercharged' the company's work in the area. In his speech, Cook also pushed employees to move more quickly to weave AI into their work and future products. 'All of us are using AI in a significant way already, and we must use it as a company as well,' Cook said. 'To not do so would be to be left behind, and we can't do that.' Employees should push to deploy AI tools faster, and urge their managers and service and support teams to do the same, he said. Cook also addressed the company's retail strategy, stressing that the current plan is to focus on opening new stores in emerging markets and upping the investment in Apple's online store. The iPhone maker is opening outlets in India, the United Arab Emirates and China this year, and is preparing to add its first location in Saudi Arabia next year. 'We need to be in more countries, and you'll see us go into more emerging markets in particular,' Cook said. That doesn't mean Apple will ignore other places, he said, but a 'disproportionate amount of growth' will be in new areas. The CEO also shared his enthusiasm about upcoming products, though he didn't get specific. 'I have never felt so much excitement and so much energy before as right now,' he said. Bloomberg News has previously reported that Apple plans to launch its first foldable iPhone next year and is also working on a stream of smart home devices. New headset products, smart glasses, a push into robotics and a redesigned iPhone for the two-decade anniversary are also underway. 'The product pipeline, which I can't talk about: It's amazing, guys. It's amazing,' Cook said. 'Some of it you'll see soon, some of it will come later, but there's a lot to see.' How Podcast-Obsessed Tech Investors Made a New Media Industry Russia Builds a New Web Around Kremlin's Handpicked Super App Everyone Loves to Hate Wind Power. Scotland Found a Way to Make It Pay Off It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Cage-Free Eggs Are Booming in the US, Despite Cost and Trump's Efforts ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
