Robinhood Nixes UK Personal Finance App To Focus On US Core Business

High-flying FinTech Robinhood has scrubbed its plans to launch a stock trading app in the U.K.

Just a couple weeks ago, the Menlo Park, California-based company announced that it had raised a total of $600 million in venture funding, which put the FinTech’s valuation at $8.6 billion.

The company first announced the funding round in May. The July announcement added to the total, with TSG Consumer Partners and IVP joining the initial investors.

Robinhood said at the time that the new funding would be used to “invest in scaling our platform, building new products and accelerating build-out of our operations.”

According to PYMNTS research, Robinhood was No. 1 of the top five personal finance apps as of June. The FinTech offers commission-free online brokerage services.

According to CNBC, on Tuesday (July 21), Robinhood told people who had joined its U.K. waitlist that it was scaling back its expansion efforts to focus on existing markets.

“A lot has changed in the world over the past few months, and we’ve made the difficult decision to postpone our U.K. launch indefinitely,” the company said. “As a company, we are refocusing our efforts on strengthening our core business in the U.S.”

“Although our global expansion plans are on hold for now, we’re committed to democratizing finance for more people around the world. We look forward to the day when we can bring this mission to the U.K.,” the company added.

Robinhood had started a waitlist for potential British customers in November. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approved the move last summer.

CNBC said that Robinhood would let most, but not all, of its 10 U.K. employees transfer to the U.S.

In 2019, the company said it had more than 10 million users. Also last year, Robinhood expanded its offerings to include cash management services that would let customers earn interest on cash that had been placed in their Robinhood accounts, but had not yet been used to purchase securities.