Risk investment is not stingy! Robinhood raises $280 million, a16z crypto fund grows 1.7 times

Despite the lingering uncertainty in the current investment market, venture capital investments from risk investment firms do not seem to have halted. Robinhood, a stock and cryptocurrency trading platform known as the fintech unicorn, has completed a Series F financing of $280 million led by Chinese capital. Meanwhile, the American private venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has also successfully raised funds for its venture capital fund, with its cryptocurrency fund growing 1.7 times in size.

Robinhood Completes $280 Million Financing Round

According to a report by Bloomberg, stock and cryptocurrency trading platform Robinhood announced on Monday that it has completed a $280 million Series F financing round led by Sequoia Capital China, bringing the company's valuation to $8.3 billion. In a statement, Robinhood mentioned:

"With this funding, we will continue to invest in expanding our platform, developing new products, and accelerating our business expansion."

The global financial markets have experienced significant volatility due to the macroeconomic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the turbulence in the oil market. This has been a boon for investment advisory firms and exchanges. As reported by The Wall Street Journal at the end of April, the volatility has attracted many new retail investors to the market, leading to a significant increase in the number of trading accounts and trading activities. As the first platform to implement zero-commission trading, Robinhood added 3 million new funded accounts in 2020.

a16z Crypto Fund Grows 1.7 Times

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a U.S. private venture capital firm, completed the fundraising for its venture capital funds last week. According to an official article, the fundraising raised a total of $2.75 billion in venture capital funding, with $2 billion allocated to the new "Late-Stage Venture Fund I" and $750 million allocated to biotechnology and cryptocurrency funds.

Among them, the second crypto fund named "Crypto Fund II" has a total capital of $515 million, exceeding the initial target of $450 million. This fund will be specifically used to invest in cryptocurrency and blockchain projects. Compared to the first crypto fund launched in 2018, the fund size has grown by more than 1.7 times.

In a recent article, a16z revealed that the new crypto fund will focus on investing in crypto networks and businesses.

Projects include the next generation of payments, decentralized finance (DeFi), modern value storage, new monetization pathways for creators, and Web3 (the concept of decentralized internet). This is a stark contrast to the focus areas of a16z's first crypto fund, which emphasized stablecoins, financial inclusion, and tokenization of real-world assets.

a16z is one of the largest venture capitalists in the industry, with early investments in notable cases such as Coinbase, Libra, Polychain, as well as successful decentralized projects like Maker, Compound, and dYdX.

Many venture capital firms have been withdrawing funds in recent years. According to CB Insights' data, total funding in 2019 decreased by 28% from the peak of $4.3 billion in 2018. By allocating more funds (1.7 times) to the cryptocurrency field, this renowned venture capital firm will provide more development resources and investment confidence for the cryptocurrency market.

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