Robinhood Continues Its March Upmarket

Robinhood continues its march upmarket with launch of robo advice and private banking(ish) services

Robinhood continues to execute on its strategy to move upmarket, increase average balances, and service the growing complexity in their clients' financial lives. This is reflective of two strong themes we are seeing in the market: (1) Self-Directed Trading as Lead Gen and (2) Family Office as-a-Service. For more information on these and the other themes we are tracking, please see WealthTech Themes for the Rest of the Decade.

Self-Directed Trading as Lead Gen quick recap: as the former "day traders" mature and develop more complicated financial lives, they will increasingly seek advice on what is now "real money" instead of "play money." Given the size of the installed base, this could represent an excellent source of low-cost leads. How does this announcement fit with the theme? A potential first step towards advice for technology-minded investors is robo advice and having a captive audience is a big advantage. Perhaps it is not surprising that Robinhood is choosing to offer this product in its typical, disruptive way: the AUM fee capped at $250/yr for Gold Members (who pay just $5/mo).

Family Office as-a-Service quick recap: as consumers demand more services beyond just retirement planning, technology will focus on scaling some of the high-touch, low-scale services typically found at a family office and bring it down market to the masses. How does this fit with the theme? Robinhood also announced that it would start rolling out services later this year "normally reserved for the ultra-wealthy." These will include things like estate planning and tax prep, but also some things like discounted helicopter flights.

We should also note that Robinhood recently acquired TradePMR, which gives Robinhood a solid footing in the RIA space and vice-versa.

Link to Themes detail: WealthTech Themes for the Rest of the Decade

Link to article: https://www.reuters.com/markets/wealth/robinhood-bring-wealth-management-private-banking-retail-investors-2025-03-27/