Robinhood Markets, Inc. is an American financial services company founded in April 2013 by Stanford classmates Vladimir Tenev and Baiju Bhatt with the mission to "democratize finance for all" through its commission-free trading app for stocks, options, and cryptocurrency. After launching its mobile app in March 2015, the company scaled rapidly, raising hundreds of millions from investors like Sequoia Capital and DST Global, while expanding into options (2017) and crypto (2018). The platform now serves over 27 million funded customers with $307 billion in assets, operating across the U.S., UK, and EU, including via its Bitstamp exchange. It became a household name during the 2021 GameStop short squeeze and saw a 139% surge in trading volumes during the 2020 market crash, but also faced regulatory scrutiny, including a $1.25 million FINRA fine in 2019 for failing to ensure best execution. Beyond trading, Robinhood has diversified into banking, wealth management, credit cards, and a media subsidiary, Sherwood.News.