Robinhood Market Inc., the company behind the free Robinhood stock trading app, has closed a $323 million funding round. DST Global led the funding round and other investors such as Sequoia, Ribbit Capital, NEA, and Thrive Capital also participated. The company is now valued at $7.6 billion, up from its $5.6 billion valuation in 2018.

Robinhood stated that it plans to use the funds to expand its business.  The company is among the few firms to have been granted the BitLicense issued by the NYDFS for cryptocurrency-related firms. The app offers users the choice of trading up to seven cryptocurrencies on its app. That number may increase in the future as the cryptocurrency market consolidates.  

The fundraise caps a mixed year for Robinhood. Even as it continued to gain new users after introducing crypto trading services on its app, the company faced backlash for its new checking service, which offered interest rates of 3%, because it could not satisfactorily answer questions about insurance for the service. It also acquired millennial news service MarketSnacks in March 2019 and renamed it Robinhood Snacks as part of its strategic business strategy.