UK Robinhood rival Freetrade snapped up by trading firm at 29% valuation discount

LONDON — Freetrade, a British rival to popular stock trading app Robinhood, said Thursday that it’s been acquired by online investing platform IG Group.

The deal values Freetrade at £160 million ($195 million) — a 29% discount to its last valuation. The startup said that it would continue to operate as a commercially standalone entity under its own brand.

Founded in 2016, Freetrade garnered popularity among mainly younger, more inexperienced traders in the U.K. with its zero-commission trading platform.

The app initially began by offering equities but later expanded to roll out trading in exchange-traded funds, savings products and government bonds.

In pandemic times, Freetrade was riding high on a retail trader frenzy. The app benefited heavily from GameStop “short squeeze” in early 2021, when traders on a Reddit forum for retail investors piled into the stock and caused it to rally in price.

Short-selling refers to the practice of an investor borrowing an asset and then selling it on the open market with the expectation of repurchasing it for less money in future for a profit.

However, worsening macroeconomic conditions in 2022 and 2023 hit Covid high-fliers like Freetrade hard — and in 2023, Freetrade completed a crowdfunding round at a valuation of £225 million down 65% from the £650 million it was worth previously.

The deal is a potential signal for further consolidation coming to the wealth technology industry. It comes after Hargreaves Lansdown was acquired for £5.4 billion by a consortium of investors including private equity giant CVC Group.

Viktor Nebehaj, CEO and co-founder of Freetrade, described the takeover as a “transformative deal that recognizes the significant value that Freetrade has created.”

“Together with IG Group’s significant resources and backing, this is an exciting opportunity to accelerate our growth and delivery of new products and features,” he added.

Freetrade said the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals, adding that it expects it will close the deal later this year.