[Editors note: Want to get this weekly review of news that startups can use by email? Justsubscribe here.]How well do Robinhoods financials stack up against incumbent online brokerages? While we wait for the seven-year-old companys long-planned IPO, Alex Wilhelm examined Morgan Stanleys big $13 billion purchase of E-Trade for fresh data comparison points.
Robinhood has 10 million accounts twice what E-Trade has but it also appears to make much less money per user and has far fewer assets under management, as he covered for Extra Crunch.
So while its fee-free approach has destroyed a key revenue stream for competitors, it still has to grow its own order-flow business into its private-market valuation.One solution is to make the platform stickier via social features.
On the same day as the E-Trade deal announcement, Robinhood launched a new Profiles feature to encourage users to share stock tips.
Josh Constine explored the offering and where it is headed on A Technology News Room, concluding that Profiles and lists, and then eventually more social features, could get Robinhoods users trading more so theres more order flow to sell and more reason for them to buy subscriptions.Alex also took a look at a new report on fintech funding, which found last year was a peak overall but skewed towards later-stage companies.
Certainly, the wealth management segment is looking mature.But the category is massive, with many more incumbents left to disrupt.
What are fintech investors looking for? Check out our popular investor survey on this topic from November.How your startup can use TikTok for growthYou know that TikTok is where the cool kids are these days, but maybe how do I say it is not the social media platform you know best when it comes to growth.
So Genevive Patterson and Hannah Donovan, founders of TikTok-oriented video editing app TRASH, have published a two-part guide to help you figure it out.The first part, freely available on A Technology News Room, walks you through how to increase your authority ranking in the TikTok algorithm, its review process, and pointers for making your own content.
The second part, for Extra Crunch subscribers, goes deep on how TikTok decides whose content gets featured more (and less).Fifth Walls Brendan Wallace: the proptech sector is hot despite WeWorkOur mandate is any technology that can be strategic to the real estate industry, the prolific investor told Connie Loizos in an extended interview for Extra Crunch this week.
While WeWork may have depressed some investor interest, plenty of models are working great across various segments so he and his partners are raising more funds.
One of the hottest sectors, perhaps surprisingly, is in sustainable buildings.
As Wallace details, public pressure, large-tenant pressure, large-investor pressure and new metro requirements have removed any choice that the industry has in the matter:Make no mistake; we are front-and-center to what is happening in the real estate industry and the collision with technology, and this is the single-most-important thing that has happened to the real estate industry in the last five decades.
The real estate industry is going to have to go carbon-neutral and that is brand-new.Is this sector also your focus? Be sure to check out our survey of investors in construction robotics from last week to find out some of the latest opportunities, plus our overview survey of real estate and prop tech investors from November.The future of manufacturing and warehouse roboticsAhead of our big robotics conference at UC Berkeley in early March, we have been producing a whole series of surveys on robotics verticals.
This week, our resident financial analyst Arman Tabatabai teamed up with our hardware editor turned conference organizer, Brian Heater, to do a series of interviews with VCs who are focused on warehouse and manufacturing robotics.
Investors include:Read more here.Tell A Technology News Room about gaming startups and remote workOur media columnist Eric Peckham wants to feature your advice in two upcoming articles.
If you have relevant expertise, click the links below and share your opinions.Across the weekDo AI startups have worse economics than SaaS shops? (EC)Elon Musk says all advanced AI development should be regulated, including at Tesla (TC)SpaceX alumni are helping build LAs startup ecosystem (EC)Dear Sophie: I need the latest details on the new H-1B registration process (TC)Tracking Chinas astounding venture capital slowdown (EC)The rise of the winged pink unicorn (TC)Voodoo Games thrives by upending conventional product design (EC)Ex-YC partner Daniel Gross rethinks the accelerator (TC)How companies are working around Apples ban on vaping apps (EC)Rippling starts billboard battle with Gusto (TC)#EquitypodThis week was a fun combination of early-stage and late-stage news, with companies as young as seed stage and as old as PE-worthy joining our list of topics.DannyandAlexwere back on hand to chat once again.
Just in case you missed it, theyhad some fun talking Tesla yesterday, and there arenew Equity videos on YouTube.
Enjoy!This week the team argued about org-chart companies, debt raises, some of the items mentioned above, and much more.
Details here.