Robinhood Agrees to Acquire UK Crypto Platform Ziglu

Online brokerage platform Robinhood (HOOD) has agreed to acquire London-based crypto platform Ziglu, giving it a Financial Conduct Authority-regulated arm in the U.K.

• No financial terms were disclosed for the deal announced Tuesday, which is subject to regulatory approval.
• Ziglu offers buying and selling services for 11 cryptocurrencies as well as a "Boost" product that earns users yield on their holdings.
• The firm won approval to offer crypto services in the U.K. by financial watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2020, the third firm to gain such approval.
• Ziglu raised over $7 million on crowdfunding site Seedrs in November, the largest fundraise on Seedrs in 2021.
• Robinhood's long-term goal is to move Ziglu more fully into its own platform to "bring the Robinhood brand overseas," according to the blog post.
• "Ziglu's impressive team of deeply experienced financial services and crypto experts will help us accelerate our global expansion efforts," said Vlad Tenev, Robinhood's CEO and co-founder, in a statement.
• Robinhood last attempted to expand into the U.K. market at the start of 2019, but shelved the plans a year-and-a-half later to focus its efforts on the U.S.

Read more: Just-Launched Ziglu Wants to Make It Stupid Easy to Buy Crypto

UPDATE (April 19, 14:04 UTC): Added background on Ziglu.