Robinhood opens US IPO requests to UK investors

The company said in a Nov. 9 announcement that eligible customers can submit requests through their general investment accounts. Offerings will appear in the Robinhood app, alongside company information and prospectuses and filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Robinhood has not named its UK Public Offer Platform provider or published a full list of participating companies.

Investors may receive all, some or none of the shares they request. Robinhood’s UK announcement did not say whether the random or proportional allocation methods used for its US service will apply in Britain. The company introduced IPO Access in the United States in 2021 and has since participated in more than 50 offerings.

Robinhood UK President Jordan Sinclair said the company aims to give retail investors access to public offerings that have traditionally been concentrated among institutional investors and wealthy individuals. Robinhood also warned that newly listed shares can move sharply, particularly in their first trading sessions. An IPO’s offer price may differ from the market price once exchange trading begins.

The launch follows Robinhood’s August introduction of cryptocurrency trading for eligible UK customers through Bitstamp UK, with access to more than 50 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP. IPO Access concerns conventional shares; the company’s separate tokenized stock products were not part of the Nov. 9 announcement, and no UK launch date for those products was given.