Jay-Z’s Arrive company adds Robinhood to growing list of investments
Roc Nation, the full-service entertainment company founded by Jay-Z, is getting into the startup game with an investment into the financial trading platform Robinhood.
The investment comes from Roc Nation’s startup branch Arrive, started in March of last year. Neil Sirni, president of Arrive said in a statement of the subsidiary’s founding:
“ARRIVE was created to leverage our experience and resources in building brands, developing consumer facing businesses, managing artists and representing athletes. We’ve opened that diversified, global range of expertise to a new vertical: entrepreneurs and their early stage businesses.”
As for Robinhood, the app allows users to make investments without any surcharge or extra fees.
The platform seeks to democratize the financial markets and make investing and trading more seamless and user friendly. Robinhood is valued at around $1.3 billion and has already raised $176 million in funding, according to Tech Crunch.
Sirni said of Robinhood in a statement:
“We believe in Baiju and Vlad’s mission to make the financial markets more accessible and cost-efficient for customers of all sizes. Robinhood will have our support as they execute the long-term vision of their company.”
According to Tech Crunch, this is Arrive’s third investment, along with Devialet, an audio tech company and InSite Applications, a location-sharing service.
Devialet
Devialet is a speaker company that offers high-end audio technology. With speakers priced in the thousands, Devialet is for the most intense music connoisseurs.
It makes sense that Jay-Z, who is obviously music-obsessed, would invest in a company like Devialet, positioned on the cutting edge of music technology.
But Devialet contrasts Robinhood in the fact that their products cater to users with already-established bank accounts, whereas Robinhood is very much for the young, inexperienced investor.
InSite Applications
InSite Applications is a company founded by 24-year-old Diesel Peltz. The application is designed to help friends find each other at a crowded event or festival. Peltz told The Wall Street Journal about the idea behind his company.
“We wanted to answer the most frequently asked question of your friends: ‘Where are you and what are you doing?'”
Along with Arrive, InSite has investments from prominent backers in Madison Square Garden Co., Live Nation Entertainment, and Tao Group.
These partnerships with concert promoters and venue owners like Madison Square Garden and Tao Group have allowed InSite to test their product at sports games, night-life venues, and concerts.
InSite is definitely for the young, festival-going millennials who would use an app to find their friends.
With InSite, Devialet, and now Robinhood, Arrive and Roc Nation have a pretty intriguing and diverse investment selection thus far.
As Arrive’s portfolio expands, it’ll be interesting to see what spaces and investments Jay and his team take on.