PUBLIC.COM

Public launched in 2019 with a simple twist on stock trading. Make it social.

Instead of a lonely app full of charts, you could follow other investors and see what they owned. The founders, Jannick Malling and Leif Abraham, wanted investing to feel like a community rather than a casino.

It rode the retail trading wave that exploded during the pandemic. Millions of first-time investors downloaded apps to trade from their phones.

Public was right there when they showed up.

Here is the interesting part. In 2021 Public dropped payment for order flow, the practice of selling customer trades to big trading firms.

That is how most free apps like Robinhood make their money. Public gave it up and asked users to leave optional tips instead.

It earns money other ways now. It charges for a premium tier.

It earns interest on idle cash and lends out securities. It later added bonds, a high-yield cash account, and crypto.

The pitch is that it is not quietly profiting off your every trade.

The core is the Public investing app, where you can buy stocks, ETFs, and fractional shares and follow other investors. It added a bonds marketplace and Treasury bills for people who want yield.

There is a high-yield cash account. It offers crypto and some alternative assets.

Public Premium is the paid tier with deeper data and analysis. The whole thing is built to be a full home for a modern retail portfolio, not just a trading toy.

Public grew by picking a fight at the perfect moment. In January 2021, Robinhood restricted trading in GameStop and other meme stocks during the frenzy.

Users were furious. Public jumped in as the app that would not do that to you.

It leaned into transparency and community. It also signed up well-known investors and creators to bring their audiences along.

When markets cooled, it pivoted toward long-term investing, bonds, and a Treasury account to keep people around after the meme mania faded.

Public is squeezed on all sides. Robinhood is bigger and richer.

Fidelity and Schwab are giants that offer free trading too. Getting people to actually pay for an investing app is hard when the competition is free.

Retail trading also comes in waves. It boomed in 2021, then went quiet.

Public has to prove people will stick around and pay through the slow years, not just show up when meme stocks are hot. Dropping payment for order flow was principled, but it also gave up an easy source of revenue.

Public raised money from serious growth investors. Accel led its early rounds more than once, an unusual show of conviction.

In early 2021, Tiger Global led a round of roughly 220 million dollars that valued Public around 1.2 billion dollars and minted unicorn status. Other backers over the years included Greycroft, Lakestar, and a long list of well-known individual investors and athletes.

The star-studded cap table was part of the marketing. Public wanted credible names attached to a credible app.