Robinhood Acquires AI Investment Research Platform Pluto
Robinhood and Pluto logos

Robinhood Acquires AI Investment Research Platform Pluto

The popular trading app Robinhood is joining the AI gold rush with its latest acquisition.

About Pluto and the acquisition:

In a blog post, Robinhood announced plans to purchase the AI-powered investment research tool Pluto Capital. With Pluto, investors can obtain customized strategies based on their goals. As a result of the acquisition, Pluto’s founder and CEO Jacob Sansbury will join Robinhood’s team. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Using Pluto, investors have been able to access enhanced data analysis, including the ability to identify emerging trends more quickly. Additionally, as mentioned, the tool can offer personalized investment strategy suggestions based on risk tolerance, historical behavior, goals, and more. Similarly, the service offers real-time insights and portfolio optimization — all of which are tailored to investor preferences.

More from Robinhood:

This is the second acquisition that Robinhood has announced in less than a month, having revealed plans to purchase Bitstamp for $200 million in June. Meanwhile, the app is also set to put its 2023 acquisition of X1 to work with the impending launch of its Robinhood Gold credit card. The card, which will offer 3% back across the board, currently has a waitlist.

What they’re saying:

Commenting on the deal with Pluto, Robinhood’s VP of engineering Mayank Agarwal stated, “We are thrilled to welcome Pluto and Jacob Sansbury to Robinhood. They have built an impressive platform that is highly regarded in the financial services industry. Importantly, their expertise in artificial intelligence coupled with a mission-aligned passion to democratize finance will complement our team’s effort to bring AI-powered tools to our customers.”

Meanwhile, Sansbury noted, “Robinhood is the ideal destination to build products that democratize access to financial services like wealth management and financial planning through state-of-the-art AI. I look forward to innovating at the company which has inspired me and so many others.”

My thoughts:

Although the investment features Pluto boasts do sound useful overall, I’ve grown a bit skeptical when it comes to claims of AI-powered offerings (especially after visiting CES this year). The fact that Robinhood hasn’t revealed how much it plans to pay for Pluto and is also putting more of an emphasis on acquiring the CEO than the company itself also leads me to believe that this deal is more about making a splash than producing worthwhile features. Of course, as a Robinhood user myself, I’d love to be proven wrong.

Setting my cynicism aside, this does sound like a good pairing as Robinhood continues to expand. With the FinTech also on a buying streak as of late, I look forward to seeing what other companies and tools they add to their arsenal next.

Author

Kyle Burbank

Head Writer ~ Fioney
Kyle is the head writer for Fioney. He is a personal finance nerd, constantly looking for new apps and services to test and incorporate into his own financial game plan. In addition to his role at Fioney, he's written for other publications including Born2Invest, Lifehack, and Laughing Place, as well as his own site Money@30. He also creates personal finance and travel-related videos for Fioney's YouTube channel, which has garnered more than 2 million views. Currently, Kyle resides in Springfield, Missouri with his wife of 10 years. Together, they enjoy traveling (including visiting Disney Parks around the world), dining, and playing with their dog Rigby.

Other Articles by Kyle Burbank

graph of US homebuyer sentiment

Homebuyer Sentiment Continued Upward Swing in October

Despite home prices remaining high, consumer sentiment on the housing market continued to climb last month. About the index increase: The latest update to Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) saw another increase. Specifically, the index rose 0.7 points in October 2024, hitting 74.6. This marks the highest point for the index since February 2022 and is up more than seven points since the end of last year. Moreover,...
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell

Federal Reserve Lowers Interest Rates by Another Quarter Point

In a move that was widely expected, the Federal Reserve voted to lower interest rates again. About the cut: This afternoon, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell announced that the agency had voted to lower interest rates by a quarter-point (or 25 basis points). The move is the second reduction this year, although the September cut was larger, coming in at half a point. Beyond these two cuts, the Fed is...
Dave cash advance banner

FTC Files Complaint Against FinTech App Dave

The Federal Trade Commission has announced plans to "take action" against the FinTech cash advance app Dave, accusing the service of deceptive marketing. About the complaint: Today, the FTC filed a complaint against the app Dave in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. In this complaint, the agency accused the service of using misleading marketing and charging undisclosed fees to customers. First, while Dave advertises instant loans...
The "Email" field is empty, you must enter some text to proceed.The text you entered in the "Email" field appears to be invalid, please edit it and try again
Get the Latest News Delivered to Your Inbox
Travelers with two Best Western Credit Cards

Best Western Debuts Two New Rewards Credit Cards

After pausing applications for their previous rewards card, the hotel chain Best Western has unveiled a new pair of rewards credit cards with a new issuer. About the Best Western cards: Best Western is partnering with First Bank & Trust and Mercury Financial to introduce two new co-branded credit cards. First up is the no-annual-fee Best Western Rewards Visa Signature Card. With this card, customers can 4x points on Best...
Marriott Bonvoy card and a woman on vacation

Marriott Bonvoy Bold Card Launches Travel Contest

Chase and Marriott Bonoy have unveiled a special contest while continuing to offer its best-ever welcome bonus. About the welcome bonus and Bold Chat Court Contest: Marriott Bonvoy and Chase have launched a special opportunity called the Bold Chat Court contest. As part of this contest, 10 lucky travelers will be awarded 500,000 Marriott Bonvoy points (for a total of 5 million) as well as $5,000. For this contest, the...
Bilt and All Reward logos

Bilt Adds 2 New Transfer Partners Including First 3:2 Transfer Rate

Bilt is once again expanding its travel transfer rewards program — and is even breaking the mold with one new partner. About the new additions to Bilt: This week, Bilt launched partnerships with two more travel brands: TAP Air Portugal and Accor. As a result, Bilt members will now be able to transfer their points to Miles&Go and ALL Reward, respectively. In total, Bilt now has 18 transfer partners including 13...
Fioney Top 10 Must-Read Personal Finance Articles Septemeber 2024

Top 10 Personal Finance Articles of the Month — September 2024

Welcome to Fioney's look at the top 10 personal finance articles of the month. On the first Friday of each new month, we look back at some of our favorite posts published in the weeks prior and highlight them right here. This includes a mix of sites that have become staples of our lists as well as many first-timers. To start things off this month, we'll look at some articles...
Amazon and Target logos

Discover Reveals 5% Bonus Categories for Final Quarter of 2024

As we head into the holiday season, Discover has unveiled its fourth-quarter bonus category picks. About the Q4 2024 Discover It 5% categories: Starting on October 1st, Discover It customers will be able to earn up to 5% back on purchases from two major retailers. First up is Amazon — which has been a fixture of Discover's fourth-quarter bonus categories since at least 2015. While this category will of course cover...