No ‘Trader Bros’ Here: Public CEO Rides Anti-Robinhood Backlash

These are strange times for stock-trading app Public. New customers, irate over rival Robinhood’s trading policies, have been rushing to sign up. Deep-pocketed investors are vying to back it. And the 60-person startup has just abandoned a practice of accepting payments for routing trades to big Wall Street firms, a major way it made money. Instead it will ask its customers for tips—the same way your favorite internet comedian might.

“I won’t lie,” said Jannick Malling, co-founder and co-CEO of Public, in a video interview from his home in New York this week. “There is some experimentation here.”

If such a gamble seems like a red flag to future shareholders, it doesn’t show. Public is fielding offers for new capital that could more than double its valuation to more than $1 billion, according to one investor in the company. Tiger Global, as well as strategic investors in the financial services industry, are said to be among those pursuing a stake, according to two people familiar with the deal talks.