Baiju Bhatt
Bhatt in 2018
Born
Baiju Prafulkumar Bhatt

1984 or 1985 (age 38–39)[1]
NationalityAmerican
Alma materStanford University
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forCo-founder, Robinhood
SpouseAdrienne Sussman[2]
Children1

Baiju Prafulkumar Bhatt (born 1984/1985)[1] is an American entrepreneur[1][3] of Indian descent.[3] He is the chief creative officer and co-founder, along with Vladimir Tenev, of Robinhood, a US-based financial services company.[1][3][4]

Early life and education

Baiju Prafulkumar Bhatt, the son of Indian immigrants, grew up in Poquoson, Virginia.[5] He earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Stanford University, where he also completed a master's degree in mathematics in 2008. He and Tenev met during Bhatt's time at Stanford.[6]

Career

In 2013, Bhatt co-founded the trading platform Robinhood with Tenev.[1] The idea stemmed from witnessing the issues in the financial industry during the 2011 protests of Occupy Wall Street.[7] In 2015, Robinhood launched a mobile app.[8]

Following a funding round in May 2018 which increased Robinhood's valuation to $6 billion, Bhatt and Tenev became billionaires.[1][9]

As of August 2021, Forbes has estimated his net worth at US$2.4 billion.[10]

Awards and recognition

Bhatt spoke at Disrupt SF 2018 on investing where he announced plans to launch an IPO for Robinhood in 2019.[11] Bhatt made the Goldhouse 100 most impactful Asians in 2021.[12] Bhatt appeared in a Fast Company list, "Most Creative People", in 2017, and a Forbes "30 Under 30" list in 2016.[13][14]

Personal life

Bhatt is married to Adrienne Sussman.[2] They have one child, and lives in Palo Alto, California.[2][10]

In popular culture

Bhatt is portrayed by Rushi Kota in the 2023 film Dumb Money, a drama about the GameStop short squeeze.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Robinhood Founders Are Billionaires in Silicon Valley Minute". Bloomberg News. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Fontana, Francesca (February 21, 2020). "Where Robinhood's Founder Found His Faithful Band of Advisers" – via WSJ.
  3. ^ a b c Vix, Bill (2020). "20 Things You Didn't Know About Baiju Bhatt". moneyinc.com. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 29 Jan 2021.
  4. ^ "Baiju Bhatt Chief Creative Officer/Co-Founder, Robinhood Markets Inc". Bloomberg. March 18, 2022.
  5. ^ "I'm Baiju Bhatt, Robinhood CEO, and This Is How I Work". lifehacker.com. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Baiju Prafulkumar Bhatt: Executive Profile & Biography - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  7. ^ Cao, Sissi (September 10, 2018). "Robinhood CEO Opens Up About How He Convinced Tim Draper to Back His Crazy Idea". Observer. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  8. ^ "Online Brokerage Robinhood Will Offer Bitcoin And Ethereum Trading In February". Forbes. 25 January 2018.
  9. ^ "Meet the 11 new tech billionaires that emerged in 2018". Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  10. ^ a b "Forbes profile: Baiju Bhatt". Forbes. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  11. ^ Constine, Josh. "Robinhood aims at IPO as the fintech startup seeks CFO". TechCrunch. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  12. ^ "Kamala Harris, Chloé Zhao, Blackpink Among Gold House's 100 Most Impactful Asians". Variety. May 3, 2021.
  13. ^ "MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE Baiju Bhatt". Fast Company. January 24, 2017.
  14. ^ "Robinhood's Triumph: More Than A Billionaire Windfall". Forbes. July 29, 2021.
  15. ^ "'Dumb Money' First Look: The GameStop Stock Frenzy Is Now a Movie". Vanity Fair. 2023-06-21. Retrieved 2023-08-19.
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