Robinhood snaps up Pluto so as to add AI instruments to its investing app

Investment app Robinhood is adding more AI features for investors with its acquisition of AI-powered research platform Pluto Capital, Inc., announced on Monday. The company says that Pluto will allow Robinhood to add tools for quicker identification of trends and investment opportunities, help guide users with their investment strategies, and offer real-time portfolio optimization.

Pluto founder Jacob Sansbury will join Robinhood with the deal’s closure, but terms were not disclosed.

At Robinhood, Sansbury will be tasked with accelerating the trading app’s adoption of AI technologies. This will include using Pluto’s data analysis capabilities to process and interpret market data using LLMs (large language models) that have real-time access to global financial data and users’ personal data. Robinhood believes this will help its investors jump on new opportunities more quickly.

In addition, Pluto will help Robinhood to customize its investment strategies for the individual user by analyzing things like risk tolerance, investment goals, and historical behavior for more personalized recommendations.

Investors will also gain real-time updates and insights thanks to Pluto’s integrations, helping them to make informed decisions more quickly and optimize their portfolios for better outcomes, Robinhood claims.

Founded in 2021, Pluto raised $4 million across multiple seed funding rounds, valuing the company at $12 million (pre-money), according to Pitchbook. The startup was backed by investors including at.inc/, Switch Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, and Maxime Seguineau.

“We are thrilled to welcome Pluto and Jacob Sansbury to Robinhood,” said Mayank Agarwal, VP of Engineering, in a statement shared by 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,” he added.

“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,” said Sansbury. “I look forward to innovating at the company which has inspired me and so many others,” he said.