The archive · Money & Fintech · Strategic decision · 2019-2025
Trade Republic's retail-savings bet: €12.5B valuation, 10M+ first-time investors
Berlin neobroker that bet Europe's pension gap would push savers into cheap ETF plans reached 10M+ customers, €150B assets and a €12.5B valuation by Dec 2025.
Trade Republic
What the business is
Trade Republic is a Berlin mobile brokerage turned bank: it gives retail investors cheap access to stocks and ETF savings plans, and after its 2023 full ECB banking license it added a card, current account and interest on uninvested cash, managing over €150B in client assets.
Starting capital：Trade Republic raised more than €1 billion in primary capital across its funding rounds before the December 2025 secondary.
How it started
Co-founded by Christian Hecker, Trade Republic launched in 2019 with the mission of closing Europe's pension gap by giving small savers simple, low-cost access to capital markets - a wager on a cultural shift toward retail investing in a region where most households kept savings in cash and bank deposits.
What happened
Trade Republic raised over €1 billion in primary capital and received a full banking license from the ECB in 2023. In its first full fiscal year under that license (October 2023 to September 2024) it posted an audited surplus of €34.8M, after a first profit of €14M the year before, with total revenues up more than 75% to around €340M and commission income of about €316M. It launched its own card and current account in 2024, and by mid-September 2025 customers passed 10 million while assets under management grew from about €100B to €150B during the year.
How it ended up
On 2025-12-17 Trade Republic announced a €1.2B secondary in which early shareholders sold to Founders Fund, Sequoia, Accel, TCV and Thrive Capital and new investors Wellington, GIC, Fidelity, Khosla Ventures, Lingotto and Aglaé - valuing the company at €12.5B, up from €5B in its 2022 round. The company says it is profitable for a third consecutive year, needs no new capital, and is still scaling across France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Austria.
Background
Trade Republic launched in 2019, co-founded by Christian Hecker, on a structural bet: Europe's pension systems were under pressure while households sat on cash, so a generation of first-time investors needed a simple, low-cost way into capital markets. The company's own numbers underline the thesis - it says 70% of its more than 10 million customers are first-time investors.
The path from broker to bank made the model durable. After raising over €1 billion in primary capital, Trade Republic received a full ECB banking license in 2023; in the first full fiscal year under it (October 2023 to September 2024) it reported an audited surplus of €34.8M after a first profit of €14M the prior year, with revenues up more than 75% to around €340M and commission income of about €316M. It added its own card and current account in 2024, and by mid-September 2025 it had over 10 million customers and €150B in assets under management.
The bet culminated in December 2025 with a €1.2B secondary at a €12.5B valuation - up from €5B in 2022 - in which Founders Fund, Sequoia, Accel, TCV and Thrive Capital bought from early shareholders and Wellington, GIC, Fidelity, Khosla Ventures, Lingotto and Aglaé joined. Trade Republic says it is profitable for a third consecutive year and does not need fresh capital, and it spent 2025 localizing its offering in France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Austria while adding child savings accounts, private markets, fixed income and a crypto wallet.
What has to be true
- It attacked a structural gap: European households held large cash balances while public pensions weakened, and 70% of its 10M+ customers were investing for the first time.
- Low-cost mobile execution and ETF savings plans removed the two barriers that kept small savers out: price and complexity.
- The 2023 full banking license let it turn customers' cash into interest-bearing deposits, card and payments, widening revenue beyond trade commissions.
- Scale converted into profit: FY2023/24 revenues rose over 75% to about €340M while audited surplus reached €34.8M, letting it grow without new primary capital.
What can be applied
Cheap execution alone is a race to the bottom; the durable move is converting mass retail volume into a licensed bank so cash, payments and savings compound, and scale - not fees - drives profit.
Aftermath
As of 2025-12-17 Trade Republic is running and scaling as Europe's largest neobroker by customers: over 10 million customers manage about €150B in assets, 70% of them first-time investors, and the company reports three consecutive profitable years. The December 2025 €1.2B secondary valued it at €12.5B with no new primary capital raised; 2025 brought localized launches in France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Austria plus child savings accounts, private markets, fixed income and a crypto wallet. No IPO, acquisition or shutdown has been announced.
Sources
- Trade Republic strengthens its shareholder base in a €1.2 billion secondary round led by Founders Fund and other existing investors at €12.5 billion valuation
- Zwei Jahre schwarz: Trade Republic wächst – und rechnet
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