Robinhood, the stock-trading app for newbs, is reportedly looking to go public next year. Bloomberg said yesterday that the favorite brokerage of millennials and Gen Z types is seeking advisors for an initial public offering, perhaps as soon as the first quarter of 2021. Founded in 2013, Robinhood had a valuation of $11.7 billion after raising $460 million in a Series G funding round in September. As of this past May, the site had some 13 million users. The Robinhood app on an Apple Watch. Image source: Robinhood. Robinhood became an investor favorite because it has a sleek, easy-to-use app; no minimums to begin investing; no fees to buy and sell a stock; and incentives for users to invite more people to the platform by giving them free stock when someone signs up. It didn't take long for the industry giants to notice the revolution the upstart was fomenting. Last year, brokerages like Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) and TD Ameritrade, which Schwab just acquired for $22 billion, also eliminated their fees. Robinhood also allows traders to buy cryptocurrencies, buy on margin, and buy fractional shares. So if investors want to purchase Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) stock, which currently trades at over $3,100 a share, but they only have $100 available, they can buy about three-hundredths of a share, making even the biggest, most popular stocks on the market accessible to everyone. Yet the path to popularity hasn't been smooth, and Robinhood has been subject to several investor lawsuits. Earlier this year, the fintech suffered three crashes in one week as it was overwhelmed by a surge in traffic from investors seeking to trade the gyrations of the stock market brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of its accounts were also hacked last month and held hostage. 10 stocks we like better than Charles SchwabWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Charles Schwab wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of October 20, 2020 John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Rich Duprey has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends Charles Schwab and recommends the following options: short January 2022 $1940 calls on Amazon and long January 2022 $1920 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source