Europe's commission-free broker, now a full-service bank for 10 million customers
HQ: Berlin, Germany | Founded: 2015 | Employees: Not disclosed; roughly 1,000-1,500 based on public reporting (estimate) | Stage: Private; €12.5B valuation after a December 2025 secondary; profitable for three years; full ECB banking licence | Website: https://traderepublic.com
Trade Republic was founded in Berlin in 2015 by Christian Hecker, Thomas Pischke and Marco Cancellieri. The original idea was simple: give ordinary Europeans the ability to buy shares and ETFs from their phone without paying the fees that traditional brokers charged. The company launched its app in 2019, offered fractional shares and savings plans, and grew rapidly during the retail investing boom of 2020-2021. It became one of the most downloaded finance apps in Germany, Austria and France, and expanded across 17-18 European markets.
The model that made commission-free trading work was a mix of payment for order flow, where market makers pay the broker for routing orders, plus interest income on customer cash and spreads on crypto and derivatives. That model has been controversial: consumer advocates argue it creates conflicts of interest, and EU policymakers have moved to phase out payment for order flow. Trade Republic has been diversifying its revenue by adding banking products, card interchange, crypto and subscription-like features, and by holding more customer cash on its own balance sheet after obtaining a full banking licence.
That licence changed the company's shape. Trade Republic became a bank rather than a broker with a banking partner, which allows it to offer current accounts, hold deposits, lend and earn net interest income directly. The strategy is visible in the product: cash now earns 2.5% per year for customers, the card offers Saveback on purchases, and the company markets itself as a place to invest, spend and bank rather than just trade. The 2024-25 results show the shift: revenue reached €754M and net profit €232.6M, with net interest and banking products contributing alongside trading.
By September 2026 Trade Republic had about 10 million customers across 18 countries and roughly €150B in client assets and cash, with the customer base doubling in 18 months. That is a remarkable scale for a company that started as a mobile broker, and it puts Trade Republic in the same conversation as Revolut, Scalable Capital and other pan-European consumer finance platforms. The December 2025 secondary at €12.5B, led by Founders Fund, gave early investors and employees liquidity and set a public-market-style mark without raising primary capital.
The company is now investing in the next phase: retirement products, crypto, a broader current account, and AI-driven financial guidance. It is also preparing for the possibility of an IPO, though it has not announced a timeline. The central question is whether a business built on trading volume and interest income can become a durable, subscription-like financial relationship as rates fall and European rules on order flow change. Trade Republic's answer is scale, product breadth and a banking licence; the market will decide whether that is enough.
Trade Republic is the clearest European example of a consumer fintech that used a controversial but powerful wedge to build a bank. When it launched in 2015, retail investing in Germany was expensive, paper-heavy and dominated by incumbents; Trade Republic offered commission-free fractional shares and derivatives through a mobile app, and it made money from payment for order flow, interest on cash and spreads rather than from visible commissions. That model attracted millions of first-time investors and made the company one of the defining European fintech stories of the 2020s.
The business has since become much more than a broker. Trade Republic has added savings plans, ETFs, crypto, interest-bearing cash, a debit card with Saveback, and a current account, and it obtained a full ECB banking licence in 2025. The results show the model working: in its 2024-25 fiscal year it generated €754M of revenue and €232.6M of net profit, up roughly sevenfold, and it says it has been profitable for three years. It now reports about 10 million customers across 18 countries and roughly €150B in client assets and cash. That scale makes it one of the largest consumer financial platforms in Europe by customers, not just by valuation.
The December 2025 secondary was a milestone. Existing investors sold about €1.2B of shares in a deal led by Founders Fund, with Sequoia, Ontario Teachers', Wellington and GIC involved, valuing Trade Republic at €12.5B. The company did not need primary capital because it is profitable, so the round was mostly about giving early employees and investors liquidity and establishing a mark ahead of an eventual IPO. The valuation is roughly 16-17x the €754M revenue figure, a premium that assumes continued customer growth, banking expansion and operating leverage.
The risks are structural. Trade Republic's commission-free model depends heavily on payment for order flow, which the EU has been phasing out, and on net interest income, which falls when the ECB cuts rates. Its customer base is concentrated in Germany, and competition from Revolut, Scalable Capital and other pan-European platforms is intensifying. Crypto and derivatives add cyclicality, and a full banking licence adds capital, compliance and supervisory obligations. The bull case is that Trade Republic has become the default investment account for a generation of Europeans and can cross-sell banking, retirement and crypto products to the same customers; the bear case is that its revenue is more cyclical and more regulatory than a SaaS-like subscription business, and that a single rule change or rate cycle can compress both revenue and the multiple.
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