The LSE Directory / Retail brokers
Freetrade is a UK mobile and web investment platform that lets retail investors trade stocks, ETFs, funds, gilts and Treasury bills without per-trade commission, alongside tax-wrapped Stocks and Shares ISA, Junior ISA and SIPP pension accounts. The company was founded in 2016 by Adam Dodds and Davide Fioranelli, obtained its FCA licence in October 2017, and opened its iOS app to the public in October 2018 followed by Android in April 2019. It positions itself as a low-cost alternative to older UK stockbrokers such as Hargreaves Lansdown, letting customers start investing from as little as around £1. Where many UK challengers built on the app-brokerage model charge per trade or bundle costs into a spread, Freetrade's core differentiator has been a subscription tier structure (a free plan plus paid tiers for wider market access and lower FX fees) rather than commission on each trade, aimed at long-term, buy-and-hold retail investors rather than active day traders. It built its own cloud-native brokerage infrastructure with direct exchange and market connections instead of white-labelling an existing platform, and it is a member firm of the London Stock Exchange in its own right. Freetrade grew its early capital partly through retail crowdfunding on Crowdcube, raising over £10 million from individual investors between 2017 and 2019, and again £7 million in May 2020 and £30 million via a convertible loan note in May 2022, alongside institutional rounds including a $15 million Series A led by Molten Ventures (2019) and a $69 million Series B led by Left Lane Capital with participation from L Catterton and Molten Ventures (March 2021). Its private valuation peaked at roughly £650 million in late 2021 before falling to around £225 million by 2023. Co-founder Adam Dodds stepped down as CEO in May 2024 and was succeeded by co-founder and former COO Viktor Nebehaj. By the end of 2024 Freetrade had around 720,000 customers and £2.5 billion in assets under management. In January 2025, FTSE 100-listed IG Group agreed to acquire Freetrade for £160 million in cash, a price roughly 29% below its last private fundraising valuation; the deal completed on 1 April 2025. Since completion, Freetrade has continued to operate as a standalone brand within IG Group rather than being absorbed into IG's own platform. Reported AUM had grown to more than £3.5 billion by February 2026, with active clients rising to roughly 742,100 by the end of 2025. Under IG ownership it has also widened its free tier, removing the charge for its Stocks and Shares ISA in September 2025 and dropping SIPP subscription fees while adding free access to mutual funds and gilts in January 2026.
