Robinhood is moving forward with the listing of its second retail-focused venture fund. The company has submitted a confidential registration filing for the new fund, RVII, indicating that the product has entered the regulatory review process, though details such as the fundraising amount remain undisclosed.
Investment scope expanded to early-stage companies
Unlike RVI, the first fund launched in March this year, RVII not only invests in late-stage companies but also covers growth-stage and early-stage startups. Compared to late-stage projects, early-stage companies are typically younger and carry higher risks, but they also offer greater potential returns.
Robinhood stated on its blog that the fundraising target for RVII has not yet been determined. The first fund, RVI, originally planned to raise $1 billion but ultimately fell short by hundreds of millions of dollars.
The first fund rose driven by AI-themed momentum.
However, RVI has demonstrated strong market performance since its listing. The fund debuted on the NYSE at $21 per share in early March and closed at $43.69 on Monday, more than doubling from its offering price. Reports indicate that optimistic market expectations regarding the prospects of AI companies in its underlying portfolio have been a key driver of the stock’s rise.
RVI currently holds stakes in 10 late-stage companies, including OpenAI, Databricks, ElevenLabs, Stripe, Revolut, and Ramp. Most of these companies remain private, making direct investment inaccessible to typical retail investors.
Retail investors can participate through their brokerage accounts.
The core design of these two Robinhood funds is to allow retail investors to purchase a basket of private company assets through their regular brokerage accounts. Under current U.S. rules, direct investment in private companies is typically limited to "accredited investors," who must meet thresholds such as a net worth exceeding $1 million or an annual income exceeding $200,000.
Last week, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said that such products can be understood as “publicly traded venture capital firms with daily liquidity.” Daily liquidity means investors can buy and sell shares on trading days, whereas capital in traditional venture capital funds is typically locked up for many years.
He also noted that Robinhood will not charge performance fees like traditional venture capital firms. This structure is designed to lower the barrier for retail investors entering the private market and transform early-stage investment opportunities, previously available mainly to institutions and high-net-worth individuals, into tradable public market products.
Rising AI valuations are driving the preparation of new funds.
Over the past few years, the most prominent AI startups have seen their valuations surge rapidly, growing from early-stage projects into companies worth tens of billions of dollars—but much of this appreciation occurred in the private market. For retail investors, waiting until these companies go public often means missing the fastest phase of valuation growth.
Tenev’s longer-term vision is to enable retail investors not only to participate indirectly through funds, but also to take on a larger share in seed and Series A rounds of startup financing. If this model gains market acceptance, the early-stage financing structure of startups could change, and the role of retail capital in the primary market could further grow.
However, extending the investment scope to earlier-stage projects also means higher fund volatility and greater risk of project failure. Robinhood’s decision to move forward with RVII while its first product’s stock is performing well and interest in AI remains strong demonstrates its intent to further scale the model of enabling retail investors to invest in private technology companies.