Robinhood opened the order window on Monday for Robinhood Ventures Fund II, a closed-end fund that will give retail investors exposure to seed-stage startups from the Y Combinator ecosystem,at an expected $25 per share.
The fund extends Robinhood's private-markets push from late-stage names like OpenAI into the riskiest end of venture capital — seed-stage companies, most of which fail — packaged as an exchange-listed product with no investment minimums or accreditation requirements. It is the second such vehicle Robinhood has brought to market this year, after Robinhood Ventures Fund I listed on the New York Stock Exchange in March.
The offering totals 8 million shares — 7.6 million sold by the fund and 400,000 by Robinhood Markets — for a raise of about $200 million at the expected price, with underwriters holding a 30-day option to buy 1.2 million more. Robinhood customers can request shares through the app until the order window closes on Aug. 12, and the fund expects to list on the NYSE under the ticker RVII on Aug. 13 with positions in 80 private companies at launch. Goldman Sachs is lead bookrunner, joined by Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, UBS and Wells Fargo.
"The next generation of promising startups is being built today," said Sarah Pinto, head of Robinhood Ventures. "With Robinhood Ventures Fund II, retail investors no longer have to wait until a company's IPO to be part of an early growth journey."
