Robinhood Ventures Fund I (RVI) offers retail access to Stripe, Databricks, and 6 other private companies at $25/share. We break down the fees, risks, and how it compares to ARK and DXYZ.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev kicked off the IPO roadshow for the company’s first-ever venture fund today, calling it “the next front in our mission to democratize finance for all.” Robinhood Ventures Fund I ($RVI) will give retail investors access to buy shares in private companies through a publicly traded closed-end fund, with no accreditation required.
The fund will trade on the NYSE at an expected price of $25 per share, subject to SEC approvals. $RSI holds stakes in a concentrated portfolio of private companies including Airwallex, Boom Supersonic, Databricks, Mercor, Oura, Ramp, and Revolut, with a pending deal to acquire Stripe shares after the IPO closes.
“Opening up private markets will resolve one of the greatest longstanding inequities in capital markets today,” Tenev said in the announcement.
The appeal: Anyone can invest, with no accreditation requirements and no minimums. Goldman Sachs is running the books on a 40-million-share offering at $25 a pop, with an additional 6-million-share overallotment option that could push the total raise north of $1 billion.
The timing isn’t random. Robinhood’s Q4 results were a mixed bag — revenue of $1.28 billion missed Wall Street estimates amid a crypto slump, though EPS of $0.66 beat consensus. At the time, Tenev emphasized that the company remains fully focused on “building the Financial SuperApp.” That includes the offering of Robinhood prediction markets, which the company is working on bringing in-house in addition to the offering of contracts routed through Kalshi. Robinhood reported 8.5 billion event contracts traded on its platform in Q4 alone, and is positioning prediction markets as a core pillar of future growth.
The Robinhood Ventures Fund is another new growth engine for customer acquisition and retention. While $HOOD stock is still down around 11% a week after the Q4 earnings call, the company is looking for a boost from new ventures like $RVI and expansion of event contract trading in the coming months.
The goal of Robinhood Ventures Fund
Robinhood’s pitch rests on a structural shift that’s been building for two decades. The number of publicly traded U.S. companies has dropped from close to 7,000 in 2000 to about 4,000 in 2024, according to World Bank data. Meanwhile, private companies are growing in both number and value. There are now more than 6.5 times as many private companies as public ones, and the estimated value of U.S. private firms surpasses $10 trillion, per the Federal Reserve.
Companies are staying private longer, and by the time they IPO, much of the early growth has already been captured by VCs and institutional investors. Tenev has been vocal about this for months, telling senators in December that accredited investor rules “shut out north of 80% of the public currently” from private market investments.
“For decades, wealthy people and institutions have invested in private companies while retail investors have been unfairly locked out,” Tenev said when the fund was first announced in September 2025.
Roadshows are normally reserved for institutional investors in closed conference rooms. In line with the goal of making retail trading more accessible, Robinhood livestreamed the whole announcement on YouTube, X, and the Robinhood app.
A new lane into private markets opens now with Robinhood Ventures. If you’re joining late, now’s the time. https://t.co/bKvHGSjuXQhttps://t.co/8EbtYoXkDA
— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) February 17, 2026
What’s in the $RVI portfolio
RVI calls its targets “Frontier Companies,” meaning private companies operating at what the fund’s advisers consider the cutting edge of their industries. The initial lineup includes:
- Databricks — Enterprise AI and data analytics platform valued at $134 billion in its last funding round. One of the most sought-after private tech companies globally.
- Stripe — The payments giant. RVI has signed an agreement to purchase Stripe shares that is expected to close after the IPO. Stripe’s reported valuation is approaching $140 billion.
- Revolut — UK-based fintech super-app with a banking license and over 45 million customers worldwide.
- Ramp — Corporate expense management platform that’s been one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in recent years.
- Boom Supersonic — Developing Overture, a Mach 1.7 commercial airliner. A bet on the return of supersonic passenger travel.
- Oura — The smart ring maker that’s become a dominant player in consumer health wearables.
- Airwallex — Global payments and financial infrastructure company with a strong Asia-Pacific presence.
- Mercor — AI-powered hiring platform. The least recognizable name on the list, and arguably the highest-risk, highest-upside pick.
The fund plans to hold positions through IPO and beyond, and Robinhood says additional companies will be added over time.
The fee structure
This is where RVI gets interesting relative to existing options. The management fee is 2.00% of net assets annually, but it’s cut to 1.00% for the first six months post-IPO. There is no performance fee, a notable departure from the “2 and 20” structure that dominates traditional venture capital (VC).
For context: Cathie Wood’s ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX), the closest comparable product for retail investors, carries a net expense ratio of 2.90% and a gross expense ratio of 4.71%. ARK’s fund also doesn’t trade on an exchange: investors can only redeem through a quarterly repurchase policy of 5-25% of fund assets. Destiny Tech100 (DXYZ), which does trade on the NYSE, has historically traded at enormous premiums to its net asset value (NAV), at one point exceeding 2,000% above NAV in 2024.
RVI’s exchange-listed structure with daily liquidity, no performance fee, and a temporarily discounted management fee is a clear play to undercut both.
How it differs from ETFs
RVI is not an ETF. It’s a closed-end fund, which means the share price can (and likely will) deviate from the net asset value of its underlying holdings. If demand for RVI shares is high, it could trade at a premium to NAV. If sentiment sours, it could trade at a discount. There is no redemption mechanism: if you want out, you sell your shares on the open market like any stock.
The fund is also non-diversified and concentrated. Individual positions can represent up to 20% of assets at the time of purchase. Robinhood’s own disclosure is blunt: “An investment in the Fund is speculative and involves a high degree of risk with substantial risk of loss.”
This is not a savings account with a venture capital label. The underlying portfolio companies are illiquid, hard to value, and may never have a liquidity event.
The OpenAI problem and what Robinhood learned
It’s worth noting what didn’t make the portfolio. Robinhood’s earlier attempt at private market access, tokenized private company stocks in the EU, drew a public rebuke from OpenAI, which pointed out that token holders weren’t actually buying equity in the company. The tokens were pegged to price, not ownership.
RVI takes a more conventional approach. It’s a registered investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, filing a standard Form N-2 with the SEC. The fund actually holds equity in its portfolio companies — not derivatives, not tokens, not synthetic exposure. Robinhood appears to have learned from the EU controversy and gone the traditional route this time.
Q&A: What investors need to know about RVI
Who can invest in RVI?
Anyone. Unlike traditional venture capital funds, RVI does not require investors to be accredited (the SEC designation that typically requires a $1 million net worth or $200,000 annual income). There are also no investment minimums. You could theoretically buy a single share at $25.
How do I buy shares?
Before the IPO, Robinhood customers can request shares through the company’s IPO Access feature. After the fund begins trading on the NYSE under ticker RVI, shares can be bought and sold through Robinhood or any other brokerage, just like a regular stock.
What’s a closed-end fund, and how is it different from an ETF?
A closed-end fund issues a fixed number of shares through an IPO. Those shares then trade on an exchange at market prices determined by supply and demand, not at the fund’s net asset value. Unlike an ETF, there’s no creation/redemption mechanism to keep the price anchored to NAV. This means RVI could trade at a premium or discount to the actual value of its holdings.
What are the fees?
The annual management fee is 2.00% of net assets, reduced to 1.00% for the first six months. There is no performance fee (also called carried interest in the VC world). For comparison, a traditional venture capital fund typically charges 2% management plus 20% of profits.
Will RVI pay dividends?
Robinhood says the fund “does not anticipate that it will pay dividends on a quarterly basis or become a predictable distributor of dividends.” This is a growth vehicle, not an income play.
What’s the biggest risk?
The portfolio holds illiquid private company stakes that are difficult to value. The fund has zero operating history. It’s concentrated in a small number of positions. And as a closed-end fund, the share price is subject to market sentiment independent of the portfolio’s actual performance. If the private market cools or one of these companies stumbles, investors could face losses on both the underlying assets and the share price.
How does RVI compare to ARK Venture Fund?
ARK Venture (ARKVX) is also a closed-end fund that gives retail investors access to private companies like Anthropic, SpaceX, and OpenAI. But ARKVX does not trade on an exchange; you can only exit through quarterly repurchase windows, and there’s no guarantee you’ll get the full amount you want to sell. ARKVX also charges a higher expense ratio (2.90% net). RVI offers daily liquidity through exchange trading and lower fees, but it comes with the trade-off that share prices can swing based on market demand, regardless of the portfolio’s actual value.
How does it compare to Destiny Tech100 (DXYZ)?
DXYZ is also a closed-end fund trading on the NYSE that holds private tech companies. But DXYZ has been plagued by wild premium-to-NAV swings — it traded at more than 20x its underlying value in early 2024. RVI’s larger offering size (40 million shares) and Goldman Sachs underwriting may provide more share supply to help moderate premiums, but there’s no guarantee.
When will RVI start trading?
The registration statement is still pending SEC approval. Robinhood says the IPO is expected “in the coming weeks.” The SEC must declare the registration effective before any shares can be sold.
Should I buy shares in $RVI?
That depends entirely on your risk tolerance, investment goals, and whether you believe these specific private companies will outperform what you could achieve with standard index funds. Private market access is genuinely something retail investors haven’t had much of, but the reason for that isn’t just gatekeeping. These investments carry real illiquidity risk, valuation uncertainty, and the possibility of total loss. This is a speculative investment, not a core portfolio holding.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
