Robinhood Markets announced Wednesday that it has filed a confidential registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch RVII, its second retail‑focused venture fund. The filing, a standard step that lets the company move through the approval process before revealing details publicly, signals a broader ambition to democratize access to private‑company growth.
Unlike the firm’s first fund, RVI, which holds stakes in ten late‑stage companies—including Airwallex, Boom, Databricks, ElevenLabs, Mercor, OpenAI, Oura, Ramp, Revolut and Stripe—RVII will cast a wider net. The new vehicle is slated to invest in growth‑stage and early‑stage startups, a segment that carries higher risk but also the potential for outsized returns. No fundraising target has been disclosed, and the company has not announced a timeline for the public offering.
RVI, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker RVI, debuted in early March at $21 a share. Since then, the stock has more than doubled, closing at $43.69 on Monday. Market participants have attributed much of the rally to the AI prospects of the fund’s underlying holdings, especially OpenAI and Databricks, whose valuations have surged in recent months.
The first fund aimed to raise $1 billion but fell short by several hundred million dollars. Despite the shortfall, its performance has been strong enough to attract retail interest and to bolster Robinhood’s broader strategy of bringing private‑market opportunities to everyday investors. The company’s model eliminates two traditional barriers: accreditation requirements and the “carry” fee that venture firms typically charge on profits.
“You can think of Robinhood Ventures as a publicly traded venture capital firm with daily liquidity. No accreditation requirements and no carry,” CEO Vlad Tenev said at the Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything conference last week. Daily liquidity means shares can be bought or sold any day the market is open, unlike conventional venture funds where capital can be locked up for years.
Tenev’s longer‑term vision goes beyond simply expanding the fund lineup. He envisions a future where retail investors participate in seed and Series A rounds alongside institutional venture firms. “If you’re a company raising a seed round and a Series A round — so, just first capital — retail should be a big chunk of that round, much like it now is in the public markets,” he told reporters. “We should let those people in at the ground floor, so that they can actually benefit from this potential appreciation that’s increasingly happening in the private markets.”
If that vision materializes, it could reshape how startups raise early capital, potentially giving everyday investors a stake in the next wave of AI‑driven companies. The move also underscores Robinhood’s confidence that the public’s appetite for private‑market exposure will continue to grow, especially as AI startups transition from speculative bets to multi‑billion‑dollar enterprises.
Analysts note that the success of RVII will hinge on the firm’s ability to source promising early‑stage deals and to manage the higher volatility inherent in that segment. For now, the filing signals Robinhood’s commitment to widening the retail investor’s toolkit, a strategy that aligns with its broader mission to make markets more inclusive.
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