Robinhood launches its second venture fund for Y Combinator startups, letting retail investors buy in before IPOs. The fund lists Aug. 13 on the NYSE with a $100 minimum.
Robinhood wants retail investors to get into startup investing before the IPO. The trading platform said Wednesday it will launch Robinhood Ventures Fund II, a vehicle that funnels everyday customer money into companies from the Y Combinator accelerator.
DoorDash, Instacart and Airbnb all came through Y Combinator. The accelerator has funded more than 5,000 companies since 2005, with a combined valuation above $1.3 trillion. That includes 100 unicorns worth over $1 billion each.
"Historically, retail investors have been locked out of private companies in their earliest stages, which can be among the biggest wealth creation opportunities available," Robinhood said in a release.
The fund will focus on seed-stage investments in current or former Y Combinator companies, or firms with a founder who went through the program. It is expected to list on the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 13. The window to request shares closes the day before.
Robinhood Ventures Fund I launched in February with an initial portfolio that included Airwallex, Ramp and Revolut. CEO Vlad Tenev at the time called opening private markets "one of the greatest longstanding inequities in capital markets today."
Sarah Pinto, head of Robinhood Ventures, said the second fund means retail investors "no longer have to wait until a company's IPO to be part of an early growth journey."
The push into private markets fits a broader strategy. On its latest earnings call, management said Robinhood's next era will not focus primarily on processing more trades. The platform is building out prediction markets, tokenized assets, banking and credit cards as it tries to control more of the customer relationship and the transaction stack underneath it, as PYMNTS noted.
A $100 minimum investment gets a customer into the fund, according to the release. Robinhood will charge a 1.75% annual management fee and take 15% of profits above a certain threshold.
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