Key facts
- Robinhood is launching Robinhood Venture Fund II (RVII).
- The fund will be publicly traded, with shares expected to list on August 13.
- RVII will offer shares at an initial price of $25.
- The fund aims to raise up to $200 million to invest in Y Combinator startups.
- Retail investors can purchase shares in RVII but will not directly own equity in the startups.
- The fund will employ a 2/20 fee structure, similar to venture capital funds.
Robinhood has introduced Robinhood Venture Fund II (RVII), a new financial product designed to allow retail investors to invest in startups associated with the Y Combinator accelerator program. The fund is slated to begin trading publicly on August 13 with an initial share price of $25 and aims to raise up to $200 million. Investors in RVII will not directly hold shares in the startups but will trade shares of the fund itself. The fund will adopt a venture capital-style fee structure, including a 2% management fee and 20% carried interest on net returns, bringing the total fees to just over 4%. Unlike traditional venture capital funds, RVII does not appear to have a defined end date for profit distribution, with returns likely to be driven primarily by the fund's stock price appreciation. Robinhood's previous fund, Robinhood Ventures Fund I (RVI), which invested in companies like Databricks and OpenAI, has seen its stock trade above its IPO price, though it has experienced volatility. Robinhood has previously faced scrutiny for crypto assets it described as tokenized shares of companies like OpenAI and SpaceX, which the companies stated they were not involved with.