Robinhood launches a $200 million venture capital fund, focusing on Y Combinator seed-stage projects

Robinhood's Robinhood Ventures announced the launch of its second venture capital fund RVII, aiming to raise $200 million, primarily investing in current or past incubated projects from Y Combinator. The fund will be listed on the NYSE, priced at $25 per share, and is expected to start trading on August 13. Unlike the previous first fund (RVI) which had zero performance fees, RVII will charge a 2% management fee and a 20% performance fee, with an annual total expense ratio of approximately 4.18%. Robinhood describes the fund as a "speculative" investment, "with significant loss risks" and no shareholder redemption rights.

The first fund was launched in March, raising $658.4 million, primarily targeting late-stage companies such as Databricks, Stripe, OpenAI, and SpaceX, which fell 16% on its first trading day before rebounding about 30%. RVII will shift its focus to seed-stage projects. Sarah Pinto, head of Robinhood Ventures, stated that retail investors "do not need to wait for a company IPO to participate in early growth." Goldman Sachs serves as the lead underwriter, with Citigroup, JPMorgan, UBS, and Wells Fargo as co-managers, and the subscription window will close on August 12.