Brokerage agency Robinhood is planning a closed-end fund that will give retail traders entry to its enterprise capital portfolio — an area historically reserved for establishments and high-net-worth people.
The brokerage disclosed Monday that it has filed a Form N-2 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to register shares of the Robinhood Ventures Fund I (RVI), which shall be managed by its new subsidiary, Robinhood Ventures DE.
If accredited, shares of RVI shall be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the place they are often purchased and offered by taking part brokerage platforms.
Robinhood stated the fund will again corporations “on the frontiers of their respective industries,” although it didn’t identify particular sectors. Venture funds usually concentrate on high-growth areas corresponding to rising applied sciences, blockchain and Web3.
Opening these investments to retail traders would mark a shift in entry. Until now, participation in early-stage, non-public corporations has largely been restricted to enterprise capital corporations and rich backers.
Robinhood’s enterprise technique might prolong into digital belongings, an space the place the corporate has been increasing aggressively. It already affords cryptocurrency buying and selling, just lately acquired main alternate Bitstamp and acquired Canadian crypto agency WonderFi for $179 million.
The brokerage has additionally pushed into tokenization, providing tokenized shares and experimenting with “non-public inventory tokens” — a product that has drawn scrutiny from some trade observers.
Related: Robinhood’s 24/7 tokenization push threatens NYSE revenues: Galaxy Digital
Crypto enterprise capital is on the rise
Venture capital funding has rebounded in 2025, led by a surge in US startups centered on synthetic intelligence. Global VC funding totaled $189.3 billion within the first half of the yr, up from $152.4 billion in the identical interval of 2024, in keeping with S&P Global.
While crypto enterprise funding stays a small part of the general VC panorama, the sector drew $10 billion within the second quarter alone — its strongest displaying since 2022, CryptoRank knowledge present. Companies raised greater than $10 billion in Q2, with June contributing over half that quantity.
Key themes driving crypto funding embrace tokenization, stablecoin infrastructure and decentralized finance. Under US securities regulation, many of those early-stage non-public choices stay restricted to accredited traders, curbing retail participation.
Robinhood’s proposed enterprise fund, if accredited, might provide an oblique path for retail traders to achieve publicity to an asset class they’ve largely been excluded from.
Magazine: Can Robinhood or Kraken’s tokenized shares ever be actually decentralized?
