Robinhood's second venture fund debuts, drawing retail money into private markets

By Manya Saini

Aug 13 (Reuters) - Robinhood's 2nd task money debuted connected Thursday, giving retail investors entree to early-stage startups that person traditionally been ‌out of scope for each but task superior firms and affluent ‌investors.

The fintech institution raised $225.5 cardinal successful the archetypal nationalist offering of Robinhood Ventures Fund II, which volition ​invest successful early- and growth-stage backstage companies.

The money volition absorption connected existent and erstwhile participants successful the Y Combinator startup accelerator program, which has financed implicit 5,000 companies with a combined valuation of much than $1.3 trillion, including crypto speech Coinbase, societal ‌media level Reddit and ChatGPT ⁠maker OpenAI.

Robinhood changeable to prominence successful 2021 by democratizing investing for mom-and-pop investors with commission-free trading. Since then, it has expanded ⁠into a broader fiscal services platform, offering products ranging from status accounts to a premium recognition card.

"Not lone is this 1 of the much absorbing things happening successful ​venture ​at the moment, it's similar the frontier ​of that industry," Rich Aberman, RVII ‌portfolio manager, told Reuters successful an interview.

"Hopefully it's to the payment of mundane Americans and retail investors that person historically been wholly connected the extracurricular of the Silicon Valley wealthiness generation."

RVII listed connected the New York Stock Exchange aft pricing 8 cardinal shares astatine $25 apiece. Robinhood listed its archetypal money successful March, which ‌focuses connected late-stage startups.

As startups enactment backstage for ​longer and rise much wealth earlier going ​public, investors are looking for ways ​to get successful earlier an IPO.

The inclination has helped thrust ‌more superior into backstage markets, wherever ​startups tin present scope ​multi-billion-dollar valuations without having to pat nationalist investors.

"We're already moving connected (funds) three, four, five, and six," Sarah Pinto, caput of Robinhood Ventures and president ​of RVII, told Reuters.

"We privation ‌to marque definite that we're not rushing into this and that ​we're gathering funds wherever we tin uniquely present performance."

(Reporting by Manya ​Saini successful Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)