Robinhood’s venture fund IPO attracted 150,000+ investors, CEO says.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev reflects on the success of the new fintech Company proposal Ventures Fund Iwhich allows investors to invest in specialized technology companies such as Stripe, Oura, Databricks, OpenAI, and others, through a publicly traded fund listed on the NYSE. “We had something like 150,000 retail investors participating in the IPO, so it’s a democracy,” said Tenev, interview at The Wall Street Journal’s “Future of Everything” conference this week.

Fund, which he started in March, it’s getting to the point where the term “unicorn,” which once referred to a rare multibillion-dollar startup, has become obsolete. While AI model providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic are raising funds at the cost of $850+ billion to $900 billionAnother word besides “unicorn” is needed.

“We call them frontier companies,” Tenev said, explaining how Robinhood differentiates these large, unique companies from other startups.

“There are private companies that are raising money at the cost of billions. You will see, perhaps, several private companies entering the trillions (in value) before the IPO – before they start to participate in the auction, “he said.

Robinhood’s first fund contains many technology companies that are not publicly known, including the latest OpenAI, who are associated with Mercor, Ramp, Airwallex, Boom, and others.

Tenev believes the new fund makes sense as part of Robinhood’s broader mission to democratize market access for retail investors.

Initially, the company did this through its zero-commission strategy, which greatly increased its participation in the public market. It now sees investing in large, private companies as the next step.

“You can think of (the new fund) as an investment company for people to buy on a daily basis. There are no legal requirements and no baggage,” Tenev said in an interview. “So competitive management fees, no carry – which, for those of you familiar with venture capital, typically, when you invest in an investment like an LP, you pay a management fee, but there’s also a carry of about 20%, which means 20% of your profit goes to the fund manager.”

Tenev believes that, due to the size of these companies, investors should enter earlier than the IPO – especially because of how many companies are choosing to wait to go public.

“The point is, if you’re a company that brings a seed round with a Series A – that is, the first capital – the sale should be a very large part, as it is in the public markets,” said Tenev. “And we have to allow the people at the bottom, to be able to benefit from the appreciation that is happening in the private markets,” he added.