Robinhood to launch VC fund for Y Combinator startups

Robinhood will launch the Robinhood Venture Fund II (RVII) on August 13, 2026, allowing retail investors to back startups associated with Y Combinator. The fund aims to raise up to $200 million, Reuters reported, and will open at $25 per share.

RVII will invest in companies founded by current and former Y Combinator participants, provided those startups agree to sell their shares.

While anyone can buy shares in the fund, investors will not directly hold equity in the startups. Instead, they can trade the fund’s shares, but profit potential from exits remains unclear.

Robinhood’s venture unit will collect management fees and other charges totaling just over 4% of net returns, plus a 20% carried interest on profits.

Unlike traditional VC funds that typically wind down after about 10 years, RVII does not specify an end date for distributions and may not provide regular cash payouts, leaving investors to depend on share price appreciation.

The first Robinhood Ventures Fund (RVI), which holds stakes in companies like Databricks and OpenAI, has traded above its $21 IPO price but has been volatile, peaking above $56 in May 2026 before falling to around $28.

In 2025, Robinhood faced backlash for selling crypto tokens that it described as shares of OpenAI and SpaceX, which those companies disavowed.

The new fund buys actual shares and operates more like a special purpose vehicle, offering a direct bet on the Y Combinator network.