Robinhood Ventures has rebounded 30% since its lackluster debut. Can the new private markets fund now withstand the mega IPOs?

In early March, Robinhood’s latest investment product got off to a less-than-stellar start. After CEO Vlad Tenev rang the opening bell on New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the launch of a new private markets fund, the offering tumbled 16% in one day.

Since then, the investment vehicle—which aims to give retail investors exposure to late-stage, private companies through bundling together their equity into one fund—has rebounded 30%. But, now the fund, dubbed Robinhood Ventures I, is facing a new test. Analysts have warned that the debut of massive tech companies like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic may play short-term havoc with private markets and the prospects for other big-time firms like Stripe. If SpaceX performs poorly, secondary markets for smaller private companies may slump and the perceived IPO window for buzzy tech firms may close, said PitchBook. 

Is Robinhood’s attempt to let retail investors get a piece of private markets too little, too late?

Sarah Pinto, the head of Robinhood Ventures, told me that those worries are short-term at best. A veteran venture capitalist who spent almost eight years investing........

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