Robinhood’s (HOOD) newly launched venture fund has added stakes in Stripe and Eleven Labs, marking its first public investment since it began trading earlier this month.
Robinhood Ventures Fund I (RVI), a closed-end fund designed to provide individual investors with exposure to private companies, announced it purchased approximately $14.6 million in Stripe stock and $20 million in Eleven Labs preferred stock in a transaction completed in March.
The fund began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on March 6, part of Robinhood’s broader push to open up private markets to retail investors. Fund shares can be bought and sold like traditional stocks, providing access to companies typically reserved for institutional investors and wealthy individuals.
Founded in 2010, Stripe provides payments and finance software used by businesses ranging from startups to large enterprises. This investment was made through a secondary transaction. In other words, Robinhood bought the stock from existing holders rather than directly from the company.
ElevenLab is a London-based artificial intelligence company founded in 2022 with a focus on voice and audio technology. Its tools enable businesses and developers to generate speech, build conversational agents, and create media content across dozens of languages. Robinhood’s investment is part of the primary funding round, meaning the capital will be paid directly to the company.
These additions expand a portfolio that already includes private companies such as Databricks, Revolut, Ramp, and Oura, with more investments expected over time.
Robinhood is positioning the fund as a response to changes in capital markets. The number of publicly traded companies in the United States has declined over the past two decades, while the private market has grown to an estimated $10 trillion, with limited access for retail investors.
“For decades, wealthy individuals and institutions have invested in private companies, while individual investors have been shut out,” CEO Vlad Tenev previously said.
Unlike traditional venture funds, Robinhood’s vehicle requires no certification from investors and does not charge performance fees, lowering the barrier to entry.
The strategy follows the company’s previous efforts to provide private market exposure, such as tokenizing stocks in well-known companies, for users in Europe, which has led to scrutiny of how these products are structured.
The investment signals Robinhood’s plans to continue building a portfolio of privately held companies across both fintech and artificial intelligence, which continue to attract strong investor interest ahead of potential public listings.
HOOD stock rose 2% to $76.78 in Tuesday trading. RVI decreased by 0.4%.
