Robinhood Launches Fund to Give Retail Investors Access to Private Startups

Robinhood filed an application with the SEC to launch "Robinhood Ventures Fund I," a publicly traded fund offering retail investors access to pre-IPO startups. The fund plans to invest in sectors like aerospace & defense, AI, fintech, robotics, and enterprise/consumer software. This move aims to address the inequality in access to private market gains currently enjoyed primarily by accredited investors. However, Robinhood's previous attempt at offering access to private companies through 'tokenized' stocks faced criticism for misleading marketing. The new fund employs a more traditional mutual fund structure, with specifics and launch date yet to be revealed.