“OpenAI is one of the frontier artificial intelligence companies, and we are incredibly proud to add them to the Fund,” Sarah Pinto, Robinhood Ventures’ (RVI) president, said in a Wednesday (April 22) news release. “As one of RVI’s largest investments to date, this underscores our core mission to provide everyday investors with access to what we believe are transformative companies shaping the future.”
The release argued that RVI is trying to grant retail investors access to private markets and exposure to “frontier companies” like OpenAI, part of what it calls Robinhood’s mission to “democratize finance.” The company launched RVI last year with this goal in mind. In addition to OpenAI, the fund’s portfolio includes Airwallex, Revolut and Stripe.
“For decades, wealthy people and institutions have invested in private companies while retail investors have been unfairly locked out,” Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said in a news release at the time. “With Robinhood Ventures, everyday people will be able to invest in opportunities once reserved for the elite.”
RVI noted that the number of publicly traded companies in the U.S. has dropped from about 7,000 at the start of the century to around 4,000 in 2025.
“At the same time, companies are staying private longer and growing in both number and value,” the release added. “As of April 2024, there were more than 6.5 times as many private companies as public and the estimated value of these firms in the U.S. surpassed $10 trillion in the first quarter of 2025.”
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In other Robinhood news, PYMNTS wrote last month about the company’s entry into the family finance space, with products such as custodial investment accounts for children and trust accounts for estate planning.
“One immediate implication of the announcement is that Robinhood is moving closer to the territory traditionally dominated by full-service wealth managers,” the report said.
“Trust accounts and tax-aware portfolio transfers, for example, are features commonly associated with professional advisors and high-net-worth clients,” the report added. “By embedding them in a digital platform, Robinhood is attempting to democratize tools that once required private banking relationships. That could reshape expectations among young investors accustomed to self-directed apps.”
At the same time, it raises questions about whether Robinhood can compete on advice and trust, and in other areas where established institutions still have strong reputational advantages.
