Robinhood Backs OpenAI

Robinhood’s venture fund said it bought $75 million of OpenAI stock, giving public-market investors a new way to get indirect exposure to the private company. (markets.businessinsider.com) Robinhood said Robinhood Ventures Fund I bought the shares on April 17, 2026. The fund trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker RVI, so investors are buying shares of the fund, not OpenAI stock itself. (forbes.com) (robinhood.com) Robinhood launched the vehicle in September 2025 as a closed-end fund focused on private companies “at the frontiers of their industries.” The company said the pitch was simple: let retail investors buy into businesses that usually stay reserved for institutions and wealthy clients until an initial public offering. (robinhood.com) OpenAI’s stock is hard to access because the company is still private. On March 31, 2026, OpenAI said it closed a $122 billion funding round at a post-money valuation of $852 billion. (openai.com) (cnbc.com) That round also widened access beyond the usual venture firms and sovereign funds. OpenAI said it raised more than $3 billion from individual investors through bank channels and would also be included in several exchange-traded funds managed by ARK Invest. (openai.com) (cnbc.com) Robinhood’s $75 million check is tiny next to OpenAI’s latest valuation, amounting to well under 1% of the company’s $852 billion post-money value. Forbes reported RVI shares rose 8% on April 22 after the announcement. (forbes.com) Robinhood has been pushing toward private-market access for more than a year, and not always smoothly. Forbes reported that OpenAI publicly objected in 2025 after Robinhood offered tokenized OpenAI-linked products in Europe, saying those tokens were not equity and that any transfer of OpenAI equity required its approval. (forbes.com) The push into private assets comes with tradeoffs for small investors. Retail-focused private-market funds can carry layered fees and limited liquidity, meaning investors may not be able to sell quickly or may face costs that are harder to spot than in ordinary stock funds. (forbes.com) OpenAI’s size is part of the draw. The company said it now generates $2 billion in revenue per month, serves more than 900 million weekly ChatGPT users, and expects the new capital to fund more computing power, products, and infrastructure. (openai.com) (cnbc.com) For Robinhood customers, the bet is no longer whether they can buy OpenAI directly. It is whether owning a public fund that holds a slice of OpenAI is worth the fees, limits, and wait that come with private markets. (robinhood.com) (forbes.com)