Robinhood has decided to give amateur investors access to shares of non-public AI startups

US-based Robinhood Markets, operator of the eponymous platform for trading stocks and cryptocurrencies, has decided to give retail investors the opportunity to invest in artificial intelligence startups whose valuations have risen significantly. The head of the trading platform, Vlad Tenev, told the Financial Times that Robinhood plans to sell them shares in its new fund, which will hold stakes in several "best-in-class" non-public AI companies.

Tenev said it was more important for him to give "ordinary people" access to the rapid value growth of such startups than to worry about forming a bubble in the sector." "AI will lead to "massive disruption, and we want people to have access to the drivers of that disruption," the Robinhood chief said.

The number of private companies in the US with valuations over $1 billion has grown from 20 in 2016 to more than 1,000 in 2024, according to PitchBook. Major AI developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic have been the catalysts behind the rise in startup valuations, with ten loss-making companies adding nearly $1 trillion to their combined value through private deals over the past 12 months, the FT notes.

The Robinhood fund will be closed-end - meaning investors will not be able to sell their shares quickly and risk their money being trapped if too many decide to exit the fund, the article says. "Managing such a complex private equity strategy can seriously burn their nimble audience," the FT quoted Brian Armor, director of passive strategy research at Morningstar, as saying.

Tenev, for his part, said retail clients are looking for such opportunities despite the high level of risk and the realization that the investment could be completely lost. He also dismissed fears that the AI boom is a bubble and said Robinhood clients are "actively buying" stocks related to the AI theme. "I don't think [bigtech] has insanely inflated P/E ratios," Tenev added.

Shares of Robinhood itself are the third highest yielding stock in the S&P 500 index in 2025. Since January, they have risen in price by 250%. However, on November 6, the company's quotes collapsed by almost 11% after the publication of the quarterly report, despite profits above forecasts. As JPMorgan Chase argued at the time, the high figure was mainly due to tax incentives rather than Robinhood's operating efficiency. However, the main reason for the stock collapse was the trading platform's revenues from cryptocurrency transactions - they quadrupled, but failed to meet market expectations, CoinDesk noted.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor