Robinhood Markets is said to be eyeing a major capital raise in an initial public offering of a closed-end fund. This is essentially to allow every day investors to be able to access private markets.
Robinhood Opens Market to Retail in $1 billion IPO Plan
According to Bloomberg, the crypto exchange is trying to raise $1 billion in an initial public offering of a closed-end fund that will provide US retail investors with access to private companies. Investors on the platform will be able to put in orders for IPO shares from February 17. Trading is said to begin on February 26.
While pre-IPO shares were reserved for the well-connected, investment funds that provide access to them are becoming increasingly popular. However, some have faced criticism for trading at a level below the worth of their assets.
This new Robinhood development comes not long after its fellow exchange, Kraken, started its very own IPO late last year. The company confirmed that it had filed a public offering of its common stock with the SEC.
The exchange has been encouraging the growth of retail participation in private markets. In June of last year, the company announced that it would permit the trading of tokenized stocks in Europe.
Its fund will invest in at least 10 private companies. The firm also said no single company’s shares would pass 20% of the fund’s assets. Any additional capital raised after the initial investments will be used to purchase new assets.
The fund will not be paying dividends on a regular basis and will only consider doing so if there is excess cash in the portfolio, as per a statement by Robinhood’s CFO Shiv Verma. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is leading the deal, as per reports.
Crypto Firms Pivot Toward IPO Launch
There has been a growing trend of crypto platforms now towards an initial public offering launch. The most recently reported by CoinGape was the crypto wallet firm Ledger.
They recently announced that they are ready for a possible IPO with a valuation of $4 billion. The company said that they are working with partners such as Goldman Sachs and Barclays to make the offering happen this year just as Robinhood
On the other hand, BitGo Holdings has made its IPO official on January 22, 2026, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with the ticker symbol BTGO.
The company priced its stock at $18 per share. This raised almost $213 million and made its IPO official with a valuation of $2.08 billion.