New York, February 18, 2026, 14:09 (ET) — Regular session
- Robinhood ticked up a bit, with the broker launching tax services and pitching a fresh private-markets fund.
- The company is pushing to expand its lineup past trading, aiming to capture more customer assets.
Robinhood Markets, Inc. (HOOD) edged up roughly 0.6% to $75.90 Wednesday afternoon, after the online broker launched a roadshow pitching its first venture fund targeting retail investors, a prelude to an IPO. Coinbase shares barely budged. Charles Schwab and Interactive Brokers, on the other hand, each advanced over 2% as bitcoin dropped around 2%.
Robinhood’s latest move? It’s clearly aimed at holding onto users, especially once the trading frenzy fades. There’s also the tax angle: every app wants to be the landing spot for those refund dollars right now.
Private-company bets tend to stay locked away, reserved for the wealthy and tied up for years. Robinhood wants to crack that open with a publicly traded product, throwing the doors wide to more investors — and more eyes watching.
Robinhood on Tuesday announced its Robinhood Ventures Fund I, or RVI, describing it as a closed-end fund set to trade a set number of shares on an exchange and hold private company stakes—among them Databricks, Ramp, and Revolut. “Opening up private markets will resolve one of the greatest longstanding inequities in capital markets today,” CEO Vlad Tenev said. The fund, according to Robinhood, is open to all investors, skipping the usual U.S. accreditation process, with no minimum investment or performance fee. The management fee stands at 2% of net assets, dropping to 1% during the first six months post-IPO. (GlobeNewswire)
Robinhood announced that RVI has put in a registration statement on Form N-2, aiming to offer 40 million shares priced at $25 apiece; 35 million of those are coming from the fund, with another 5 million offered by Robinhood as the selling shareholder. The plan is to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “RVI”. Goldman Sachs is set to handle the sole bookrunner role, and underwriters have the option to pick up an extra 6 million shares. For now, though, the registration isn’t effective yet, and Robinhood flagged the investment as speculative and high-risk. (GlobeNewswire)
Robinhood announced Wednesday that eligible customers will have the option to file their 2025 federal and state taxes for free until April 15, thanks to a new partnership with online tax-prep firm april. The company is also rolling out complimentary tax and estate services for a subset of its Concierge clients as part of a pilot program. “Taxes are one of the biggest, most complicated, and stressful financial moments of the year,” said Oren Naim, Robinhood’s vice president of platforms. April’s CEO and co-founder Ben Borodach added, “We’re delighted to team up with Robinhood to offer april’s frictionless tax prep experiences.” (MarketScreener)
Robinhood is wagering that letting customers into private markets and offering tax features will inspire them to keep more cash on the app—and stick around for more than just quick trades. Proving that out as it happens isn’t easy, and investors want hard evidence.
According to a marketing presentation seen by Bloomberg, customers will be able to put in requests for IPO shares beginning Feb. 17, and trading is slated to kick off on Feb. 26. That’s the next date HOOD traders are watching. (Bloomberg)
