Fundrise Venture Capital Review: Invest in Pre-IPO Startups

This Fundrise Venture Capital review was recently updated to highlight links to SEC filings as of March, 31st, 2025.

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Fundrise* venture capital manages a multistage venture capital fund available to all U.S.-based investors. Owning the fund gives investors access to pre-IPO startups that would be otherwise inaccessible. 

Venture capital is one of the best-performing asset classes over the last 50 years, but it has been out of reach for most individual investors. 

Startups are staying private longer today compared to the early days of Amazon and Google. So venture capitalists and their wealthy customers enjoy the explosive gains of early startups while retail investors have to wait until they go public. 

Most high-growth phase gains are already baked in by the IPO.

Times are changing. 

Fundrise, a company that has already disrupted the real estate investing world, now allows non-accredited retail investors to own fast-growing startups before their IPOs.

Fundrise announced the launch of its first-of-a-kind venture capital fund in July 2022. This review comes one year later when the fund is on the verge of expanding its investments and investor base. 

In this Fundrise venture capital review, I’ll provide an overview, answer frequently asked questions, track the fund’s holdings, and update this page as fund and holdings evolve. 

As IPO investors, we want to own exciting startups earlier in the growth phase and into the IPO to maximize investment returns. Fundrise’s venture capital product gives all U.S.-based investors that opportunity.

* Please note: This is a testimonial in partnership with Fundrise. We earn a commission from partner links on AccessIPOs.com. All opinions are my own.

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What is Fundrise?

Fundrise is a Washington, D.C.-based crowdfunding investing platform, first known for giving non-accredited investors access to diversified high-quality commercial real estate portfolios previously unavailable as an asset class for retail investors.  

Its non-traded eREITs operate more efficiently than traditional REITs and are not subject to stock market fluctuations.

Since 2013, Fundrise and its investor base have grown to be one of the largest real estate owners in the country. As of mid-2023, Fundrise has nearly 400,000 active investors and a $7 billion investment portfolio. 

With the announcement of the Fundrise venture capital product, the company declared it would expand to be an alternative asset platform instead of only real estate.

One of the more unique qualities of the company is it is investor owned. Fundrise has raised funds from its investors through the Fundrise iPO instead of the traditional venture capital route. 

The company qualifies investment funds with the SEC and offers access to all U.S.-based investors. The minimum to start investing in Fundrise products is only $10. 

I’ve invested more than $25,000 in Fundrise products since 2017. You can find my Fundrise returns and a Fundrise review here. 

What is Fundrise Venture Capital

Fundrise venture capital manages an alternative asset fund giving non-accredited investors access to private companies. 

Traditionally, venture capital investing is reserved for the ultra-wealthy. Non-accredited investors, and even most accredited investors, could not invest in venture capital because they cannot afford the high minimum investments to invest in a typical venture capital fund. 

With the venture capital fund, Fundrise has finally unlocked venture capital as an asset class for non-accredited investors by qualifying the investment funds with the SEC.

The fund is primarily designed to invest in multistage pre-IPO startups, but managers have also invested some cash into corporate debt while they wait for better private valuations. The Fund may also invest in public companies. 

The Fundrise venture capital is different than traditional venture capital funds in two primary ways.

First, it is a publicly registered investment company available to any U.S. resident regardless of net worth. The SEC has qualified the investment. You can find the prospectus here. The funds can raise up to $1 billion. 

Traditional venture capital funds use SEC Regulation D, which is exclusive to high-net-worth investors. 

Second, the managed fund is a low-fee investment with a single fixed asset-management fee. Institutional venture capital funds charge investors both a fixed annual asset management fee and a carried interest fee (a fee on profits) of 20% or more.

Fundrise venture capital is the first of its kind, but shortly after its inception, a rival fund called the ARK Venture Fund (review) became available. The ARK Venture Fund has made more investments to date and is available via SoFi Invest.

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Fundrise Venture Capital Review

Access IPOs conducted this comprehensive Fundrise venture capital review because we believe the fund is an excellent opportunity to own startups earlier in their growth cycles. 

Fundrise has been a trusted investment platform for the author since 2017, and I am confident in management’s capability to earn returns for investors over the long term. 

Instead of waiting for the IPOs, investors can now participate in gains when the companies are growing rapidly. When companies conduct their IPOs, investors will continue to benefit through the public offering as the Fund implements a long-term buy-and-hold strategy that includes private and public stages.

Should you Invest?

Fundrise venture capital product and the ARK Venture Fund are the two most prominent investment vehicles for non-accredited investors to access pre-IPO startups.

Accredited investors can explore direct pre-IPO investing on other platforms. 

But for the non-accredited, this is the only game. 

Accredited investors should not be deterred from investing. The product is still the easiest way to gain diversified exposure to pre-IPO startups. 

Owning the most innovative startups earlier gives retail investors a leg up when the IPO arrives. Instead of trying to get IPO access from brokers and underwriters, venture capital fund investors are already owners. 

Depending on the investment stage, individual holdings in venture capital funds can achieve much higher returns when access to the right companies is available.

For example, if the venture capital fund can invest in a company at a $500 million valuation and the company IPOs at $5 billion a few years later, that’s a 10x return on investment (ROI).

IPO investing alone will never provide such returns. 

Moreover, private startup valuations are not always in line with public valuations. That presents an opportunity for venture capital investors to find bargains from private mispricing since they do not trade on exchanges.

Reduced private liquidity can also present opportunities to find motivated sellers, which was the case with ServiceTitan.  

Venture capital is a way to diversify your overall portfolio and achieve gains above what you can get from a market index fund.

However, investors must accept more risk and reduced liquidity. 

Investment Strategy

Fundrise started the fund with the intent to create a diversified portfolio made up of private high-growth technology companies.

While traditional venture aims to own a smaller portfolio of 20 or more startups, hoping one will ‘hit big’, Fundrise is taking a different approach:

We believe that once private tech companies reach a certain stage, it is possible to identify a subset of several hundred that have strong underlying fundamentals. While not all of them will succeed, investing across a large portion of them (much like indexing the Nasdaq-100) is likely to produce superior returns over the long term.

The Fundrise venture capital product is evergreen, meaning management can invest with a longer-term horizon, spanning various startup phases, and continue holding after the IPO.

The initial focus is on companies riding the tailwinds of extraordinary macroeconomic trends. Here’s an initial list of targeted sectors from the Fundrise website:

With the Fed Funds rate still at recent highs, a reverse in policy should be a catalyst for growth. 2022 saw tech stock prices tumble, but private valuations are not as fluid, so Fundrise believes there will be excellent opportunities to invest in the above sectors as market conditions evolve. 

Holdings Overview

The Fundrise venture capital product is investing in early-, mid-, and late-stage pre-IPO startups. It also invests in special purpose vehicles (SPV) that hold private companies, venture funds, and government securities. 

Participating investors will receive email updates from the fund when new holdings are added or removed from the fund. 

However, SEC filings reveal the fund holds more than what’s listed on the website or is disclosed in emails. 

Holdings

Visit the SEC website and find the latest Fundrise venture capital product filings to learn about the current holdings.

You can also visit the Fundrise venture capital page for the latest, though it may not be as complete as the SEC filings.

SEC filings called Form N-CSRS: Certified Shareholder Report, Semi-Annual and Form NPORT-P Monthly Portfolio Investments Report on Form N-PORT (Public) shed light on the portfolio holdings. 

Public Debt

Fundrise’s venture capital product has at times held a significant amount of corporate debt of public tech companies. But as of September 30, 2024, the debt is no longer part of the portfolio.

Fundrise explained the investment in a June 2023 investor update. Read the update to understand the strategy.

Minimum Investment

Investors can begin investing in the product with a minimum of just $10. But $10 is not a meaningful investment.

If you are serious about earning returns from this fund and can’t afford much more than $10, consider setting up a recurring monthly deposit into the real estate and venture capital assets.

There is no maximum investment ceiling. 

Fees

The Fundrise venture capital product has a flat annual management fee of 1.85%. That means for every $1,000 of invested assets, the fees will equal $18.50 per year.

Is there a Waitlist?

As of October 2024, there is no waitlist.

For the first year of the fund’s existence, new investors did not have the immediate chance to invest in the venture capital product once they opened and funded a Fundrise account. 

That’s because the company wanted to make sure it had enough attractive investment opportunities to deploy capital. 

Now that the fund is more mature, the company has more opportunities to invest and park idle cash. However, it reserves the right to pause new investments if private opportunities become less attractive. 

Liquidity

Investors in the VC products should plan to stay invested for five or more years. You cannot liquidate your invested dollars at will. 

Pre-IPO venture capital investors are significantly less liquid than stocks. That makes it more challenging for the products to provide liquidity on demand. 

The VC product intends but is not obligated to conduct quarterly “repurchase offers” at the discretion of the Board of Directors. Fundrise does not intend to create an exchange for investors to liquidate shares. 

There are currently zero penalties or costs associated with liquidating shares when the Fundrise conducts repurchase offers.

I expect liquidity to be more limited in the first years of the fund, but liquidity will improve as the fund matures. 

Notably, the Fund may hold securities of portfolio companies after the IPO. Owning some public companies in the portfolio will help increase liquidity.

The ARK Venture Fund holds public stocks for liquidity purposes, and we can assume Fundrise managers may use the same strategy to provide more liquidity in the future.

Prospectus

Read the Fundrise venture capital prospectus below. You can also find it here. Find all the latest documentation on the offering page. 

Tax Reporting

The Fundrise venture capital product issues a 1099-DIV for each tax season when applicable. 1099-DIV are straightforward to report on your tax return and do not require professional intervention for most DIY filers. 

As the product offerings mature, scenarios requiring more complex tax reporting are possible. But at this stage, the 1099-DIV is likely sufficient. 

Contact a tax professional with questions or concerns. 

Who Can Invest?

All U.S.-based investors aged 18 and older can invest in Fundrise’s products. 

International investors cannot invest. 

Dividends

Fundrise’s venture capital product does not intend to pay dividends. It is a growth investment unsuitable for creating passive income. 

Risks

There is no profit guarantee. Investors may lose some or all of their initial investment. 

The product has no government backing or loss floor. 

Invest at your own risk and only invest money you can afford to lose. 

The Prospectus lists several additional risks that all investors should understand before investing. 

Please refer to the “Risk Factors” section of the Prospectus to understand the underlying risks, which include leverage risk, sector risk, and market risk, among several others. 

Investment Committee

Some investors have questioned the credentials of the Fundrise management to become venture capital investors without a specific background in such activities. 

It should be noted many wealthy individuals (e.g., sports stars and celebrities) become venture capitalists, and success is often a result of personal networks instead of financial aptitude.  

Fundrise believes former founders and leaders of tech companies make the best venture investors instead of MBAs and career investment bankers.

They have first-hand experience building, growing, and running technology companies and understand the challenges. The Fundrise executive team has spent decades building technology companies.

Furthermore, the company and its executives are well-connected in the startup world because of the technologies it deploys and through connections it made during the Silicon Valley Bank collapse when it offered bridge loans to various bank account holders to make payroll. 

The people making the investment decisions include the following Fundrise Executives:

• Benjamin S. Miller – Chief Executive Officer of Fundrise
• Brandon T. Jenkins – Chief Operating Officer of Fundrise
• Chris Brauckmuller – Chief Product Officer of Fundrise

Fundrise Venture Capital vs. The ARK Venture Fund

The Fundrise venture capital product is one of two venture capital funds available to non-accredited investors. The other is the ARK Venture Fund, available SoFi Invest. 

Here is a side-by-side comparison:

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account as of July 2023.

Conclusion

Investing in venture capital at Fundrise provides non-accredited retail investors in the U.S. with the opportunity to invest in pre-IPO startups.

Fundrise, known for disrupting real estate investing, has expanded into multiple alternative assets. Its business model is an end-to-end alternative investment platform that can accommodate other asset types.

The VC product aims to invest in private high-growth technology companies and offers a diversified approach to venture capital by intending to hold a larger portfolio of startups than traditional venture capital and making the product non-exclusive. 

It also includes investments in corporate debt to capitalize on potential opportunities while private valuations normalize.

The fund has a minimum investment of $10 and charges a flat annual management fee of 1.85%.

Investors should be aware of the risks, as there is no profit guarantee, and the investments are less liquid than traditional stocks.

Overall, Fundrise opens up venture capital opportunities to a broader range of investors, allowing them to own exciting startups early in their growth phase.

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Disclosure: This is a testimonial in partnership with Fundrise. We earn a commission from partner links on AccessIPOs.com. All opinions are my own. The author is long Fundrise’s venture capital product.