AngelList, the original innovator that enabled online capital formation, has launched USVC, a registered fund that provides access to promising private firms for a low minimum of $500. This is the first venture capital fund offered by AngelList.
USVC is not just for Accredited Investors but is available to anyone. The current portfolio holds shares in xAI, Anthropic, OpenAI, Sierra, Vercel, Crusoe, and Legora.
As public markets have declined, largely due to excessive regulation and costs associated with being a public firm, private markets have grown. Typically, private markets are difficult to access for smaller investors. USVC is addressing this issue by broadening access to venture capital, enabling retail investors to invest in some of the most promising private firms.
The fund is not listed on an exchange and does not anticipate liquidity in the near term. While the fund may make quarterly repurchases, distributions are not guaranteed. According to the prospectus:
“The Fund will generally hold Portfolio Investments until a liquidity event or dissolution event with respect to such Portfolio Investment occurs. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Fund may sell securities of Portfolio Investments from time to time if, in the judgment of the Investment Adviser, it is necessary to further the best interests of the Fund.”
Naval Ravikant, AngelList founder and Chairman of the USVC Investment Committee, stated on X:
“… ordinary people can’t invest until it’s old [early stage technology], until it’s no longer interesting, until everybody has access to it. By the time a stock IPOs, most of the alpha is gone. The adventure is gone. Public market investors are literally last in line. This problem has become farcical in the last decade. Startups are reaching trillion-dollar valuations in the private markets while ordinary investors have their noses up to the glass, wondering when they’ll be let in. Investing in private markets isn’t easy. You need feet on the ground. You need judgment built over years. Most people don’t have the patience to wait ten or twenty years for an investment to come to fruition.”
He added that you buy now and wait. If you get it right, you get paid.
AngelList has long been a top venture marketplace and job board for the tech sector. In 2013, AngelList received a no-action letter from the SEC allowing it to leverage Reg D 506(c) to list investment opportunities without being a broker-dealer. While AngelList is not alone in providing a venture capital fund for retail investors, it remains a small segment of the VC sector. Currently, there is a movement in Washington, DC, to allow alternative investments in an individual’s retirement account, something that can benefit savers over the long haul, as venture capital has typically outperformed public markets when chosen wisely.
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