St. Pete venture fund surpasses $1B milestone in four years

The Ark Venture Fund, based in St. Petersburg, officially surpassed $1 billion in assets under management, according to a Tuesday announcement. 

Launched by renowned investor Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest in September 2022, the fund was designed to democratize venture capital by allowing individual retail investors access to high-growth private and public technology company investments, according to its website. Wood moved Ark Invest from New York City to St. Petersburg in 2021. 

It took the fund two years to reach its first $100 million in assets under management, but subsequent demand accelerated rapidly — hitting the $1 billion milestone in approximately 18 months, the announcement says. 

“That is exponential growth, and it reflects the conviction of a growing community of investors who believe, as we do, that some of the most transformative companies in the world should be accessible to everyone,” the announcement says. 

The fund holds positions in multiple companies that align to its theme of “disruptive innovation,” including OpenAI, Anthropic, Epic Games, Figure AI and Neuralink. SpaceX currently represents its largest holding. 

Ark defines these disruptive innovations as the “introduction of a technologically enabled new product or service that potentially changes the way the world works.”

Ark Venture Fund allows investments with a significantly lower minimum entry point than traditional capital funds, its website says. It is an actively managed, evergreen interval fund with both accredited and non-accredited investors. 

“We set out to do something venture capital had never done before: open the doors of one of the world's most exclusive asset classes to every investor, not just the privileged few,” the announcement says. “This milestone is a signal from investors of all kinds that the democratization of venture capital is not just possible. It is happening.”