New York, March 22, 2026, 12:41 EDT
Fundrise’s VCX, based out of Washington, wrapped up Friday at $117.70, climbing 54.5% just a day after its New York Stock Exchange debut on March 19. Trading in the new vehicle—designed to let retail investors tap into private tech companies—was interrupted multiple times by NYSE limit-up and limit-down halts during its first session.
The surge is notable: investors, hungry for a piece of private AI players, are jumping in despite oil prices and inflation worries rattling the wider market. The S&P 500 touched a six-month low on Friday, Reuters said, as the Iran war kept energy costs up and Treasury yields climbed.
Fundrise brands VCX as public venture capital, a listed closed-end fund trading on an exchange, yet the bulk of its portfolio sits in private firms. According to Fundrise, the fund launched with upwards of $650 million in assets and more than 100,000 existing investors. As of Feb. 15, its biggest positions included Anthropic, Databricks, and OpenAI.
The portfolio’s weight is lopsided: as of Feb. 15, Fundrise’s site listed private holdings at 85%, while artificial intelligence accounted for 43.8%. Other sizable stakes include Anduril, Ramp, and SpaceX.
The gap between Fundrise’s market price and its underlying value is substantial. As of March 2, the firm’s most recent unaudited NAV stood at $18.26 a share, per a tender-offer filing. That puts Friday’s closing price at more than six times NAV—a sharp disconnect. NAV reflects assets minus liabilities per share. Fundrise itself has acknowledged in disclosures that closed-end funds don’t always track their NAV.
The spike came after a shaky debut. Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal said Fundrise paused its direct listing, which didn’t bring in fresh cash, blaming Iran-war turbulence for the market’s shakiness. On Friday, Reuters cited Chris Fasciano, a strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network, who described the situation as “so fluid.” The Wall Street Journal
VCX is entering a space that’s starting to get more attention. Robinhood put its $658.4 million Robinhood Ventures Fund I on the public market March 6. CFO Shiv Verma, speaking to Reuters, flagged “a big gap in the market” for retail investors looking at private assets. In 2024, Destiny Tech100—another listed product linked to private tech—caught headlines, as Reuters chronicled its wild, meme-driven price swings right from the start. Reuters
But there’s risk on both sides here. Fundrise’s disclosures from March flagged the fact that private-company securities tend to be illiquid, with prices that can swing sharply. A February proxy spelled out that any shares bought before Feb. 20 would be locked up for six months after listing—meant to curb heavy selling. Once that restriction lifts and more shares hit the market, the premium may face a real test.
VCX is bucking the broader trend this week. The stock surged even as oil prices moved higher, Treasury yields ticked up, and the S&P 500 notched its fourth consecutive weekly decline. That’s a sign, at least in this slice of the market, that appetite for public AI exposure is eclipsing worries about the bigger economic picture.
