Lessons: pain, persistence, and empathy

Fundrise CEO Ben Miller joins Sourcery to break down the launch of the Fundrise Growth Tech Fund (NYSE: $VCX) — one of the first publicly traded venture capital funds.

VCX debuted at roughly $700M valuation and surged to ~$6.5B within days, giving over 100,000 investors access to a portfolio of top private companies including Anthropic (~20%), Databricks (~17%), OpenAI (~10%), Anduril, Ramp, and SpaceX.

The timing reflects a broader shift: private markets are now where most value is created. VCX portfolio companies grew ~193% vs ~25% for public tech benchmarks, highlighting the gap between private and public market growth. Meanwhile, IPO timelines have stretched from ~3–5 years to 10–15+ years, meaning public investors are increasingly missing the highest-growth phase.

We discuss how VCX works as a closed-end fund, why it has traded at a premium (despite most closed-end funds trading at discounts), and how Fundrise accessed top-tier companies during the 2022–2023 venture downturn — including buying from distressed sellers and stepping into competitive rounds.

Finally, we explore what comes next: whether public venture capital becomes a standard allocation, how cycles and volatility impact the model, and what happens if public markets begin directly funding private tech at scale.

Topics Covered

• VCX launch & NYSE debut dynamics

• Portfolio composition (Anthropic, OpenAI, Databricks, SpaceX)

• Private vs public market growth gap (193% vs 25%)

• Macro shift: value creation moving to private markets

• IPO window + why companies stay private longer

• How Fundrise sources and wins allocation

• Closed-end fund structure, NAV, premiums/discounts

• Risks: volatility, cycles, and downside scenarios

• Future of venture: rise of public VC funds

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Benjamin Miller: https://x.com/BenMillerise 

Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 

Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy 

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