From Pre-Seed to Pre-IPO: Witz Ventures Launches New SPV on Republic Featuring The Cashmere Fund and Access to xAI, SpaceX, and Perplexity
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
The Cashmere Fund announced that its diversified early-stage portfolio has been selected as a component of a new Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) launched on Republic by Witz Ventures, curated by investor and financial creator Austin Hankwitz and his business partner Christian Blackwell. The SPV provides investors access to both emerging startups and late-stage category leaders, including xAI, SpaceX, and Perplexity.
The offering reflects a broader shift toward democratizing private market access, combining investments across the full venture life cycle—from Pre-Seed to Pre-IPO—within a single, accessible structure.
For decades, access to high-growth private companies has been limited to institutional venture capital firms and ultra-high-net-worth investors. This new SPV aims to change that by opening diversified exposure to accredited retail investors across the same Pre-Seed to Pre-IPO spectrum through one streamlined investment vehicle.
Barbell Portfolio for the Modern Investor
The Witz Ventures Multi-Asset SPV follows a barbell strategy, allocating investor capital evenly between early- and late-stage opportunities.
- 50% Late-Stage Allocations: xAI, SpaceX, and Perplexity (~17% each): three frontier companies defining the next era of artificial intelligence, aerospace, and search technology.
- 50% Early-Stage Diversification: exposure through The Cashmere Fund, an interval fund with 38 portfolio companies spanning technology and consumer sectors, including high-growth brands such as Graza, MrBeast’s Beast Industries, and De Soi by Katy Perry.
This balanced structure provides investors with the upside potential of early innovation while maintaining exposure to the durability and momentum of mature, category-defining private companies. Historically, this type of blended access has been limited to top-tier venture funds managing billions in assets.
Expanding Access to Private Markets
Venture capital remains one of the best-performing asset classes, but it has also been one of the least accessible. The Witz Ventures Multi-Asset SPV expands that access by using Republic’s digital investment platform to enable accredited investors to participate with lower minimums and simplified onboarding.
For The Cashmere Fund, inclusion in the SPV highlights the growing demand for professionally managed early-stage exposure within broader alternative investment vehicles. Cashmere’s evergreen fund structure and transparent valuation methodology make it an ideal foundation for investors seeking diversified participation in the private markets.
“We’re excited to see our portfolio play a role in broadening access to private markets,” said Elia Infascelli, CEO of The Cashmere Fund. “Opportunities like this help bridge the gap between early-stage innovation and established category leaders — something investors rarely get to experience in a single investment.”
Why Venture Access Matters Now
Private companies are staying private longer — often 10 to 12 years before going public — which means that much of their value creation occurs before IPO. At the same time, venture-backed firms now drive a significant portion of global innovation and economic growth. By combining early-stage startups and mature technology leaders within one portfolio, the Multi-Asset SPV, curated by Witz Ventures, represents a new approach to venture investing that is more balanced, more inclusive, and more aligned with the future of wealth creation.
The SPV is now open for investment on Republic’s platform, where investors can review offering materials, company information, and risk disclosures.
About Witz Ventures
Witz Ventures is a hybrid venture and media firm dedicated to building online businesses and accelerating early-stage investments. They combine growth-marketing expertise — from podcasts and newsletters to live streams and short-form video — with capital deployment to support the world’s most exciting privately-held companies. Leveraging their platform reach and deep network, Witz Ventures provides a wide array of advisory services — spanning venture-backed startups to Fortune 100 brands.
About The Cashmere Fund
The Cashmere Fund (Ticker: CSHMX), an evergreen interval fund, seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation through an actively managed portfolio of private, early-stage venture capital investments. The Fund’s portfolio managers seek to leverage their networks of influence in the sports and entertainment industries to further compound and accelerate growth in the Fund’s portfolio companies. Learn more about The Cashmere Fund at www.thecashmerefund.com.
Investors should carefully consider The Cashmere Fund’s investment goals, risks, fees and expenses before investing. Please read the Fund’s prospectus carefully before investing for this and other information.
About Republic
Headquartered in New York City, Republic is a global financial firm operating a full-stack private investment platform for regulated digital assets, covering primary issuance through secondary trading. Republic’s full-stack spans private market investing for both retail and institutional investors, wallet infrastructure, enterprise digital advisory, asset management and more. With a deep track record of legal and technical innovation, Republic is known for opening retail access to new asset classes across venture, film, sports, private equity and pre-IPO opportunities. Backed by Valor Equity Partners, Galaxy Interactive, HOF Capital, AngelList and other leading institutions, Republic boasts a global portfolio of over 2,000 companies and a community of nearly three million members in over 150 countries. More than $3 billion has been deployed through investment platforms, funds, and firms within the Republic family of companies with operations established in the US, the UK, EU, the UAE and South Korea. Securities are offered through OpenDeal Broker, LLC Member FINRA & SiPC, the broker-dealer affiliate for Republic.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251023093630/en/
John Zamora
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America New York
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Professional Services Finance
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