rewrite this title Goodfin Launches QSBS Venture Fund, Matching Private Market Returns with Tax Savings – Finovate

Agentic wealth platform Goodfin has introduced its Goodfin QSBS Venture Fund. The new offering gives accredited investors access to high-growth startups while taking advantage of Qualified Small Business Stock tax benefits.

Expanded as part of the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), QSBS enables eligible holders to exclude up to 100% of federal capital gains on qualifying startup equity.

Headquartered in San Francisco and founded in 2022, Goodfin made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2026 in San Diego. Anna Joo Fee is Founder and CEO.

Agentic wealth platform Goodfin has announced the launch of its Goodfin QSBS Venture Fund. The new fund is designed to help accredited investors access high-growth startups while optimizing for Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) tax benefits. The fund gives investors exposure to venture and Y Combinator-backed companies that have been vetted for IRC Section 1202 / QSBS eligibility, and the opportunity to take advantage of major federal capital gains tax savings.

“QSBS is one of the most under-used advantages in venture investing, but also one of the most complex to get right,” Goodfin Founder and CEO Anna Joo Fee said. “Goodfin built this fund to remove that friction.”

Intended to encourage investment in small businesses and startups, QSBS are shares in eligible small businesses that qualify for significant federal tax advantages under Section 1202 of the Internal Revenue Code. These benefits include a capital gains tax exclusion of up to 100% when investors sell QSBS. This is a substantial potential savings insofar as long-term capital gains are typically taxed at up to 20%. Factor in the net investment income tax of nearly 4% and the QSBS exclusion can save investors nearly 24% in federal taxes.

The QSBS tax incentive has been available to founders, early employees, and investors since 1993. The policy was given a major upgrade last year as part of the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). This added a new, more flexible tiered exclusion schedule, a higher exclusion cap, and an expansion in the universe of eligible companies to cover more growth-stage startups. These new rules only apply to QSBS issued or acquired after July 4, 2025.

The Goodfin QSBS Venture Fund offers a curated portfolio of early-stage startups backed by Tier 1 investors and Y Combinator. Typically at Seed through Series C level, these firms are chosen based on investment merit and are evaluated and verified for Section 1202 eligibility before investment and monitored throughout the duration of the holding. Investors can invest directly through the Goodfin QSBS Venture Fund or roll over current gains from a previous investment, taking advantage of built-in optimization from day one.

“The idea behind the fund is simple: the best tax advantage in venture shouldn’t be the one investors and founders discover too late,” Goodfin Head of Memberships and Partnerships Mika Arai wrote on the company blog. “QSBS allows eligible holders to exclude up to 100% of federal capital gains on qualifying startup equity—potentially millions of dollars per investment. Yet it remains one of the most underused benefits in the market, largely because it’s one of the hardest to get right.”

What makes it difficult to bring this opportunity to investors? One major factor is that QSBS eligibility has to be both established and maintained during the entire holding period and companies can inadvertently compromise their QSBS status by making otherwise innocuous structuring decisions. Goodfin has teamed up with CapGains, a tax optimization platform, to ensure that every company in the fund is analyzed and vetted for Section 1202 and then monitored throughout its holding period.

The new fund is an opportunity for accredited investors to pursue private market returns and secure a targeted tax outcome in a single, professionally-managed investment vehicle. It can also give founders a competitive edge when it comes to fundraising and attracting talent. Investors are becoming increasingly interested in QSBS-eligible companies and because QSBS offers such significant tax advantages at exit, QSBS-eligible companies give investors a tangible reason to invest early.

“Whether you’re investing in the next great startup or building one, QSBS can transform your financial outcome—and the post-OBBBA rules make the opportunity larger than it has ever been,” Arai wrote. “The Goodfin QSBS Venture Fund is designed to help you capture the full benefit you can earn, with eligibility verified and monitored from day one.”

Founded in 2022 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Goodfin made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2026 in San Diego. At the conference, the company demonstrated its Goodfin Go solution, which provides sophisticated investors in pre-IPO companies with guided, hyper-personalized, end-to-end investing capabilities. Goodfin Go conducts deep research, portfolio analysis, and real-time investment execution, leveraging a purpose-built agentic orchestration system that uses vetted data sources, multiple AI models, and proprietary insights from the Goodfin platform. Advisor-vetted, Goodfin Go meets the standards of the CFA Level III exam.

If you’re interested in pre-IPO companies and promising startups, Finovate’s IMPACT Funders & Founders event is for you. Co-located with FinovateFall, IMPACT serves as a dedicated funding marketplace where breakthrough fintechs meet active investors across the investment spectrum.

Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash

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