Alternative Investing Report - January 8, 2026

*as of 1/7 Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

While 2025 featured a number of high-profile VC-backed IPOs, there is a strong chance that 2026 could blow it out of the water, with potential mega-IPOs from private companies such as SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI. Crunchbase flagged fifteen top candidates, which includes Databricks, defense tech startup Anduril, and fintech Plaid, among others.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Prediction market Kalshi, an intriguing pre-IPO candidate in its own right, has a market where users bet on which companies will announce an IPO in 2026. Discord tops the list with a 91% chance, followed by the crypto exchange Kraken at 89% and SpaceX at 83%. Cerebras, Databricks, Anthropic, and Deel are the only others that top 50% at this point. For investors hoping to get into these names before they go public, time might be running short.

📊 Job openings hit year-low: The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data showed that the number of job openings in the U.S. fell to its lowest level in more than a year. Hiring activity also fell by around 5% monthly to its lowest level in 18 months.

📊 ADP jobs report: The payroll processor’s private jobs report showed a slight increase in private sector job creation, though it still came in below expectations. The first on-time release of the government’s jobs reports in recent quarters is coming Friday, and will shed more light on the labor market.

🏡 Best markets for first-timers: Rochester, NY, tops the list of the best metro areas for first-time homebuyers based on affordability, local amenities, young peers and other macroeconomic criteria. It was followed by Harrisburg, PA, and Granite City, IL.

💵 Strong 2025 for PE: Global private equity deal activity topped $2 trillion and exit activity topped $1 trillion for the second time ever in 2025, representing a strong rebound for the industry.

🪙 Senate negotiates crypto bill: A vote on a crypto market structure bill is on tap for next week, and though Republicans have reportedly made their “final offer,” negotiations are still underway as no agreement is in place.

💻 Steve Jobs auction: A collection of the late Apple founder’s personal memorabilia and belongings are up for sale at RR auctions, including the first check ever written by the company, and an early prototype motherboard for the Apple-1 computer.

A new button on the social media platform X (Twitter) is now allowing users to use xAI’s AI bot Grok to edit images uploaded by other people. Not surprisingly, many users are using the feature to create nonconsensual, inappropriate images of women and children, at an alarming rate. Many of these are “undressing” images, where the bot is prompted to remove clothing from an existing picture, essentially creating a R or X-rated deepfake. While this is ostensibly against the social media platform’s terms of service (and also potentially against the law), the platform and its founder Elon Musk do not seem to be taking it seriously. Beyond the clear moral issue, there is a financial issue as well, as governments are demanding that xAI reprogram Grok to prevent it from creating this type of explicit content. There is clear legal exposure, and it is also further associating the X and xAI brand with a strain of behavior that the vast majority of people find reprehensible.