Happy Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples Day! Firmus shelved its IPO, a quantum startup tripled its value, a bottle of whiskey almost set an all-time record, and CRE prices dipped. Let’s dive in!
🎤 Listen: To the latest episode of Smart Humans, where Slava Rubin talks to Star Mountain CEO Brett Hickey about investing into lower middle-market businesses.
This issue is brought to you by Get Access, a private venture membership.
📈 WEEKLY MARKETS
❌ FIRMUS IPO OFF
The Australian data center operator Firmus canceled its planned $5 billion initial public offering in favor of a private fundraising round that could still lead to an eventual IPO. Investors were reportedly wary of the $30 billion valuation Firmus was seeking, which is triple its last valuation from just two months ago. This is the second major IPO to be scrapped recently, following Oura’s last-minute decision to shelve its public offering.
➨ TAKEAWAY: The cancellation of Firmus’ IPO is a signal that public investors may not be clamoring for AI infrastructure and data center plays the same way the private market has been. If Firmus can successfully raise a new funding round with similar terms to the proposed IPO, it could lead to more companies simply staying private longer. The cancellation also puts the spotlight on fellow AI infrastructure startup DayOne Data Centers, which just filed for its own $5 billion IPO last week.
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🎤 PODCAST
"People will still want to fix their sewer, their plumbing, their garage doors, and so forth." - Brett Hickey
In the newest episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin with Star Mountain Capital CEO and Founder Brett Hickey about the world of lower middle-market private investing and finding resilient businesses.
📰 NOTABLE NEWS
🚀 Quantum update: The quantum computing startup Oratomic raised a $475 million Series B at a valuation of $5.4 billion, more than triple its $1.5 billion valuation from just three months ago. Fellow quantum startup PsiQuantum announced a $150 million loan commitment from the U.S. Department of War, its third nine-figure deal with the U.S. government.
🥃 Near-record whiskey: The highly anticipated sale of a bottle of Macallan 1926 came in at $2.78 million, falling just short of the all-time record of $2.8 million set in 2023. It is one of only 40 bottles of Macallan 1926 ever made, and one of only 14 with the “Fine & Rare” label.
🏢 CRE prices tick down: According to the Green Street Commercial Property Price Index, prices fell 0.1% last month but are still up 4.7% year-over-year. Student housing was the catalyst for the monthly decline, falling 4.7%, while every other sector held steady.
🤖 Manus fundraise: The Chinese AI startup raised more than $500 million at a reported $4 billion valuation, six months after its proposed $2 billion sale to Meta was blocked by Chinese authorities.
🏡 Inventory climbing: Housing inventory is up 6.7% year-over-year, despite the fact that new listings have declined 4.1% in the same time period, indicating that more homes are staying on the market. The median listing price has also decreased by 2.4% year-over-year, though higher mortgage rates means that homes are no more affordable for buyers.
🎨 London and Paris fairs: London’s Art Week kicks off today, followed by Paris’ next week, with the accompanying auctions and art fairs, including Frieze in London and Art Basel Paris, both of which are previewed by ArtNews.
📆 LOOKING FORWARD
Today: Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples’ Day, bond markets will be closed, other markets remain open.
This week: London Art Week, with major evening sales at Christie’s on Wednesday, and Sotheby’s and Phillips on Thursday.
Tuesday: NFIB small business optimism index released; Existing home sales report released.
Wednesday: Consumer price index (CPI) inflation report released.
Thursday: Producer price index (PPI) inflation report released.
