Happy Tuesday. An accredited investor exam could be coming, Q3 had a record number of billion-dollar funding rounds, industrial rent growth stayed strong, and another crypto exchange wants to tokenize stocks. Let’s dive in!
🎫 Register: For our next investor briefing looking at the current state of the fintech sector, including private companies such as Stripe, Ramp, and Revolut.
This issue is brought to you by The Champion Fund - institutional-grade access to the sports asset class.
📈 DAILY MARKETS
✅ RETAIL ACCESS
The SEC is proposing changes to the accredited investor requirements that could expand retail investor access to private markets. Currently, accredited investors must earn $200,000 annually in each of the prior two years (or $300,000 for married couples) or have a total net worth of at least $1 million not including the value of their primary residence. Holders of certain financial licenses can also qualify, and the SEC is looking to expand that qualification by offering investors the chance to pass a 75-question financial knowledge exam to become accredited for ten years.
➨ TAKEAWAY: A change to the rules surrounding accredited investors is long overdue and could radically change the entire private market ecosystem. The current rules supposedly protect less knowledgeable investors from losing money in risky investments, but functionally they also bar many people from lucrative private market opportunities. Allowing investors who don’t yet meet the wealth requirements to demonstrate their financial knowledge makes a lot of sense, and the sooner this becomes law, the better.
Partner
A Generational Reset in the Sports Asset Class
Valuations are resetting, private equity is buying influence, and sovereign funds treat sports as strategic positioning. By the time these moves reach the front page, the entry point is gone.
The Champion Fund gives allocators structured access to off-market sports deals in one managed, evergreen vehicle. Position your portfolio before, not after.
📺 UPCOMING EVENT
Join Vincent’s Slava Rubin and Sacra’s Jan-Erik Asplund for a look at the private companies shaping the future of financial services. We’ll take a closer look at Stripe, Ramp, Revolut, and Plaid and how their businesses are changing the way companies and consumers interact with financial services. We’ll examine the technologies and business models gaining traction, how fintech is evolving alongside traditional financial institutions, and how AI, scale, and profitability are reshaping the industry.
October 15 at 11 AM ET
📰 NOTABLE NEWS
🚀 Record number of mega rounds: There were a record 27 billion-dollar plus VC funding rounds in Q3, as startup funding has hit an all-time high through the firs three-quarters of the year. Early-stage funding is up 25% year-over-year, while late stage funding rose a whopping 73% annually.
🏢 Industrial market update: In-place rents for industrial properties rose 5.4% year-over-year in August while vacancy rates held steady at 9.3%. Atlanta had the highest annual rent growth, followed by New Jersey and Miami, while Denver, Detroit, and Memphis had the weakest growth.
🪙 OKX tokenizing stocks: The crypto exchange OKX jointly filed with the SEC alongside NYSE parent company ICE to launch a tokenized stock trading platform that will offer 24/7 trading for 63 publicly traded U.S. companies if it is approved.
💵 M&A decline: Global M&A volume fell 41% in Q3 2026, though it remains up 28% year-over-year. Rising borrowing costs are likely to lead to a further slowdown in the market, which could then affect liquidity in the private equity sector.
🏡 Housing succession: Over the next decade, nearly 14 million homes currently owned by the Baby Boomer and Silent Generations are expected to come to the market, which will add a significant amount of inventory to housing market already struggling with oversupply.
🎨 $30 painting sells for more than $1 million: A 1951 painting by Gertrude Abercrombie that was originally acquired for just $30 at an estate sale sold at auction for $1.35 million after experts authenticated the long-lost piece.
🏡 LISTING OF THE WEEK
(Zillow)
If you’re wondering why what looks like a quaint cottage with a covered porch and large front yard is on the market for $10.5 million, it’s because it happens to be on top of a building in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan. One of the most unique residences in the Big Apple is for sale for the first time and offers 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, and more than 3,000 square feet of living space plus more than 1,000 square feet of outdoor space with unparalleled views of the city. The penthouse has also been featured in a Woody Allen movie and in National Geographic magazine. As an added perk, it happens to be a half a block away from our office, so if you end up buying it, stop by and say hi.
