Alternative Investing Report - February 18, 2026

*as of 2/17; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

Investor interest in Abernathy Industrial Park has been strong, and one request has come up repeatedly: the chance to hear directly from the deal officer behind the investment. This live webinar is your opportunity.

Join Jon Spitz, Head of Capital Formation, and Jack Ford, Vice President of Acquisitions – Industrial, for a direct, in-depth walkthrough of this high-demand, value-add multi-tenant industrial opportunity in Greenville–Spartanburg, SC. We are on track to complete our raise ahead of the March 31 deadline, and space is limited.

Today at 12 PM ET.

Can't make it live? All registrants will receive the recording.

The nuclear fusion startup Inertia Enterprises announced a $450 million funding round at an undisclosed valuation with the plan to use the funds to build the world’s most powerful laser, among other developments. This is the latest in a series of prominent fundraises in the sector, which set records for deal count and deal value in 2025. Other companies that have raised big money include Commonwealth Fusion Systems ($2.86 billion), Helion Energy ($1 billion), and Pacific Fusion ($900 million).

➨ TAKEAWAY: VC investors are already looking for the next big sector after the AI boom, with contenders including quantum computing, robotics and now nuclear power. Fusion power is still in the theoretical phase, with some estimating that it will be 10 years or more before any company will be able to offer it at a commercial scale. However, Helion is eyeing a power plant by 2028, and Commonwealth expects one by the early 2030s, either of which would be game-changing for the sector.

In the newest episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin and Sacra's Jan-Erik Asplund discussed Databricks, Groq, Anduril, Anthropic, and Canva, five of the hottest pre-IPO companies in the asset class - and how investors can get access.

🏡 Homebuilder confidence index dips: The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) dropped one point in February to 36, the lowest level in five months, as demand for new homes has declined due to affordability concerns.

🚀 Anduril’s reported fundraise: The leading defense tech startup is reportedly in talks to raise as much as $8 billion at a $60 billion valuation, nearly twice its valuation of $30.5 billion last June.

🏢 Top cities for multifamily: LoopNet named Washington, DC the top metro area to invest in multifamily in 2026, followed by Las Vegas and Denver, but Detroit ranked #1 with the highest projected cap rates.

💵 Private credit secondaries: Private credit secondaries transaction volume doubled in 2025 to $20 billion, highlighting the desire for liquidity from investors as well as growing demand from buyers for discounted stakes.

🪙 Stripe’s crypto bank: The fintech startup’s crypto arm Bridge got conditional approval from the Office of ⁠the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to set up a national trust bank, a step towards being allowed to custody digital assets and issue stablecoins.

💰 Shipwreck coins: In a relatively recent trend, coins recovered from shipwrecks have become increasingly popular amongst coin collectors, with an auction next week at Heritage spotlighting prominent examples.

The Solana memecoin pippin debuted a year ago, but only started picking up steam last November, jumping from two cents to 20 cents in a matter of days, then past 50 cents in late December. Mimicking the crypto market, it had a slow and steady fall back down to 16 cents two weeks ago, before again gaining momentum and more than quadrupling since then, setting a new all-time high. In a period when nearly every crypto token has lost value, Pippin has topped the charts for any top-100 coin by market cap, though yesterday it fell nearly 25%, erasing some of its gains. As with all memecoins, there is little reason for any price movement outside of momentum, and insiders reportedly control 80% of the token supply. Unless you have a strong connection to a picture of a unicorn, it’s probably best to stay away from what promises to be more massive fluctuations in price.