Alternative Investing Report - February 19, 2025

*as of 2/18; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

Last week’s biggest VC fundraise belonged to the AI-powered robotics startup Apptronik, which raised $350 million at an undisclosed valuation. It might be one-upped quickly, as another AI robotics startup, Figure.AI, is reportedly on the verge of raising $1.5 billion at a $39.5 billion valuation. That would be an exceptional 15x over its Series B valuation of $2.6 billion less than a year ago. Meanwhile, Meta is establishing a new division devoted to developing AI-powered humanoid robots.

➨ TAKEAWAY: The humanoid robot sector is having a moment, and it represents a step forward in the AI revolution. While VC funding for robotics startups was flat in 2024, companies in the space secured some of the biggest early-stage funding rounds, and that trend is continuing so far this year. While it’s still early for the sector, Goldman Sachs projects the the global market for humanoid robots to reach $38 billion in the next decade, so investors should consider jumping aboard soon.

As of the end of 2024, U.S. companies are at least one month late on more than $28 billion of bank loans, up 24% year-over-year. Delinquency rates for all corporate credit, which also includes loans from US banks to foreign companies, rose to 1.3%, its highest since 2017.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Notably, this data does not include non-bank private credit loans, which are often made higher interest rates than bank loans, and often to riskier companies. It is likely that private credit funds are also seeing a rise in delinquencies, which will eventually lead to more defaults and lower returns. With the Fed unlikely to cut rates anytime soon, and the possibility of new tariffs hurting small and medium-sized businesses, risk in the private credit sector is growing.

🏡 Homebuilder confidence falls: The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) fell by more than 10%, hitting its lowest level in five months, as concerns over tariffs and high mortgage rates have lowered expectations for the market.

🤖 Safe Superintelligence raising $1 billion: The AI startup founded by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever is reportedly raising $1 billion at a $30 billion valuation, an eye-popping number for a pre-revenue startup that speaks to Sutskever’s pedigree and how hot the sector remains.

🪙 FTX’s $1.2 billion repayments: The failed crypto exchange’s Bahamian unit is scheduled to repay creditors $1.2 billion on February 18, which could lead to a spike in crypto markets if those creditors reinvest their proceeds.

🎨 Blink-182’s Banksy: The street artist’s “Crude Oil (Vettriano),” which is owned by punk rock band Blink-182’s lead singer Mark Hoppus, is going to the auction block at Sotheby’s next month with an estimate of $6.3 million.

💵 PE’s decade-high holding period: At the end of 2024, the median amount of time private equity firms were holding on to their portfolio companies reached 3.4 years, the longest duration over the last nine years, a reflection of the lack of exit activity in the asset class.

🚀 Humane shutting down: The creator of the much-maligned “AI Pin” is selling most of the company to HP for $116 million, and will cut off support for its Pins at the end of February.

The Virtuals Protocol is a decentralized platform for buying, trading, and creating AI agents, an area that is expected to see significant growth in 2025. AI agents are essentially virtual assistants that can be given a task and complete it independently, and the Virtuals Protocol transforms those AI agents into tokenized assets. Since its official launch last October, it rose in value exponentially, from $0.05 all the way to $4.50 per token. Since then, it has fallen precipitously and was the biggest decliner in the top-100 tokens by market cap in the last week.

Advertiser’s Disclosures

This is a paid advertisement for Mode Mobile Reg A offering. Please read the offering statement at https://invest.modemobile.com

¹ Mode Mobile recently received their ticker reservation with Nasdaq ($MODE), indicating an intent to IPO in the next 24 months. An intent to IPO is no guarantee that an actual IPO will occur.

² The rankings are based on submitted applications and public company database research, with winners selected based on their fiscal-year revenue growth percentage over a three-year period.

³ A minimum investment of $1,950 is required to receive bonus shares. 100% bonus shares are offered on investments of $9,950+.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Start-up investments are speculative and involve a high degree of risk. Those investors who cannot afford to lose their entire investment should not invest in start-ups. Companies seeking startup investment tend to be in earlier stages of development and their business model, products and services may not yet be fully developed, operational or tested in the public marketplace. There is no guarantee that the stated valuation and other terms are accurate or in agreement with the market or industry valuations. Further, investors may receive illiquid and/or restricted stock that may be subject to holding period requirements and/or liquidity concerns.

DealMaker Securities LLC, a registered broker-dealer, and member of FINRA | SIPC, located at 105 Maxess Road, Suite 124, Melville, NY 11747, is the Intermediary for this offering and is not an affiliate of or connected with the Issuer. Please check our background on FINRA's BrokerCheck.