Alternative Investing Report - March 17, 2026

*as of 3/16; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

Private credit funds run by major asset managers such as BlackRock, Blue Owl, and Blackstone have been hit recently with waves of redemption requests from investors looking for liquidity. The first two have had to limit withdrawals, while the latter injected $400 million of capital into the fund just to meet the record number of requests. Publicly traded business development companies (BDCs), which are a way for retail investors to access private credit holdings, are now trading at a significantly larger discount than they were a year ago. Stock prices of major asset managers, including the above three, as well as KKR, Apollo, and Ares, have also plummeted in the past six months.

➨ TAKEAWAY: It is clear that investors are fleeing the once-hot asset class, as concerns have grown about liquidity and the ability of borrowers to pay back their high-interest loans. With retail investors piling into to private credit in the past few years, there is a risk that those exiting with losses will not ever come back to the asset class, threatening its long-term growth.

In the newest episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin and Sacra's Jan-Erik Asplund discussed Ramp, OpenEvidence, Apptronik, Whop, and Shield AI, five of the hottest companies in the Pre-IPO asset class - and how investors can get access.

🚀 RVI’s slow start: Robinhood’s new closed-end publicly traded venture fund went public last week to great fanfare, only to see the initial price of $25 per share drop by more than 10% on its first day. Customer demand has not been as high as expected, and Fundrise’s similar publicly traded venture fund (VCX) delayed its planned IPO, though it is now scheduled to debut tomorrow.

🤖 Vast Data megaround: The AI infrastructure startup is reportedly raising a $1 billion funding round at a $30 billion valuation, more than three times its last valuation of $9.1 billion from 2023. Half of the proceeds are going to early investors and employees, who had the option to sell their shares for 15% below the new valuation.

🎨 Banksy’s identity revealed: An in-depth report from Reuters has made a convincing case about the identity of the anonymous street artist, confirming older reports that he is a man from Bristol previously named Robin Gunningham and now named David Jones. Whether this will affect the desirability of Banksy’s artwork in the market remains to be seen.

🏢 Retail lending rebounding: The majority of U.S. banks with more than $1 billion in retail loans increased their exposure last year, a strong sign for a sector that has seen positive momentum in the past few years.

🏡 Older Americans lead in RE wealth: Americans between 55 and 69 hold the greatest share of real estate wealth, while for the first time ever, Americans 70 and older hold more real estate wealth than those aged 40-54.

🪙 Equities on the blockchain: Both Nasdaq and the parent company of the NYSE have recently partnered with crypto exchanges, Kraken and OKX, in pursuit of the clear goal of creating a tokenized stock exchange. Beyond affecting the equities market, there will be winners and losers within the crypto ecosystem as well, though it’s too early to know who those will be.

A seven-bedroom, three-bathroom, three-level house built in 1886 just hit the market and attracted attention for both its location and the asking price. Nestled right up against the busy New York Thruway in Nyack, NY - around an hour north of New York City - the ¾ acre property is asking $1.49 million despite needing a full renovation and the neighboring highway. Some of the listing images are not for the faint-hearted or those triggered by hoarding and trash, as the seller and listing agent haven’t bothered to clean up the property. As such, the seller is “open to negotiation” for anyone brave-hearted enough to take on a project of this size.