Alternative Investing Report - March 19, 2025

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*as of 3/18; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

Google parent company Alphabet has reached an agreement to buy the cybersecurity startup Wiz for $32 billion - the tech giant’s biggest deal ever and by far the biggest deal of 2025 to date. Alphabet had previously attempted to buy Wiz last year but saw its $23 billion offer rejected, even though Wiz was previously valued at $12 billion. The failure to close last year may have in part stemmed from concerns about anti-trust and FTC opposition, which is likely to be less of an issue today. If it closes, the deal will be a boon for early VC backers of the startup, who are in line for huge returns, like Cyberstarts’ $6.4 million seed investment that would now be worth $1.3 billion.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Just last week, we highlighted recent cybersecurity raises and how the sector has quickly become a VC darling. Funding to the sector increased 43% in 2024, with mature startups commanding the bulk of the dollars. This massive transaction and the returns it will generate is only going to bring more eyeballs to other cybersecurity startups, particularly those who are attractive acquisition targets or who could be in line for an IPO.

Vincent founder Slava Rubin and Sacra co-founder Jan-Erik Asplund deep dive into CoreWeave, the AI cloud company on track for a $35 billion IPO. They talked about CoreWeave’s explosive growth, its relationships with Microsoft and OpenAI, and its upcoming IPO. This recording is exclusively available to AIR Insiders.

U.S. homebuilder sentiment continued to fall, hitting a seven-month low, a result of uncertainty over tariffs, rising construction costs and declining levels of buyer demand. The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo index fell 3 points to 39, which was lower than economists had anticipated. Despite the drop in confidence, the number of single-family construction starts hit a 12-month high in February, increasing 11.2% for the month. Multi-family starts also saw a bump, increasing 10.7% monthly.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Tariffs are poised to raise the cost of building materials, such as lumber, and immigration policy could lead to a labor shortage, also boosting building costs. It is an odd result to see construction increase as sentiment decreases, but the latter is more forward-looking, so future months may see construction rates fall back again.

🪙 Institutional allocations rising: An impressive 83% of institutional investors are planning to increase their crypto allocation in 2025, and 75% are planning to get involved in DeFi transactions in the next two years according to a Coinbase and Ernst & Young survey. Other than Bitcoin and Ethereum, the next most popular tokens are Ripple (XRP) and Solana (SOL).

🎨 Record South Asian art sale: Sotheby’s modern and contemporary South Asian art auction brought in $16.8 million, more than triple the pre-sale low estimate, and nine separate artist records were set. The headline sale was Jagdish Swaminathan’s “Homage to Solzhenitsyn” which sold for $4.68 million against a pre-sale estimate of $1 million - $2 million.

🏡 RE crowdfunding record: There were $15.35 million worth of real estate crowdfunding deals in 2024, nearly a 4x leap from 2023, and an all-time record for the space, though still a drop in the bucket relative to the $10 trillion asset class.

⚾ SF Giants sell 10% stake: The San Francisco-based private equity firm Sixth Street bought a 10% stake of the hometown Giants for an undisclosed amount, as private equity continues to target sports franchises.

🚀 Rippling suing Deel: HR software startup Rippling is accusing its competitor Deel of corporate espionage, claiming Deel “cultivated a spy” who operated primarily inside of slack, tapping into Rippling’s internal records and trade secrets.

🦸‍♂️ Comic book set collecting: A look at five sought-after sets of books, including the Top 50 Silver Age Comics, which will set you back a pretty penny, and the “Giant-Size” Marvels, which are a bit more affordable.

BinaryX, a GameFi platform on the BNB (Binance) chain, is about to officially rebrand as Four (FORM) on March 21, garnering attention from traders and speculators that sent its price skyrocketing in the past week. The company creates play-to-earn games and acts as platform for others to create their own games. It launched a memecoin platform, Four.meme, last June. Investors should be cautious, though, as often when there is an event that can be seen as a catalyst, such as the upcoming BNX to FORM token swap, the price spikes before the date of the event, and then falls back down after.

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.