Alternative Investing Report - March 28, 2025

*as of 3/27; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, 30YM

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek released its latest upgrade to its V3 LLM, showing significant improvements across a number of performance-measuring metrics. It is just the latest of more than ten major upgrades or new models released by Chinese AI companies in the last two weeks. This includes releases from major companies such as Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent.

➨ TAKEAWAY: If China continues to flood the market with cheaper competitors, it will affect the margins of companies like OpenAI, xAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity, who are all years away from profitability as it is. It’s not just American AI companies that are worried about their Chinese competitors, it’s also the government. This week, the U.S. added dozens of Chinese tech companies to its export blacklist in an attempt to curb the ability of those firms to access advanced computer chips needed to develop AI models.

In the newest episode of Smart Humans, Vincent founder Slava Rubin talks with Neutral CEO and co-founder Nate Helbach about the current macroeconomic environment, and developing luxury housing focusing on sustainability, health, and wellness.

Pet food startup The Farmer’s Dog has surpassed $1.2 billion in annualized revenue, an exponential leap from its $45 million rate from five years earlier, and is clearing $10 million in profits monthly. Its valuation has surely risen dramatically from 2021 number of $1.46 billion, when it last raised funds. Last week, Pepsi bought prebiotic soda brand Poppi for $1.95 billion, which netted some early investors some eye-popping returns, including a small angel group that turned $105,000 into nearly $9 million.

➨ TAKEAWAY: The VC world, and coverage of the VC world, is often singularly focused on tech startups, and the recent AI boom has taken that a step further. This often overlooks the consumer sector, which can also deliver big returns for early investors. A new firm, Tactile, is raising a $100 million fund to target the consumer sector, which the company believes is undervalued.

🏡 Hot and cold markets: The top seller’s markets in the country are in upstate New York (Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse) and the Bay Area (San Jose, San Francisco), while the best buyer’s markets are all in the South, Texas, and Florida.

🚀 Mercury raises $300 million: The digital banking startup’s Series C is the biggest fintech raise of the year and it comes at a valuation of $3.5 billion, more than double its 2021 Series B valuation of $1.62 billion.

🎨 Art Basel Hong Kong: Asia’s biggest art fair kicked off with a $3.5 million sale of a Yayoi Kusama painting, and a $2 million sale of a Louise Bourgeois sculpture, as Hong Kong Art Week kicked off.

🏢 Permits decline: Multifamily permits fell by 4.3% monthly and 15.8% yearly, while single-family permits stayed flat monthly but were down 3.4% yearly. However, construction starts rose, with multifamily starts up 12.1% monthly and single-family starts up 11.4%.

💵 BlackRock adding private funds: The alternative asset giant is adding private credit and private equity funds to its model portfolios it markets to financial advisers, making it easier for individuals to access these asset classes.

👛 $100 million coin collection: Buried underground for 50 years, the Traveller collection, with around 15,000 coins from more than 100 territories, is coming to auction. It is believed to be the most expensive coin collection to ever be sold publicly and will be sold over the next three years.

Monday: 🚀 Foodtech startups, 🏢 CRE & Tariffs
Tuesday: 🚜 Farmland & Tariffs, 🚀 SaaS VC funding
Wednesday: 🏡 Home price update, 📉 Consumer confidence falls
Thursday: 🏀 Michael Jordan jersey,🪙 Stablecoins

Have a great weekend!

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.