Alternative Investing Report - April 16, 2026

*as of 4/15; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

A new all-time high for venture fundraising was set in Q1, with $267.2 billion in deal value, as well as a new all-time high for exit value, which hit $347.3 billion. However, the capital was concentrated in megadeals, with the five largest funding rounds representing $200 billion of the total value, led by OpenAI’s record $122 billion raise. Exit value was largely driven by SpaceX’s $250 billion acquisition of CEO Elon Musk’s own company, xAI. AI companies are receiving nearly half of all fundraising dollars, and at higher average valuations than non-AI companies at the same funding stage.

➨ TAKEAWAY: While the new records are attention-grabbers, they don’t shed much light on the health of the broader VC industry, as they was driven by just a few outlier deals. VC firms are now pouring money into a few select winners, mostly in AI. Massive IPOs may be coming in the next 12 months for SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI that will also smash records. The paradigm seems to be changing from a lot of small bets on early-stage startups to a few enormous bets on companies about to go public.

In the newest episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin and Sacra's Jan-Erik Asplund take an in-depth look at the hottest startups in one of the hottest sectors - defense tech. They discuss Anduril, Shield AI, Saronic, and how the current geopolitical situation is affecting the ecosystem at large.

📈 Stock market records: Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq set new all-time highs yesterday, a remarkable turnaround over the past two weeks, in which both are up more than 10%.

🪙 Kraken IPO: After scuttling plans to go public it filed last November, the crypto exchange again announced its intention to IPO, though likely at a lower valuation. The company also announced that German company Deutsche Börse is acquiring 1.5% of Kraken’s parent company Payward at a $13.3 billion valuation for Kraken, below its last valuation of $20 billion in November.

🎨 Art markets by country: Auction sales in the U.S. generated $5.4 billion last year, a 25.3% year-over-year gain, ensuring the country remains the largest art market in the world. China placed second, but saw a year-over-year decline of 10.8% in sales in 2025, while third-place U.K. and fourth-place France both saw healthy increases.

🏢 Multifamily investment markets: Indianapolis leads the list of the top markets for multifamily investmen, based on occupancy rates, rental absorption rates, and economic and population trends. Raleigh, Salt Lake City, Nashville, and Milwaukee round out the top five.

🚀 Amazon buys Globalstar: The tech giant is paying $11.6 billion for the satellite company in an effort to build out its own satellite business Leo and to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink.

🏡 Home seller survey: Despite the flagging real estate market, sellers are still optimistic, with 83% believing that will sell their homes for their asking price or above. Additionally, 40% also describe the current market as a sellers’ market, despite it being a buyer’s market in the majority of the country.

As AI chatbot usage has become more common, so have lawsuits that claim chatbots have driven users to self-harm, violence, and even suicide. One such case is that of Jonathan Gavalas, a 36 year-old man going through a divorce that led him to develop an unhealthy relationship with Google’s chatbot Gemini. In under two months, Gavalas became dependent on Gemini, believing them to be married, and fell down a rabbit hole of paranoia and conspiracy theories, ultimately killing himself. His father is suing Google, as the company flagged Gavalas’ behavior 38 times but did not restrict his account in any way. Chatbots are designed to flatter and encourage users, which increases engagement, but it also leads to extreme outcomes. With more than half of U.S. adults now using chatbots, and models only getting better and more powerful, the risks are growing. AI as an industry is already dealing with its growing unpopularity, and the more bad press like this piles up, the worse it will get.