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- Alternative Investing Report - April 21, 2025
Alternative Investing Report - April 21, 2025
Happy Monday. AI continues to dominate the VC world, gold hits another all-time high, the pace of house sales hit a 6-year low, and Sotheby’s is holding a sports card auction today. Let’s dive in!
🎫 Attend: Tomorrow at 12 PM ET. A look at investing into the rapidly evolving AI landscape, in partnership with Worth.
This issue is brought to you by CapitalPad - Invest Into Legacy, Cash Flowing Small Businesses.
📈 YTD MARKETS
🤖 AI & VC
AI and machine learning startups received 58% of all global VC investment in Q1, compared to the 28% the sectors took in 2024. What’s more, AI startups got 70% of all North American VC funding, though that number is somewhat skewed by OpenAI’s record $40 billion raise. Many companies under five years old are raising big rounds, as median early-stage round sizes are up significantly year-over-year.
➨ TAKEAWAY: AI has quickly become the dominant sector in venture capital, with the majority of the biggest raises and the most valuable pre-IPO companies. Running and developing AI models takes a lot of capital, and VC firms are expecting a return on that capital, even if some of the companies are years away from revenue. Join us tomorrow at 12 PM ET as we break down the current pre-IPO AI ecosystem, alongside Worth Media and Sacra.
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📺 UPCOMING EVENT
Join us on Tuesday April 22 at 12 PM ET learn about how investors should approach the rapidly evolving AI ecosystem and its most promising companies. Slava Rubin of Vincent, Josh Kampel of Worth Media, and Jan-Erik Asplund, co-founder of Sacra, will discuss everything investors need to know about the hottest sector in pre-IPO investing.
📰 NOTABLE NEWS
💰 Gold ATH: Economic uncertainty and investor desire for safer assets has pushed gold close to a price of $3,400 per ounce, an all-time high and a gain of nearly 30% so far in 2025.
🚀 SpaceX and the “Golden Dome”: The space startup is reportedly leading a bid alongside Palantir and defense startup Anduril to build President Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system, and is the leading candidate to win the contract.
🏡 Home sales remain sluggish: U.S. homes are now selling at the slowest pace since 2019, averaging 47 days on the market, and home prices are growing at the slowest rate in 18 months.
🏢 REITs stay steady: Another beneficiary of the flight to safer assets, REITs have been outperforming the broader equities markets, with companies like Brookfield, Welltower, and SL Green keeping their losses to a minimum.
🎨 Lichtenstein for sale: Sotheby’s is selling more than 40 works by the American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein next month, with a collective estimate of more than $35 million. This set of sales follows a successful fall season for the artist’s works, with 10 of 11 lots at Sotheby’s November sale selling for more than their high estimates.
🪙 Panama City accepting crypto: The Central American capital city is now allowing people to pay taxes and municipal fees in crypto, another step towards governmental adoption of digital assets.
🎸 Johnny Cash auction: A Minnesota auction house is selling more than 200 pieces of memorabilia related to the country music legend, including handwritten lyrics, photographs, and jewelry. The sale closes May 4.
💵 Private credit ETF lacks demand: The much-anticipated State Street and Apollo private credit ETF has not seen any new inflows since March 4, and only 3% of its holdings right now are in true private credit.
📆 LOOKING FORWARD
Today: At 10 AM ET, the Boston Marathon kicks off; then at 10 PM ET, Sotheby’s Legendary Sports Cards auction ends, with cards of all-time greats such as Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan and Pelé up for sale.
Wednesday: New home sales report released.
Thursday: Existing home sales report released; The 2025 NFL Draft begins in Green Bay, WI; Sotheby’s auction of Kobe Bryant’s rookie debut jersey, which already has a $5.7 million bid.
Friday: Consumer sentiment results released.
Sunday: Goldin’s April Elite auction, featuring a 1/1 Caitlin Clark card expected to fetch six figures.
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