Alternative Investing Report - April 9, 2026

*as of 4/8; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

Three of the most anticipated companies in history are converging on the public markets at the same time, and for early investors, the opportunity is unlike anything we've seen in a generation. SpaceX filed confidentially for a June IPO targeting a valuation above $2 trillion, with Musk pitching the dream and Starlink's explosive subscriber and revenue growth as the financial engine. OpenAI, which acquired tech talk show TBPN in its first media deal to sharpen its public voice, is pushing ahead with its own listing plans even as Musk wages a legal campaign to remove Sam Altman and Greg Brockman from OpenAI's nonprofit board, a move that could complicate the offering's structure and timeline. The New Yorker this week published a sweeping Altman profile that captures the unease at the center of all of this: one of these companies will shape the next era of the economy, and whether we can trust the people running them matters enormously. Anthropic, whose record-setting momentum we covered yesterday, is the third piece of this puzzle.

If all three list this year, the roughly $125 billion in combined capital raised would exceed the total hauled in by all U.S. VC-backed IPOs over the last decade. That's the scale of what's coming. With the Iran war showing signs of cooling and markets rallying on ceasefire hopes, the macro backdrop may finally be cooperating. It’s about to get very interesting.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Investors piling into private markets right now are largely playing for the IPO pop. That's a reasonable bet, but keep in mind that the inflows required to sustain $2 trillion valuations are truly unprecedented. It's possible that the expansiveness of space and AI means these companies can grow far beyond anything that came before. If you’re evaluating how to play it, Destiny Tech100 (DXYZ) is a publicly traded closed-end fund that holds SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic and trades on NYSE today. Forge Global and EquityZen offer secondary shares for accredited investors. Fundrise's Innovation Fund (VCX) holds Anthropic. We're hosting a webinar next Wednesday on how to access pre-IPO companies via liquid structures which is worth a look if this space interests you.

🏢 Manhattan’s offices are roaring back: So much for an NYC exodus — office leasing in Manhattan hit 11.8 million square feet in Q1 2026, the strongest first quarter since 2014, with AI tenants alone leasing more than 600,000 square feet. Average asking rents rose 4% to $77.55 per square foot, and availability dropped to a two-year low.

₿ MSSB joins the ETF party: Another major brokerage brought BTC to its clients as a standard product as Morgan Stanley’s MSSB debuted Wednesday with strong first-day inflows. Crypto rallied on ceasefire optimism with BTC touching $72,000 intraday, its highest level since January.

💼 FOs go direct: Ultra-wealthy family offices are bypassing VC funds to invest directly in AI startups, cutting out fees and fund structures entirely. This is yet another signal that the AI opportunity feels too concentrated and too urgent to outsource.

📉 Moody's goes negative on private credit BDCs: The ratings agency officially revised its outlook on business development companies to negative, piling on to a growing stack of concerning signals for the sector like redemption gates and record outflows.

📊 Schwab’s allocation guidance: New Schwab research argues the question isn't how much return crypto will generate but how much volatility you can tolerate, suggesting that a 1-3% position can account for a disproportionate share of your total portfolio risk.

🏢 Senior housing in demand: Senior housing cap rates are tightening nationally, dropping to 6.2% as demand from aging baby boomers collides with a near-total construction halt.

While AI chatbots and creative tools tend to get most of the media attention devoted to the sector, AI is being used widely across industries in many ways most people may not expect. For example, researchers at the University of Nevada-Reno are turning to AI and robotics in the hopes of improving methods to raise sheep in difficult conditions. A mobile water system will be equipped with an AI model that will digitally identify each sheep to track their movements and health. This could turn into big business if successful - last month, a AI-powered cow collar company raised $220 million at a $2 billion valuation. Halter, based in New Zealand, is using AI technology to create virtual fencing for cows, allowing ranchers to track their animals’ movements. The company is also aiming to expand into health monitoring, as well. Investors should continue to expand their own definitions of what an AI startup means, because there are opportunities out there beyond the obvious.