Alternative Investing Report - May 12, 2026

*as of 5/11; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

Robinhood’s first publicly traded venture fund (NYSE: RVI) attracted 150,000 retail investors for its public offering, and after a slow start is up nearly 85% since its debut. Meanwhile, Fundrise’s Innovation Fund (NYSE: VCX) has shot back up after a recent decline that followed its wildly successful IPO. After seeing its share price spike up to $575, VCX slowly fell to around $70 before its comeback that saw it jump more than 50% yesterday to $300 in after-hours trading. Meanwhile, retail investors are shifting their capital away from private equity, as funding for evergreen vehicles fell by 2% in Q4.

➨ TAKEAWAY: We have seen all year that there is tremendous retail demand for the Pre-IPO sector, as investors don’t want to wait for IPOs to get exposure to names like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic. RVI only started gaining momentum when it disclosed its OpenAI investment last month. We discussed all the different publicly traded choices for investors to access Pre-IPO recently, which are increasing in prominence as concerns grow over private options. Anthropic recently made waves when it talked about unauthorized share transfers and mentioned platforms that are not approved to buy or sell its stock - so, buyer beware.

Join Vincent's Adam Katz and Eric Cantor for a comprehensive overview of multifamily real estate investing, including key metrics, market trends, and a detailed analysis of a live deal in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Perfect for investors looking to understand the nuances of multifamily investments and current market opportunities.

🏡 Existing home sales tick up: Sales of existing homes rose 0.2% in April but remained flat year-over-year, while the median sales price was up 0.9% year-over-year. There was also a 5.8% increase in unsold inventory as supply slowly edges ahead of demand, keeping prices in check.

🪙 BlackRock tokenization: The world’s largest asset manager is launching two money-market funds on the Ethereum blockchain, aimed at investors who hold their wealth in stablecoins instead of traditional currency. One product is an existing fund that will operate alongside the current share classes, and the other is a new fund.

🤖 LatAm AI unicorn: Enter, a Brazilian legal AI startup, raised $100 million at a $1.2 billion valuation, becoming Latin America’s first AI unicorn and showing that investor demand for the legal AI sector is still robust.

🚀 Braintech demand: Despite the record funding pace for brain computer interface (BCI) companies so far in 2026, there are questions about how mainstream the technology can get and how big the market will be.

👛 $2.1 million gold coin: One of only 14 examples of an 1879 $4 gold “Coiled Hair Stella” coin sold for $2.1 million at Heritage auctions, the most valuable lot at an auction that generated $26.9 million in sales.

🎨 S.I. Newhouse art sale: Part of the art collection of the legendary publisher is poised to drive one of the largest single-owner auctions in history, with sixteen works estimated to bring in more than $1 billion at Christie’s next week.

The Ford building, once the tallest building in Detroit, is coming up for auction next month after a proposed residential conversion did not materialize. The 18-story, 242,000 square foot building is located in the heart of Detroit’s Financial District, which has struggled since the pandemic. Only 14% occupied, the building offers a lot of potential upside for the right buyer who believes in the future of the city and the neighborhood. The opening bid is $2.5 million, a far cry from the $16.35 million the current owner paid in 2017.