Alternative Investing Report - June 2, 2026

*as of 6/1; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

 
Anthropic moved ahead of rival OpenAI in the race to a public offering by confidentially filing its draft IPO prospectus with the SEC, less than a week after finalizing its massive $65 billion funding round at a valuation of $965 billion. Meanwhile, OpenAI is reportedly preparing its own confidential filing expected in the coming weeks and has engaged major Wall Street banks to assists with a $1 trillion public offering. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said publicly that he is not worried about IPO timing, but there is now a public perception that the company has fallen behind Anthropic.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Along with SpaceX's upcoming IPO, we could be seeing the three biggest IPOs of all-time in the coming months, and it remains to be seen how the market will handle it. For as much demand as there may be, there is only so much liquidity, and the rest of the public markets may feel the pressure. There is a reason Anthropic is racing to beat OpenAI to go public, and how it performs will have a direct impact on its rival’s IPO prospects. OpenAI also received more bad news - a bombshell lawsuit from Florida alleging it failed to warn users of the dangers of ChatGPT and that it has aided and abetted mass shootings. The lawsuit also aims to hold Altman personally liable and is not exactly great press for a company hoping for a $1 trillion IPO.

🚀 Biotech exit activity: Exit activity in the biotech sector reached its highest level in Q1 since 2021, with IPOs from Kailera and Avalyn leading the way. Upcoming IPOs from Kardigan and Parabilis are also promising, as investors move to diversify AI-heavy portfolios.

🏡 Investor purchases fall: In Q1, U.S. investor home purchases fell by 6% year-over-year to their lowest level since 2020, with particularly sharp drops for condos and lower-priced properties. Rising borrowing and operating costs combined with the slow rate of home price growth has reduced overall investor demand.

🪙 Crypto perpetuals approved: Both crypto exchange Coinbase and prediction market Kalshi have received approval to offer crypto perpetual futures, allowing people to trade directly on the price of digital assets without having to own them.

🤖 Cognition fundraise: Overshadowed by Anthropic’s big raise last week, the AI coding startup finalized a $1 billion round of its own at a $25 billion valuation, more than double its $10.2 billion valuation from last September.

🏢 Office vacancy rate falls: Overall U.S. office vacancy rates fell in Q1, as the amount of space converted or demolished has exceeded the amount constructed. Tenant demand has still remained sluggish, however, slowing the sector’s recovery.

🥃 Oldest known Scotch: A nearly 200-year-old bottle of the world's oldest known Scotch whiskey is coming to auction next week via Whisky Auctioneer. Bottled in 1841 and re-bottled in 1932, the price of the Blair Castle whiskey is currently sitting at $22,000.

The recent AI boom has led to a resurgence in the San Francisco real estate market, as home prices and rents have been soaring the last year. Now, one seller is leaning into it, explicitly saying that they will accept OpenAI or Anthropic stock as payment for their property. Located in the Duboce Triangle, near the Mission and Castro neighborhoods, the 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 2,495 square-foot home is asking $2.995 million. But of course, if they end up getting OpenAI or Anthropic stock as part of the deal, they could ultimately net a whole lot more, or potentially less. Given that both companies are private, for now, it could be a difficult transaction, but for an employee who wants a nice San Francisco home and doesn’t have liquidity, this could be an attractive option.