Alternative Investing Report - June 4, 2026

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*as of 6/3; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

More than 220 U.S. startups that had reached $1 billion valuations and “unicorn status” have seen their valuations drop below that mark, becoming “fallen unicorns.” Many of these companies are recognizable names, such as The Farmer’s Dog (down 34% from its peak), Betterment (down 47%), and Calendly (down 74%). Of the 220 fallen unicorns, 75 are software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, who have been hit hard by the emergence of AI. On average, startups that last raised funds in 2021 have seen their valuations fall 68%, and those who last raised in 2022 are worth 52% less.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Pre-IPO companies with rising valuations tend to be the ones that get media coverage and this can give a skewed impression of the sector, especially with the AI boom of the past couple of years. Not only has AI reshaped the VC world by capturing the vast majority of capital and attention, it has split startups into pre-AI and post-AI categories, with the latter outperforming the former significantly. Investors should also be aware of how quickly all of this can change, and in the next 3-5 years, today’s unicorns can easily become tomorrow’s fallen unicorns.

🚀 SpaceX IPO details: In what will be the biggest IPO of all-time, SpaceX is officially planning to raise $75 billion at a $1.77 trillion valuation, selling 555.6 million shares at $135 per share. The company is still expected to go public next Friday, and you can learn all about the upcoming IPO in our next investor briefing.

📊 Private job growth: ADP’s employment report showed that private companies added 122,000 jobs in May, above expectations, and the highest total since January 2025. Eight of the ten sectors ADP tracks saw gains, with hiring consistent across geographic regions and company size, showing a stable labor market overall.

🏡 Delistings increasing: 5.8% of all home listings in the U.S. were taken off the market in April, the second highest share ever behind only March 2020. With homes taking longer to sell in a buyer’s market, sellers are growing impatient and may have price expectations no longer in line with current market conditions.

🪙 Hamilton Lane tokenized fund: The asset manager is placing its tokenized private credit fund HLSCOPE onto Tron, the first Securitize-issued asset to be placed on that blockchain.

🚀 Mach Industries fundraise: The three year-old defense tech startup with a 22 year-old CEO raised a funding round of $300 million at a $1.8 billion valuation, nearly four times its $470 million valuation a year ago.

🎨 Old Masters auctions: Both Christie’s and Sotheby’s held Old Masters sales in New York this week, generating $13.4 million in sales, with sell-through rates around 90% and a number of lots going for well above their estimates.

Last week, Robinhood announced that it is now allowing its customers to use AI agents to trade stocks, as well as use the Robinhood credit card to make purchases. For people wary of outsourcing their finances to AI, there are safeguards in place, with users funding separate, dedicated accounts for agentic trading. They can also have the ability to monitor and approve agentic trades and disconnect an agent if necessary. For now, agents will only be allowed to trade stocks, but there are plans to add options and crypto trading in the future. Agentic trading does have the potential to democratize stock trading further, but it comes with significant risks. Though, now you can pass the blame for poor trading decisions onto your AI agent.