Alternative Investing Report - July 2, 2025

*as of 7/1; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

The number of “ultra-unicorns” - startups with valuations above $5 billion - has grown by 17 this year, already coming close to last year’s total of 19 and above 2023’s total of 12. This cohort has seen $79 billion in funding so far this year, which puts it on pace to smash the all-time record, but a significant chunk of that comes from just two rounds - OpenAI’s record $40 billion raise and Scale AI’s $14.3 billion raise. Many of the new ultra-unicorns are AI startups including Thinking Machines, Anysphere, Glean, Harvey, and Shield AI.

➨ TAKEAWAY: While reaching a $1 billion valuation and achieving “unicorn” status is still a significant milestone, it is really the ultra-unicorns that are driving the venture market. Funding for earlier stage startups has been falling as VC firms concentrate bets on bigger, more established companies, particularly in the AI sector. While the number of new ultra-unicorns is nowhere near the record-high 79 that came during the 2021 bubble, the growing number does signal a rebounding pre-IPO market, at least at the top end.

In this episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin talks with Unlimited Funds' CEO and founder Bob Elliott about gold, the current economic landscape, and making hedge fund strategies accessible to everyone.

🪙 SEC approves Grayscale ETF: The SEC is allowing the crypto asset manager to convert its Digital Large Cap Fund into an ETF, offering investors an easier way to access the product. The Fund holds mostly Bitcoin and Ethereum, with small stakes of Solana, Ripple, and Cardano.

🚀 Figma IPO: The design software startup filed for its highly-anticipated IPO, and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FIG. It reported increased revenue and net income over the past year and was last valued at $12.5 billion in a 2024 tender offer.

🏢 Midwest multifamily: Rent growth in the Midwest is outpacing the national average, led by Chicago, Indianapolis, and Madison, driving growing investor interest in multifamily properties in the region.

💵 Private credit market update: Deal activity in the sector has decreased so far this year compared to 2024, despite the rise in deals worth more than $1 billion.

🏀 WNBA expansion: The WNBA is adding three more teams by 2030, in Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia, bringing the league to 18 total franchises — including Toronto and Portland, who begin play next year — and highlighting the growing demand for women’s sports.

🚀 Climate tech cooling: VC investment into climate tech startups has decreased for three years in a row and is on pace to fall again in 2025 as uncertainty in the North American market has stifled demand.

🏡 Condo prices falling: As HOA fees and insurance costs continue to rise, nationwide condo prices are down 2.2% year-over-year, the second-largest drop on record, and sales are down 12%.

🎵 Vintage concert posters: Heritage’s Concert Posters Signature auction next month spotlights a growing class within music memorabilia that also can be considered artwork. The centerpiece items include a 1966 Grateful Dead “Skeleton & Roses” poster and a 1965 Rolling Stones poster.

In a relatively stable week for the crypto market, the biggest price drop of any top-100 market cap token came from the Kaia, a layer-1 blockchain targeted at users in Asia. The coin is backed by the South Korean tech conglomerate Kakao, and it saw a significant price gain earlier this month when it announced its intent to launch a South Korean won-based stablecoin. The token’s value more than doubled from $0.10 to $0.21, but now has given back some of those gains, and is still down from its all-time high of over $0.40 last December. If it follows through on the stablecoin pledge, it could see a boost in investor interest.