Alternative Investing Report - July 23, 2025

*as of 7/22; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

The design software startup Figma is targeting a $16.4 billion valuation in its upcoming public offering, which will see it listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FIG. It will offer 37 million shares at between $25 - $28 per share, with a potential raise of more than $1 billion in capital. It is expected to lock in a share price by July 30 and could go public as early as next week. The company increased its revenue by 48% last year and has posted similar growth so far in 2025.

➨ TAKEAWAY: In 2023, Adobe was set to pay $20 billion to acquire Figma before the deal fell apart. Today’s valuation represents a decline from that high, but it is above the most recent tender offer of $12.5 billion last year. The offering would be the third biggest IPO of the year, following Circle and CoreWeave, but investors have concerns about AI competitors and the future of the company.

In this episode of Smart Humans, guest host Eric Cantor talks with Wefunder CEO Nick Tommarello about the evolution of crowdfunding, the importance of community investing, and the need for democratization in investment opportunities.

In what is the biggest crypto trade in history, an unknown Bitcoin investor has sold 80,000 BTC for $9.6 billion, from a lot originally purchased in 2011 for $54,000. That trade achieved 176,000x, which likely represents one of the best investment returns in history. This salecomes just weeks after another Bitcoin “whale” sold around 80,000 BTC for $8.6 billion after originally purchasing them for $210,000, also in 2011.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Setting aside the incredible patience the investor showed, it is interesting that two investors or groups made the decision weeks apart to unload $18 billion worth of Bitcoin that they had held for over 14 years. There were plenty of opportunities over that timeframe to cash out for billions, so is it possible they know something the general public doesn’t? Or is it just a case of another Bitcoin all-time high being too good a selling opportunity to pass up? Stay tuned.

🏢 Office update: The national office vacancy rate stayed steady in June but is up 130 basis points year-over-year, despite the lowest level of new office construction on record. On the plus side, the average listed price per square foot is up 3.8% year-over-year.

💵 Blockchain private credit: Asset manager Apollo’s partnership with Securitize has attracted more than $100 million in investments for its tokenized private credit fund ACRED since its launch in January.

🏡 Rent growth slowing: The typical U.S. asking rent increased by 0.3% in June and 2.9% year-over-year, a pace that is down significantly from 2024.

🤖 OpenAI strikes deal with U.K.: The AI startup has been enlisted by the U.K. government to increase productivity in the public sector, a landmark deal that will also lead to greater investment in AI infrastructure in the country.

🚀 Water tech investment: An oft-overlooked subsector of climate tech, water tech startups raised $196.2 million in Q1, on pace with its performance over the past two years, even as the clean energy sector has cooled down in that time period.

🎨 Digital art IRL: Offline is a new brick-and-mortar gallery in Lower Manhattan created by the NFL marketplace SuperRare dedicated to creating a real-life space for digital art and digital artists.

The much anticipated launch of the native token for the popular Solana memecoin generator Pump.fun has fizzled out, with the price now below its initial coin offering (ICO) price of $.004. One issue is that big pre-sale investors are getting rid of their holdings, but a bigger problem is that LetsBonk, another Solana memecoin generator, has surpassed Pump.fun in popularity over the past two weeks. It would be ironic if PUMP ended up following a pump-and-dump trajectory, and it serves as a lesson to sell ICO holdings as soon as possible at the height of the hype cycle.