Alternative Investing Report - August 19, 2025

*as of 8/18; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman thinks that his own industry could be in a bubble, though he also called AI the “most important thing to happen in a long time.” It is an interesting time for Altman to be talking about this, as his company is in talks to sell $6 billion worth of employee shares at a valuation of $500 billion, significantly higher than its $300 million valuation from March. Other major AI startups such as Anthropic, xAI, and Perplexity have also seen significant valuation bumps in 2025, and a number of less prominent AI startups have raised megarounds and achieved unicorn status.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Looking back at the dot-com boom and bust of the late 90s/early 2000s, a lot of companies failed and the market crashed, but the internet turned out to be pretty important. The AI boom could end up following a similar trajectory. There is no doubt that a number of AI startups will not live up to their already-hefty valuations, with some companies without any revenue still achieving unicorn status. On the other hand, there are certainly going to be companies that don’t even exist yet that will end up becoming major players in the sector. Investors should spread their bets across a number of companies and pay attention to up-and-comers in this fast moving ecosystem.

In this episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin talks with HEALEY PRE-IPO’s Christine Healey about investing in pre-IPO Tech Unicorns in today’s market and the importance of understanding the landscape.

The auctions at Monterey Car Week totaled $432.8 million in sales, the second highest ever for the event and a 10.5% increase over last year. The top four and eight of the top ten sales belonged to Ferraris, led by the $26 million charity sale of a brand new 2025 Ferrari Daytona SP3 Coupe and eight others that sold for more than $5 million. Overall, ten new world records were set for different Ferrari models.

➨ TAKEAWAY: It was an encouraging set of results for the high-end car market, though sales were only up 4% over last year if the charity sale is stripped out. Modern “supercars” made up 39% of all sales, more than double the average of the previous four years, while the share of pre-war cars dropped to just 8%, the lowest total of the past five years. While some other companies did see a number of seven-figure sales, nothing compared to Ferrari, which remains on top.

🪙 Crypto comes down: After hitting its all-time high last week, Bitcoin dropped more than 6% as traders took profits amid concerns over inflation and a weak jobs report. Ethereum — which came close to its all-time high — is down more than 10%, while the market as a whole is down around 7% from its peak.

🚀 Via files for IPO: The transit software startup Via filed to go public on the NYSE despite posting consecutive years of significant net losses, which will test the market’s appetite for VC-backed companies not in the crypto or AI sectors.

🏡 Foreign buyers in U.S.: Sales of real estate in the U.S. to non-U.S. citizens grew by 33% though Q1 this year, hitting $56 billion, and the total number of sales grew annually for the first time since 2017.

🤖 Galaxy Digital datacenter: The crypto firm secured a $1.4 billion loan to build out its Helios AI datacenter in Texas to increase capacity for a 15-year deal with the AI company CoreWeave that should net $1 billion in revenue per year.

📈 Family office investments: The number of family offices investing in private markets has grown 524% in the past decade, and the majority of them intend to increase their alts allocations over the next five years.

🎬 Downton Abbey auction: A number of props and costumes from the popular British drama are coming up for auction at Bonhams next month, with an exhibition in London that opened yesterday.

This 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom, 1,650 square-foot home has been dubbed the “Chameleon House” because its mirrored siding reflects light, giving the house the illusion of changing colors as the day progresses. Built in 2004, the four-story house has multiple outdoor areas, a hot tub and a two-car garage. Located in Northern Michigan, 25 miles north of Traverse City, the house was last bought in 2023 for $1.2 million and is now on the market at a slight discount at $1.15 million.