Happy Tuesday. Heritage had a record-setting sports auction, Bitcoin is still on a tear, another space company raised a big round, and small-cap CRE sales are on the rise. Let’s dive in!
🎫 Register: For our next investor briefing focusing on nuclear and alternative energy startups such as Commonwealth, TerraPower, and Helion.
This issue is brought to you by The Champion Fund - institutional-grade access to the sports asset class.
📈 DAILY MARKETS
⚾ HERITAGE AUCTION
Heritage’s Summer Platinum Night Sports Auction set a new all-time record for any sports auction with nearly $63 million in sales, topping its own August 2024 event that brought in $61.6 million. The haul was anchored by a T206 Honus Wagner card that sold for $5.86 million, the most ever for a T206 Wagner graded as Authentic. Other big sales included a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card that sold for $3.72 million, double the previous record for the grade, and the “Hand of God” Diego Maradona soccer ball that sold for $3.35 million. In total, six lots sold for more than $1 million and 17 for more than $500,000.
➨ TAKEAWAY: The sports memorabilia market is back, as 2026 has seen a significant jump in values across the board, especially for blue-chip cards and game-used items. What is striking about the results from this past weekend is the big sales outcomes for non-household names, like a $500,000 sale of a 2024 Yoshinobu Yamamoto rookie card and $400,000 for a 1935 Bronko Nagurski card, both records for the player. This price level shows the overall strength of the market right now and also comes on the heels of a record-breaking National Sports Collectors Convention.
Partner
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📺 UPCOMING EVENT
Join Vincent’s Slava Rubin and Sacra’s Jan-Erik Asplund for a discussion on why nuclear and alternative energy have become compelling sectors in Pre-IPO investing. Featuring Commonwealth Fusion Systems, TerraPower, X-energy, Helion Energy, and more, they’ll explore the technologies, market forces, and capital driving the next generation of energy companies, and why investors are paying close attention.
Tuesday August 31 at 11 AM ET
📰 NOTABLE NEWS
🪙 Bitcoin tops $80K: The crypto rally continued, with Bitcoin surpassing the $80,000 milestone to cap off its best 3-day stretch since 2023. The cryptocurrency is up 25% in the past week and Bitcoin ETFs attracted nearly $2 billion in weekly inflows, their highest amount since last October.
🚀 Starcloud fundraise: The orbital data center startup raised a $250 million round at a $2.3 billion valuation, double its valuation from March, and yet another big fundraise for a space-related company. Our latest investor briefing went in-depth on the sector and potential investment opportunities.
🏢 Small-cap sales rise: Commercial real estate sales volume of properties between $5 million and $25 million were up 9.3% annually in the first half of the year, led primarily by retail and industrial properties. Institutional buyers are increasingly targeting these smaller-ticket deals, creating greater competition and demand.
🤖 Nvidia-Perplexity deal: Nvidia has reportedly held preliminary talks to invest in AI search engine startup Perplexity at a valuation exceeding $30 billion, alongside a potential licensing agreement. Perplexity’s last valuation was $20 billion a year ago, but its revenue has reportedly tripled in that time.
📜 Gandhi handwritten notes: A collection of nearly 700 notes handwritten by Mahatma Gandhi between 1944-1946 sold for a record $1.69 million at an auction in Mumbai, as the market for rare historical documents continues to thrive.
💵 Direct lending funds shrinking: A steep drop in fundraising and an increase in withdrawal requests are causing asset managers to shift their strategies away from direct lending funds and towards other yield-based strategies.
🏡 LISTING OF THE WEEK
(Heather Downs CC)
While some country clubs cost well into the six-figures to join, you can buy an entire country club in Toledo, OH for $2.65 million. The owner of Heather Downs country club posted the sale notice on Facebook, saying that he has put in $350,000 of improvements in his three years of ownership and that the 18-hole course is in the best condition it’s been in more than 25 years. In addition to the course, there is a 30,000 square foot clubhouse and an on-site restaurant. The owner is offering seller financing on the balance after a $500,000 down payment and is encouraging interested buyers to reach out directly to him.
