Happy Friday. Shane Neman gives us a public market investing pick, Unrivaled doubled its value, Lambda is looking to raise $3 billion, and artist Yayoi Kusama has died. Let’s dive in!
🎤 Listen: To the latest episode of Smart Humans, where Slava Rubin talks to entrepreneur and investor Shane Neman about investing in startups and the future of AI.
This issue is brought to you by Aurite, Inc. - Runtime agent identification, governance and security.
📈 DAILY MARKETS
✅ PICK OF THE WEEK
Blue Owl Technology Finance Corp (NYSE: OTF)
Share price: $11.24 (Market cap: $5.15 billion)
Business development companies (BDCs) that lend to SaaS businesses and tech companies have seen their stock prices get absolutely demolished
I think the SaaS-mageddon is overdone - lots of SaaS companies are hitting all-time high revenue and EBITDA numbers
This could have a lot of upside, as these BDCs are undervalued
Blackstone, KKR, Blue Owl all have these BDCs and I like Blue Owl’s OTF in particular
Here’s a list of our past expert investment picks.
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👨🏫 TODAY'S EXPERT
Shane Neman is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He founded and successfully exited two technology companies, JoonBug and EZ Texting, before moving to the investing side. Today he is the Manager of Neman Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on frontier technology, including AI, robotics, defense tech, quantum computing, and longevity. Separately, he runs the Neman Family Office, which holds direct investments and commercial real estate. He is the author of "Nightlife Lessons" and writes about startups, investing, and health at shaneneman.com.
🎤 PODCAST
“To sustainably make money you have to be able to be a long-term investor.” - Shane Neman
In the newest episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin talks with entrepreneur and investor Shane Neman about startup failures, successful investments, and the future of AI and innovation.
📰 NOTABLE NEWS
🏀 Unrivaled fundraise: The 3-on-3 women’s basketball league raised $100 million at a valuation of $650 million in advance of its third season kicking off play. The league was founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, and is owned by its players. The league is now worth nearly double the $340 million valuation it had a year ago, and the fundraise speaks to growing investor interest in secondary league sports.
🤖 Lambda in talks for megaround: The AI cloud provider is reportedly in talks to raise up to $3 billion at a valuation of more than $12 billion, more than double its last valuation from November. The company could be eyeing a public offering early next year after this round is completed.
🎨 Yayoi Kusama passes away: It was announced that the Japanese artist known for her iconic infinity rooms and dotted pumpkins died two weeks ago at the age of 97. Kusama ranks as the top-selling female artist in the world, and demand for her artwork is only likely to keep growing.
🪙 Token-backed mortgages: Coinbase is partnering with Better Mortgage to offer crypto-backed mortgages and also allow customers to use Bitcoin as collateral for down payment loans.
🏡 New listings rising: Home inventory is growing while demand is falling in much of the country, as new listings jumped to a four-month high and pending sales dropped to a six-month low.
🏢 Data center backlash: A significant majority of Americans now opposes data center projects, leading to increased delays and cancellations. This is forcing cloud providers and AI companies to adapt their strategies, making existing data centers more valuable and increasing the need for alternative energy providers. Dive deeper at Monday’s briefing on nuclear and alternative energy investing.
📝 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Monday: 💵 Fund returns, 🪙 Zcash rally
Tuesday: ⚾ Record-setting auction, 🪙 Bitcoin tops $80K
Wednesday: 🏡 Housing prices, 🚀 Oura IPO
Thursday: 🏀 Sports team sales, 📊 Hot inflation report
Have a great weekend!
