Happy Friday. Shane Neman gives us a private market investing pick, mortgage rates keep rising, tokenized stocks are coming, and there were more private credit markdowns. Let’s dive in!
📺 Watch: Our latest investor briefing on startups in the nuclear and alternative energy sectors, including TerraPower, X-energy, Helion, and more.
This issue is brought to you by Aurite, Inc. - Runtime agent identification, governance and security.
AIR will be off on Monday for Labor Day and returns Tuesday Sep 8.
📈 DAILY MARKETS
✅ PICK OF THE WEEK
Taxa Technologies
Funding status: The company raised a $3 million seed round in 2024 at an undisclosed valuation
The synthetic biology space is very interesting
No one’s really thinking about what happens when you apply AI to living organisms
Taxa has figured out a way to re-engineer the skin microbiome to make a new type of deodorant
They’ve commercialized in Japan recently
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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.
📺 EVENT REPLAY
Vincent's Slava Rubin and Sacra’s Jan-Erik Asplund discuss 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 explore the technologies, market forces, and capital driving the next generation of energy companies, and why investors are paying close attention.
📰 NOTABLE NEWS
🏡 Mortgage rates hit 2026 high: Freddie Mac's average 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit the highest mark so far in 2026 at 6.71%, a five basis point rise over last week, as it looks more likely that the Fed will raise interest rates.
🪙 Stock tokenization: The London Stock Exchange has partnered with crypto exchange Kraken’s parent company, Payward, to tokenize 100 top UK-listed stocks as 1:1-backed "xStocks." If the product gains regulatory approval, the tokenized equities will be available to trade 24/7.
💵 Private credit markdowns: An analysis of 44 private credit business development companies (BDCs) found their combined portfolio values have fallen 3.1% so far this year. The firms are also writing off more loans, with non-accrual debt rising to 3.4% of the total value, compared to 2.5% at the end of 2025.
🤖 Clay fundraise: The AI-related marketing startup Clay is reportedly raising a new funding round at a $7 billion pre-money valuation, more than double its valuation from last August.
🚀 Proptech VC funding: Once one of the hottest sectors in VC, global funding for real estate proptech startups is down significantly from 2021-22 peaks and on pace to fall short of last year’s total. Deal count has also fallen, with 794 so far this year compared to more than 2,400 at the peak and 1,446 in 2025.
⌚ Four unique Rolexes on sale: The watchmaker is partnering with Phillips auction house to hold a benefit auction for Roger Federer and Leonardo DiCaprio’s respective charities. The single lot contains four 1 of 1 watches inspired by the four seasons and could potentially fetch more than $10 million at auction.
📝 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Monday: 🚀 Space sector update, 🏢 Senior housing surging
Tuesday: ⚾ Fanatics auction recap, 📈 Rate hike possibility
Wednesday: 🚜 Farmland report, 🚀 Shein IPO disappoints
Thursday: 🚀 Potential 2026 IPOs, 💵 SEC expanding investor access
Have a great weekend!
