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- September 22nd, 2023 - This Week in Alternative Investments
September 22nd, 2023 - This Week in Alternative Investments
Adam Katz
September 22, 2023
Instacart’s IPO illustrated the risk/reward of venture investing
Headlines
Bite sized market updates
Instacart had its much-anticipated IPO. While early-stage venture investors saw exponential returns, late-stage investors are seeing losses.
A $10,000 bill sold for $480,000. The rare note was issued in 1934 and the sale set a new record.
The median monthly mortgage payment hit an all-time high. In addition to rising mortgage rates, home prices have also increased 4% year-over-year.
A new study found that 95% of NFTs are worth nothing. The study also found that around 20% of “top” collections are now effectively dead.
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Smart Humans Podcast
Smart Humans explores the world of alternative investments. From Venture to Collectibles, Real Estate to Art and beyond - we discuss a new world of investment opportunities and the catalysts that impact their demand.
In this week's episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin talks with The Fund's Jenny Fielding about angel investing, believing in yourself, and innovation going global.
Market Updates
Grocery delivery startup Instacart IPO’d at a valuation of around $10 billion. The highly anticipated offering illustrates how venture investors can see different returns depending on when they invested. As this table shows, seed stage and Series A and B investors saw terrific returns, while late-stage investors actually saw losses. The last funding round, in March 2021, was at a valuation of $39 billion - almost four times higher than what it IPO’d at. Though the stock price spiked after the IPO, it has since dropped and as of the end of trading Thursday, is back down to $30.65, compared to its IPO price of $30.
A rare $10,000 bill from 1934 sold at auction for $480,000. The uncirculated note carries an “Exceptional Paper Quality” grade and is one of only 18 total graded examples. The sale exceeded the previous record of $384,000 for the 1934 bill, which was set in 2020. The $10,000 bill was the highest-denomination note to ever circulate publicly, and all denominations higher than $100 were discontinued in 1969.
Housing costs have reached an all-time high while the number of new and active listings have dropped. This according to a report from Redfin, which analyzed data as of September 10th. The median monthly mortgage payment of $2,632 is up 14% since last year, while the median sale price of $376,250 is also up 3.9% from last year. This is due to a severe decline in inventory, as new listings have fallen 7.1% since last year and active listings have fallen 17%. This all adds up to an 11.8% decrease in pending home sales.
A new report from dappGambl found that the vast majority of NFTs are worthless. The site looked at 73,257 collections, of which 69,795 have a market cap of 0. Of the 8,850 “top collections” according to CoinMarketCap, 1,614 (18%) have a floor price of 0 are are effectively “dead”, while an additional 41% are priced between $5-$100. Even high-priced collections such as CryptoPunks and the Bored Ape Yacht Club have seen their average prices fall by 20% and 38.6%, respectively, over the past 60 days.
