*as of 6/4; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, CL50

Fanatics Fest, a major event for the collectibles world, is coming back to Javits Center in Manhattan from June 20-22, and is looking to improve in its second iteration. Last year’s event attracted more than 70,000 attendees and hundreds of celebrities and athletes, including Tom Brady, Kevin Durant, and Rob Gronkowski. This year’s event is featuring even more notables, including LeBron James, Derek Jeter, and John Elway.

➨ TAKEAWAY: One of the big complaints about last year’s event was how segregated the card show was from the other events, and that is being changed. This is great news for the collectibles world, as more than half of last year’s attendees were not hardcore collectors and this is a chance to expose them to the hobby. Additionally, many of the events are aimed at families and kids, and prioritizing the next generation of collectors is paramount.

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In this conversation, Slava Rubin and Christine Healey cover the world of pre-IPO investments, discussing the growing trend of companies staying private longer and the opportunities this presents for investors. They explore key terms and concepts related to pre-IPO investing, including share classes, liquidity preferences, and the importance of understanding investment structures like SPVs. The discussion also includes the practical aspects of navigating the investment process and the importance of due diligence.

Global venture funding dropped again in May, falling 16.2% monthly and 33% year-over-year to $21.8 billion overall, of which 56% went to U.S.-based startups. Prominent raises include AI companies Anysphere and Perplexity, as well as biotech company Neuralink. Meanwhile, startup M&A activity increased significantly, posting the second best month of the past two years, led by OpenAI’s two multi-billion dollar acquisitions of io and Windsurf.

➨ TAKEAWAY: It is still a difficult funding environment for startups, as early and seed-stage funding both fell, with bigger companies attracting the bulk of the capital. AI continued to attract the most funding, accounting for $5.9 billion, followed by health and biotech at $5.4 billion.

💵 Thoma Bravo megafund: The private equity firm raised $24.3 billion for its latest buyout fund, continuing its software strategy. It also raised an additional $10 billion for two other funds, bucking the overall trend of declining PE fundraising.

🏢 Millionaires are renting more: The number of renter households earning more than $1 million annually has tripled in the past five years, as younger wealthy people are increasingly choosing to rent. This, in turn, has created more demand for luxury apartments and developments.

🪙 Crypto as collateral: JP Morgan is reportedly going to offers it clients the ability to use shares of crypto-related ETFs as collateral for loans, and will also count any holdings of those ETFs in net-worth calculations to determine the size of loans.

⌚ Watch sales up: As the prices of luxury watches rise due in part to tariffs, sales of pre-owned luxury watches are growing as buyers, especially younger ones, are looking for more affordable options.

🏡 International demand growing: Online traffic to Realtor.com from other countries rose in Q1, with Miami remaining as the most popular market for foreign buyers, followed by New York and Los Angeles.

⚾ When to sell collectibles: Collectors, by nature, want to hold onto the items they collect, but holding too long can also come with a downside, and taking profits can ultimately help build a better collection in the long-run.

While we know that students have been using AI to cheat on homework, it looks like health secretary RFK Jr. and his staff also used the technology as a shortcut for their "Make America Healthy Again" Commission report. Many of the report’s citations are to nonexistent publications or broken links, a common sign of AI use. Some of them also the phrase "oaicite" in their URLs, which happens with output from OpenAI’s ChatGPT. While there are probably some out there who would prefer AI to make government policy, a technology that hallucinates and creates false data and citations probably isn’t ready to do that yet. Don’t believe everything you read.