Trump Wants 401(k)s to Offer Private Equity and Crypto: What It Means for You

President Donald Trump is paving the way for a significant shift in retirement investing by permitting 401(k) plans to include alternative investments like private equity, real estate and digital assets. Trump’s recent executive order1 aims to provide 401(k) participants with greater access to diversified investment opportunities, potentially enhancing retirement outcomes. However, these alternative investments come with increased risks, including higher fees, limited liquidity and greater complexity. As federal agencies work to redefine regulatory guidelines, 401(k) participants may soon face more options and greater complexity. READ MORE

Should You Invest Your 401(k) in Private Equity?

The federal government wants to make it easier for ordinary Americans to use their 401(k) money to invest in private equity, an asset class historically limited to institutional investors.

And while several hurdles remain before middle-class Americans are able to invest like Wall Street bigwigs, the move raises a thorny question: Is it safe for regular people to sink their hard-earned nest eggs into these notoriously complex and risky investments? READ MORE

'Someone is going to lose a phenomenal amount of money' says OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about unwise AI investment. 'When bubbles happen, smart people get overexcited about a kernel of truth'

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke to assembled reporters at a dinner in San Francisco late last week on the topic of, you guessed it, AI, the applications of AI, and the vast sums of money moving behind the scenes to fund it. Despite being one of the most vocal advocates of the tech, Altman had some words of caution for investors jumping on the artificial intelligence train.

According to The Verge, Altman said it was "insane" that AI startups consisting of "three people and an idea" are receiving huge amounts of funding off the back of incredibly high company valuations, describing it as "not rational behaviour." READ MORE

This Strategy Is Helping Newly Launched DTC Brands Grow Sustainably

The death of direct-to-consumer has been declared many times. Over the past few years, it’s become a common refrain among consumer brands, but a new generation of e-commerce startups has come to market with a remedy: bootstrapping.

When it comes to securing capital, founders, who have launched e-commerce startups within the past six years, are most likely to self-fund. That’s according to a new report from Mercury, a San Francisco-based financial technology company that provides banking services to more than 200,000 startups. In May, the fintech surveyed 1,500 entrepreneurs and executives in the U.S. that are running companies under six years old and asked about their top four funding sources. Two-thirds of e-commerce founders said self-funding, followed by 51 percent, who cited business loans. Only 21 percent of respondents said venture capital.  READ MORE

The Top Private Equity Firms of 2025

GrowthCap is pleased to announce the Top Private Equity Firms of 2025. For the better part of over two decades, we have observed, studied, and in some cases had a front row seat to, leading firms in the private equity sector. Those that tend to succeed over the long run are those that act with high integrity and are driven to build and grow their portfolio companies the right way. Achieving excellence in private equity requires astute firm leadership, the ability to recruit and retain top talent, and an intense dedication to consistent performance.

We continuously monitor private equity firms, their deal activity, and their people, while filtering out the noise to develop the most informed perspective possible. Our selections reflect not only our diligence throughout the nomination process but also our ongoing observations and conversations with relevant professionals across the private market ecosystem. READ MORE

Why Private Investment Is Critical For US Healthcare Innovation Now More Than Ever

The opportunity and absolute necessity for private investment to fuel innovation in the U.S. healthcare system — innovation that drives greater access, lower costs and better outcomes — has never been greater. But the question is: Does venture capital have the stomach for it during these uncertain regulatory and political times? Let’s hope so.

The U.S. healthcare system is one of the largest and most complex in the world. It accounts for more than $4.5 trillion in annual spending, or over 18% of GDP. The infrastructure is vast, with about 6,000 hospitals, 900,000 licensed beds, 900,000 physicians and more than 4.7 million registered nurses. READ MORE

‘SPAC King’ Chamath Palihapitiya is back with a new one

Silicon Valley investor Chamath Palihapitiya has filed documents with the SEC for a new special purpose acquisition company, this time mainly focused on energy, AI, decentralized finance and defense.

Palihapitiya, dubbed by many in the industry as the “SPAC King,” was early in promoting SPACs as an IPO alternative. He was eventually criticized for helping usher in a flood of capital and deals that fared poorly. READ MORE

For Startup Funding, Every State Brings In A Pittance Compared To California

For as long as anyone covering the U.S. startup investment space can remember, there have been exhortations to spread the wealth in a more geographically diverse manner.

A handful of coastal metros, led by the San Francisco Bay Area, have long swallowed up the lion’s share of venture funding. While Austin, Denver, Chicago and other inland cities do boast sizable and diversified startup scenes, they’ve generally captured no more than a single-digit percentage of investment. READ MORE

America’s Top Venture Capital Firms of 2025

Over the past 50 years, venture capital firms have shaped the U.S. economy into the capitalist behemoth it is today. Many of the biggest companies in the world by market cap, including Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, owe their success in part to VC firms that funded them as they were just starting out, making the VC firms themselves some of the most influential businesses on the planet.

To spotlight the names molding the business landscape, TIME and Statista ranked 350 VC firms at the forefront of catalyzing innovation, supporting emerging startups, and driving the next generation of economic growth. These firms provide direct venture capital funding to companies and startups in various venture stages and sectors as a core part of their business model, and have been ranked based on their fundraising strength in the last five years, their investment capacity, as well as the volume and efficiency of their exits through IPOs and acquisitions. READ MORE

This Overlooked Strategy Is Becoming a Game-Changer in Private Equity

In private equity, the smartest general partners (GPs) are realizing that co-investments aren't just a fundraising sweetener; they're a strategic lever. Done right, they strengthen the portfolio, deepen LP relationships and reduce overall risk exposure. Yet many GPs still treat co-investing as an afterthought rather than a core element of fund strategy.

In today's climate, where LPs are more selective, underwriting standards are higher and trust is harder to earn, co-investments can be the edge that separates high-performing GPs from the pack. Here's how the most sophisticated firms are using co-investing not just to raise capital, but to build resilient portfolios and tighter LP alignment. READ MORE

Here’s what it’s like to invest in private equity — and why you don’t want it in your 401(k)

or every public company in the U.S. whose stock you can buy directly or through mutual funds or exchange-traded funds, there might be 25 or more private companies that are also seeking investment. These range from major operations like Elon Musk’s SpaceX to family-owned factories. There are no public filings for these companies, few analyst reports and generally little in the way of hard data to develop a real valuation of these entities. READ MORE

1st-time VCs face 2nd-fund slump

First-time VC managers who raised their inaugural vehicles during the flush years of 2021 and 2022 are finding that fundraising isn’t as easy the second time around.

Compared with past cohorts, they’re raising fewer second funds than ever before, further evidence that emerging managers in the US continue to struggle as economic uncertainty roils the VC landscape. READ MORE

Venture capital is scarce in Alaska. A business professor in Fairbanks hopes to change that.

Kim McGinnis is passionate about boosting Alaska’s economy. And she hopes a recent award from the University of Alaska Fairbanks will allow her to help entrepreneurs in the state by connecting them with venture capital.

In late July, she was awarded the Harold T. Caven Professorship in Business and Finance. The professorship started in 1974, and is a memorial gift by the Caven family in honor of Harold, a former director and president of First National Bank Alaska. READ MORE

The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of VC “Mega-Rounds”

Over time, there have been huge shifts in the amount of financing required to start and scale businesses. Advances such as cloud computing and open-source software have enabled technology startups to commence and grow their operations with less funding than historically required. At the same time, newly formed life sciences companies and AI-driven companies have not been so fortunate and can remain capital-intensive enterprises. READ MORE

2025 Venture Capital Report

The number of reported venture capital financings decreased by less than 2% from 2023 to 2024, and the decline is likely to be largely erased once all 2024 deals have been reported. Total reported financing proceeds increased 31%, from $163.6 billion in 2023 to $214.3 billion in 2024, the third-highest annual proceeds figure on record, behind only 2021 and 2022. READ MORE

Fundraising in an Era of Change

To note that today’s fundraising climate is changing is a vast understatement. Among the top challenges, traditional venture capital is increasingly concentrated. Mega-funds are snapping up the lead positions on the hottest new offerings, while pushing smaller investors aside. For founders and funders alike, the traditional playbook is an increasingly high barrier for rising innovators to reach, resulting in fewer deals and fewer opportunities to scale. READ MORE

The Art of Trump’s Private Equity Deal

President Trump in a matter of months turned from a private equity critic to champion and much of that has come because of a deal involving AI, sources told JOBs.

Back in February when Trump was threatening to end one of private equity’s big tax loopholes, the treatment of carried interest, leading private equity moguls and their lobbyists told the White House they would rather work out an investment plan to boost US energy dominance – an important goal for the President, insiders with direct knowledge of the situation told me at the time. READ MORE