Billionaires Are Making a Huge Bet in 2026—and It’s Not Stocks

Billionaires are betting big on private markets in 2026. By prioritizing investments in private equity, hedge funds, and private credit, they’re leaning into risk even as high interest rates and market volatility loom. 

Private equity is the most favored asset class, according to data from the UBS Billioniare Survery 2025. Almost half of billionaires plan to heighten their exposure to direct private equity investments this year, while another 37 percent plan to boost allocations in private equity funds.  READ MORE

Most scientific inventions don’t leave the lab. This VC firm is changing that

While working as an engineer at Tesla, Niccolo Cymbalist never planned to start a business. But he’d been considering an idea for new technology—an autonomous, wind-powered cargo ship. Then, while on paternity leave in 2024, he discovered a free program that helps scientists and engineers launch businesses for the first time.

Weeks after finishing the program, called 5050, Cymbalist had launched a startup called Clippership. The company’s first ship is being built in the Netherlands this year. Without the accelerator, he says, the company likely wouldn’t exist. READ MORE

The Critical Pre-Signing Phase of Joint Venture Investments

Joint ventures (“JVs”) are enjoying renewed popularity1 as firms confront rising capital demands, political uncertainty and rapid technological change. For investors and corporate leaders, they offer a middle path: faster than going it alone, less capital-heavy than buying outright and sometimes the only viable way to gain access to markets, skills or technology. Yet while the idea is attractive, performance has been mixed.2 Many JVs disappoint not because the market case was weak, but because assumptions about alignment, governance and execution were left untested. A methodical diligence process can tilt the odds towards success. READ MORE

Memecoin venture capital surges as investors chase crypto hype

Memecoins have always lived at the intersection of internet culture and speculative finance—but the latest cycle feels different. What began as community-driven tokens powered by jokes and viral momentum is now attracting serious venture capital interest, with investors aiming to capture upside in a market where attention can convert into liquidity overnight. As funding rounds, influencer-driven launches, and meme-native ecosystems multiply, the memecoin narrative is evolving from “just a joke” into a high-risk, high-reward subset of crypto venture investing. READ MORE

California’s New Diversity Reporting Law Imposes Obligations on a Wide Array of Asset Management Firms

Beginning in 2026, a new law — the Fair Investment Practices by Venture Capital Companies Act (“FIPVCC”) — imposes new obligations on a wide array of asset management firms that operate in California, make investments in California, and/or solicit investment and/or receive revenue from California — regardless of whether they are based in or outside of California. Specifically, the new statute requires covered entities to register with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (“DFPI”) by March 1, 2026, and, beginning in April 2026, annually report aggregated demographic information about the founding teams of the companies in which they have invested during the preceding year. READ MORE

8 AI Unicorns Transforming Venture Capital

The amount of capital that flowed into AI startups in 2025 was nothing short of astonishing. Of the $512.6 billion venture capital firms deployed in the U.S. last year, more than half went to AI companies, according to Pitchbook estimates.

So which AI companies brought in the most cash? A whopping 55 startups raised $100 million or more, TechCrunch reported—up from the 49 that closed nine-figure funding rounds the previous year—and among those 55, nearly 10 raised $1 billion or more. Here are the eight AI unicorns from that group that raised the most capital in 2025. READ MORE

Continuation Vehicles: An Evolving Frontier in Private Equity Liquidity

Continuation vehicles (CVs) have evolved from niche solutions into mainstream strategies in private equity. These structures—new funds typically managed by the same sponsor that acquire assets from an older fund—are no longer just a workaround for stalled exits. They’ve become a strategic tool for unlocking liquidity while preserving upside on high-conviction investments.

Traditional exit routes like IPOs and M&A have faced headwinds, leaving sponsors searching for alternatives that don’t force premature sales. CVs offer a solution: extend ownership, optimize timing, and keep compounding returns alive. When executed well, they’re not a one-off fix but a scalable capability that differentiates sponsors. READ MORE

Private equity’s strategic pivot

Private equity (PE) firms are undertaking a strategic pivot as they respond to market pressures, geopolitical uncertainty and ageing portfolios. With trillions in dry powder, sponsors are accelerating monetisation strategies, favouring take-private deals and sponsor-to-sponsor transactions. This shift reflects a broader recalibration of risk, valuation and exit timing. As regulatory scrutiny eases in some regions, PE firms are targeting resilient sectors such as infrastructure, energy and technology, reshaping the M&A landscape with bold, capital-intensive plays and long-term value creation strategies. READ MORE

Private Equity And Venture Capital: How AI Changes Value Creation

Artificial intelligence is forcing a fundamental rethink of how Private Equity and Venture Capital firms evaluate and create value in their portfolio companies. Traditional investment metrics need updating as AI transforms industries.

In interviews with Caroline Ohlsson, who leads AI initiatives at European private equity firm Verdane, and Sanjot Malhi, a partner at venture capital firm Northzone, both offer contrasting but complementary perspectives on how investors are adapting to create value in the AI era. READ MORE

Defense tech startups had their best funding year ever in 2025

Defense-technology startups had their best funding year ever in 2025, with investors keen to finance autonomous systems and artificial intelligence for the battlefield, according to data from business-intelligence providers that track venture capital funding.

The value of venture capital deals in defense technology jumped to a record $49.1 billion last year from $27.2 billion a year earlier, according to data compiled by PitchBook and shared with Defense News. The PitchBook data includes startups that provide dual-use technology, including companies whose primary markets are civilian but also have defense applications. READ MORE

Andreessen Horowitz Makes a $3 Billion Bet Against the AI Bubble

An artificial intelligence startup that helps developers write and debug code is now worth nearly as much as United Airlines. A two-month-old AI computer company raised a massive $475 million seed round, with plans to secure even more financing soon. And a platform for ranking AI models is now valued at nearly $2 billion, less than a year after it was spun out of an academic project. READ MORE

Rogue agents and shadow AI: Why VCs are betting big on AI security

What happens when an AI agent decides the best way to complete a task is to blackmail you?

That’s not a hypothetical. According to Barmak Meftah, a partner at cybersecurity VC firm Ballistic Ventures, it recently happened to an enterprise employee working with an AI agent. The employee tried to suppress what the agent wanted to do, what it was trained to do, and it responded by scanning the user’s inbox, finding some inappropriate emails, and threatening to blackmail the user by forwarding the emails to the board of directors. READ MORE

The Private Equity Executive Talent Trends That Will Define 2026

Private equity is still a capital business, but it’s increasingly a leadership business. Deal flow isn’t what it was a few years ago and capital is more selective, according to a new report from Beecher Reagan. “Many funds are sitting on dry powder longer than expected,” the report said. “And when that happens, the spotlight shifts from buying to building.”

That shift is already changing which roles matter most inside portfolio companies and even inside funds themselves. Heading into 2026, here’s where Beecher Reagan sees as the pressure points emerging across private equity and portfolio companies in professional, business, & technology services. READ MORE

Private equity recruiting returned with its usual chaos — and better candidates

The hiring restart came just as first-year bankers returned from the winter holidays. Firms began outreach for 2027 associate roles they had originally planned to fill in the summer, before banks cracked down on the practice. In recent years, the timeline had crept steadily earlier, with 2024's process kicking off in June, before many analysts had even hit the desk.

Blackstone, Apollo, KKR, and Thoma Bravo were among the more than a dozen firms that interviewed candidates and extended offers, according to people familiar with the process. Some firms declined or did not respond to requests for comment. But sources said the cycle's customary theatrics — late-night interviews, exploding offers — were back in full force. READ MORE

Competing In An Era Of Accelerating Disruption

I believe few leaders fully realize the speed at which technology cycles are accelerating. Major inventions used to take decades to become widely adopted; today, they can transform entire sectors in a matter of months. For instance, the telephone took 75 years to reach 100 million users, but the internet reached that milestone in only seven years, and GenAI in several months.

This acceleration presents a challenging reality for most executives: markets are developing faster than most enterprises realize, and disruption increasingly comes from competitors outside of the traditional boundaries, driven by technology innovations. READ MORE

More money, fewer winners: Inside venture capital’s uneven comeback

So, why did Andreessen Horowitz just raise 15 billion bucks? Let’s ask Ben Horowitz.

The entrepreneur and co-founder of the Silicon Valley venture capital firm said he’s looking to back the USA.

“At this moment of profound technological opportunity, it is fundamentally important for humanity that America wins,” Horowitz said in a Jan. 9 statement. “There is no other country that comes close to giving everyone a chance to grab that opportunity and build.” READ MORE

The Return of the IPO Could Spell Trouble for Private Equity

Going public used to be a sign that a company had made it. In the last decade or so, however, IPOs started to become a little … cringe. That could change this year, as initial public offerings seem poised for a comeback — which in turn could provoke a long-overdue reckoning not only for tech optimism but also for private markets.

IPOs in 2026 could be big and splashy, such as SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as smaller and quieter, with many lesser-known technology firms also filing. In some ways this is an encouraging sign. More IPOs suggest confidence in the market and the tech sector, and it’s good for the economy when the best, fastest-growing companies are available to investors in the public markets. But there is also a less optimistic take. READ MORE