Architect of Alpha
Long-Term Stock Investor
Fundrise Innovation Fund (VCX) is a game of musical chairs, and buyers at today's price deserve to lose money. Per @JoshKale, it holds stakes in Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceX, Databricks and Anduril, and surged 1,500% in five days, valuing a roughly $650M fund at about $5.4B, an 8x premium paid just to touch these private companies. x.comÂ
Fundrise Innovation Fund trades at about $163, far above a net asset value of roughly $60-70. Marked at current valuations, its stakes in Anthropic, SpaceX, Databricks, Epic Games and others put NAV above $60, not the $20-30 suggested in a post the author replies to. The October unlock of a large amount of shares matters, though many holders may hold through year-end to qualify for long-term gains and defer taxes. x.com x.comÂ
Fundrise Innovation Fund's roughly 30x premium to net asset value makes the long-term math hard to justify. Per @JoshKale, it trades near $565 against about $19 a share in holdings such as Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceX, Databricks and Anduril, valuing a $650 million portfolio near $10 billion. That is retail demand decoupling from reality among people who feel locked out of private names, and buyers start with a 97% handicap on their capital. x.comÂ
VCX should keep rising during Anthropic's IPO marketing on retail hype, with every update touting the deal as 100x oversubscribed and indicated to open far above its initial range. x.comÂ
VCX trades at a premium to its holdings that the market is wrong to sustain. Per @JoshKale, the fund trades at $565 against a net asset value of $19 a share, about 30x, so a $650 million portfolio of private companies such as Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceX, Databricks and Anduril is valued at nearly $10 billion; $546 of each share is pure demand premium. x.comÂ
The Fundrise Innovation Fund looks like a greater-fool trade: after rising 1,288% this month it trades at roughly 20x NAV, a 1,500-2,000% premium. Its holdings are weighted toward Anthropic, Databricks, OpenAI, Anduril and SpaceX, so buying it is like paying $34 trillion for SpaceX or $16 trillion for OpenAI. Shorting is impractical given its very low float and lack of options for hedging, but buying in means playing hot potato. x.comÂ
Fundrise's VCX fund, which owns Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX, could squeeze higher as those private giants keep getting rerated almost every week. Its chart is flagging and getting very tight. x.comÂ
Fundrise Innovation Fund is a story rather than a position for playing Anthropic and the AI race. It trades at a 14 times premium to its net asset value, and its lockup expires in September. Owning what the AI race actually pays for, such as Nvidia, TSMC, Broadcom and Corning, is the better trade. x.comÂ
The Fundrise Innovation Fund looks wildly overpriced, trading at a premium to NAV never seen before. The listed fund offers access to private companies investors want but cannot otherwise own, and its price went parabolic in just four days. x.com x.comÂ
Fundrise Innovation Fund's price is detached from intrinsic value and will eventually see a mighty rug pull. It ran from the $40s-$110s to about $550 within a week, and at this point it can trade at any price since fundamentals no longer anchor it, much like GameStop during the meme frenzy. Even a 50% fall would only take it to about $275. x.com x.com x.comÂ
VCX's collapsing premium to NAV signals that AI euphoria is deflating. The Fundrise Innovation Fund's NAV is $18.97; its price peaked at $380, about 20x NAV, and is now ~$76, still a rich 4x. That premium assumed NAV would keep rising with a static list, but Anthropic has overtaken OpenAI, with Databricks close. Anthropic can justify some premium; OpenAI is less certain. Nvidia, up only ~4% in six months, sends the same signal. This is not a call for the story to end. x.comÂ
