A curious phenomenon is unfolding in the secondary markets as investors scramble for exposure to Anthropic, the high-flying artificial intelligence startup behind the Claude chatbot. While direct investment in the San Francisco-based firm remains largely restricted to institutional giants and venture capital elites, a specialized closed-end fund has become the go-to vehicle for retail speculators looking to ride the AI wave. This indirect route has sparked a significant rally in shares of Destiny Tech100, a publicly traded fund that holds a stake in the AI developer.
Anthropic recently concluded a massive funding round that solidified its status as a primary competitor to OpenAI. As the company’s valuation climbs to staggering heights, the scarcity of available shares has driven a surge of interest in any listed entity with even a fractional holding in the firm. Market analysts have noted that the premium on these secondary vehicles often detaches from the underlying net asset value, reflecting a desperate appetite for AI-centric assets among the general public.
This trend highlights a growing shift in how private market valuations influence public sentiment. For many individual investors, the traditional path of waiting for an initial public offering is no longer viable, as companies stay private longer and accumulate tens of billions in value before ever hitting the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange. Consequently, niche funds that focus on pre-IPO unicorns have become volatile proxies for the companies they represent. When Anthropic announces a successful capital raise or a breakthrough in its large language models, these proxy stocks often react with double-digit percentage gains.
However, the risks associated with this approach are substantial. Professional traders warn that buying into a fund solely for its exposure to one private company can lead to extreme price swings. The current rally in the Anthropic proxy play is a testament to the lopsided demand for generative AI exposure, but it also serves as a reminder of the lack of transparency in private valuations. Because the underlying assets do not trade daily, the market price of the fund is often driven by hype rather than fundamental accounting.
Despite these concerns, the momentum behind Anthropic shows no signs of cooling. The company has successfully positioned itself as the safety-conscious alternative to other aggressive AI labs, attracting significant partnerships from cloud providers and enterprise software firms. This reputation for stability and ethics has made it a darling of the investment community, further fueling the fire for those seeking indirect entry points. As long as the primary market remains closed to the average investor, these unconventional trading paths will likely continue to experience dramatic surges in activity.
As the broader technology sector remains hyper-focused on the race for artificial general intelligence, the performance of these secondary vehicles will be closely monitored. They serve as a real-time thermometer for retail enthusiasm in a market that is otherwise hidden behind closed doors. For now, the successful funding round has provided the necessary fuel for this unique investment strategy to thrive once again, proving that the market will always find a way to bet on the next big technological shift.
