Castle Placement

Hi All, I hope you find this tongue-in-cheek video funny. Please comment below! Regards, Ken Margolis Castle Placement - Managing Partner #venturecapital #privateequity #raisingcapital #castleplacement

What is: The Home Crowd Advantage®️? It’s access to capital. Which is the LIFEBLOOD of a growing company. How do you access capital optimally? By building a platform with qualified investors. And obtaining granular investment criteria for each of them. One investor at a time. Then building a team of amazing professionals that provide full-service investment banking services. And help the issuer (and investor) every step from engagement through closing. Patience, research, data, technology, relationships, expertise, execution. That is The Home Crowd Advantage®️ #investmentbanking #technology #corporatecurrency #privateequity #venturecapital #castleplacement #cpgoapp

What’s Happening. A View From The Castle. I never make up items in “A View From The Castle”!!! Nigeria is developing Nigerian, an indigenous blockchain to enhance data security and transparency. Yikes!!! Howard Marks, billionaire co-founder of distressed debt behemoth Oaktree Capital Management re: current office building prices: "Let's say you are getting 70% off. Is that enough? The mere fact that the price of something is down doesn't make it a buy." Perhaps the most important issue not being discussed enough... In Q1 Facebook removed 631 million fake accounts from its platform, a significant portion of its user base and raising significant questions about the authenticity of the data it has communicated to shareholders, advertisers and the public over the years. "With the lights out, it's less dangerous, here we are now, entertain us"... In Q2 startups received significantly more VC funding YOY, but significantly fewer received funding, and a small number of giant AI deals skewed the data. If you are not a genuine AI company it's still tough sledding. Female-founded startup funding is way down (even though it was minuscule in the past), and geographic prejudice continues. Fogging the mirror??? In the first half of the year private equity achieved its best performance metrics since 2022: deal count (4,000+) and value ($375+ billion) increased by 12%, as 129 US PE funds closed fundraising rounds with $155 billion raised. "And whispered in the sound of silence"... US office building vacancy rates hit a record 20.1% in Q2, the highest since Moody’s started tracking the sector 50 years ago. San Francisco vacancy rates reached 34.5%, up from just 5% pre-pandemic. Moody’s projects vacancy rates will continue to climb through 2026. “So no one told you life was gonna be this way“… Friend.Tech, which tokenizes people’s social networks with access to private group chats, is struggling. The price of its native cryptocurrency (down to 20 cents from $3+), the amount of crypto assets locked in Friend.Tech (down to $5.7 million from $49.7 million), and revenue generated by the platform (down to $20,000/week from $millions/week) have all plummeted to at or near all-time lows. "Go your own way, you can call it another lonely day"... A Manhattan federal jury convicted Archegos founder Bill Hwang of fraudulently inflating the value of stocks and his assets as his family-office hedge fund was crumbling. Like a good neighbor... After suffering $16 billion of underwriting losses last year (the largest since at least 2000) US home insurers have increased premiums by an average of 20% since early 2023. That's a "b"!!! A cousin of Cambodia's ruling family is allegedly running an $11 billion crypto scam and money laundering online marketplace. It is alleged that the majority of transactions on the platform are tied to illegal activities. #investmentbanking #technology #corporatecurrency #privateequity #venturecapital #castleplacement #cpgoapp

We love doing traditional capital raises. We REALLY love doing groundbreaking capital raises. Credit Rating Securities (CRS) - game changer for risk management and trading, tackling downgrade risk in corporate bonds. Our client, DelphX, offers a 1:1 direct solution for rating change protection setting a new standard in portfolio risk management. CRS consist of CPOs and CRNs: -         Collateralized Put Obligations (CPO) are exercisable upon a rating downgrade of a reference security. Unique protection for corporate bonds at risk of downgrade. -         Collateralized Reference Notes (CRO) provide returns to the risk seller from both option premiums and interest on collateral.   Developed by DelphX, with documentation by Latham & Watkins, and BNY as the custodian.   Helps manage rating downgrades from investment-grade to non-investment-grade, helping insurance companies mitigate higher capital charges. Provides a new way to express market views and boost returns, addressing the limitations of traditional CDS protection. There's a growing demand among insurance companies to protect their corporate bond portfolios, and CRS provide a robust solution. We have active bids from hedge funds and multiple insurance companies seeking protection in this first tranche of trades. Please DM me to learn more! #investmentbanking #technology #corporatecurrency #privateequity #venturecapital #castleplacement #cpgoapp

If you don't understand "meme" we're here to help. In the 90’s Seinfeld/Costanza created a show about nothing. That was early meme. It's: -      a funny image/video that spreads rapidly online -      an internet trend that becomes a part of pop culture -      a viral social media post -      media that mocks current events or societal norms -      a celebrity launching a token to enrich themselves, leaving their fans holding the bag when it goes to zero -      animal JPEGs from 2021 that had seven figure values, until they didn't -      stock pumped on Reddit, until the fundamentals crater the price -      crypto tokens serving no purpose except speculation Meme is fun! BUT, don’t invest your hard-earned money in a black hole! #investmentbanking #technology #corporatecurrency #privateequity #venturecapital #castleplacement #cpgoapp

What’s Happening. A View From The Castle. Really, this makes perfect sense... Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is considering using nuclear energy to power its data centers, exploring partnerships for modular reactors in North America and Europe. Flight to what??? The Dow Jones Industrial Average index has gained less than 4% so far this year, with components Nike, Intel, and Boeing all down over 30%. "Debt is like any other trap, easy enough to get into, but hard enough to get out of"... In the last eight years the US has added $13 trillion to the national debt. The Debt-to-GDP ratio is now higher than during World War II. I guess land is practically worthless now too... A San Francisco office building at 995 Market Street was taken back by the lender with a credit bid of $6.5 million ($72/SF). It was purchased in 2016 for $62 million. “I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive”… The SEC has launched investigations into VC firms that invested in cryptocurrency platforms and received discounted tokens to sell to retail investors, claiming they are acting as unregistered broker dealers selling securities without a FINRA license. Are you sure hedge funds are out of favor??? Jain Global, Bobby Jain’s new multi-strategy fund, received $5.3 billion in commitments and is set to start trading. "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than to get permission"... The SEC sued cryptocurrency firm Consensys, alleging it failed to register as a broker through its MetaMask swaps service and failed to register the offer and sale of certain securities through its crypto staking programs, claiming the firm collected over $250 million in fees as an unregistered broker. "If you think the system isn’t broken, you’re not paying attention"... The average costs of a typical home, including mortgage payments, property insurance and taxes, consumed 35.1% of the average salary in Q2, which made owning a house less affordable in the US than at any time in the past 17 years. Not so fast!!! A US District Court in Texas granted a stay and preliminary injunction preventing the FTC's new prohibition on non-competes in the workplace from taking effect against the plaintiff, holding that it was likely to succeed on the merits to vacate the new rule because the FTC lacked authority to issue a non-compete ban and the rule was arbitrary and capricious. "Once we were standing still in time, chasing the fantasies that filled our minds"... Public SaaS companies are now valued at 5.7 times annualized recurring revenues, down from 17x in 2021, and the lowest SaaS multiple metric since early 2013. #investmentbanking #technology #corporatecurrency #privateequity #venturecapital #castleplacement #cpgoapp

Stop lying about liquidity!!! Putting an investment on a secondary market does not create liquidity. Putting a startup on a funding portal does not create liquidity. Putting a security on an exchange does not create liquidity. The ONLY thing that creates liquidity is bringing buyers and sellers together. And the only way to bring buyers and sellers together is to have GREAT COMPANIES to offer and TARGETED, QUALIFIED INVESTORS to invest. Do the work! #investmentbanking #technology #corporatecurrency #privateequity #venturecapital #castleplacement #cpgoapp

What’s Happening. A View From The Castle. "Don't stop believin', hold on to that feelin'"... From 2000 to 2017 the Nasdaq index was relatively unchanged. In the past seven years it has tripled. "You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls"... American Strategic Investment Co. is selling a NYC office building at 9 Times Square for $63.5 million that it purchased in 2014 for $170 million. "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light"... KKR is purchasing a 5,200-unit apartment portfolio dispersed across the US for $2.1 billion. Some more incisive financial forecasting analysis... Actual quote: "Historically, a falling Bitcoin price in June means double-digit gains in July." "It can happen to you, if you're young at heart"... No-code software development startup Creatio raised $200 million at a $1.2 billion valuation, despite the challenges faced by the broad slowdown in the SaaS space. "Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road"... Zoom's stock price hit an all-time low, down 90% from its peak. During the Pandemic its revenue increased 5x in 18 months from $200 million to $1 billion. But since then it's been flat. Investors don't like that. I guess if you want to raise capital you just need to throw a bunch of trending words together... Allora Labs raised $35 million to launch its decentralized AI network and continue developing its NFT appraisal platform. "Power to the people... The Supreme Court ruled against the SEC in a dispute over the agency's ability to use in-house tribunals for securities fraud, stripping it of a key enforcement tool. The majority: "A defendant facing a fraud suit has the right to be tried by a jury of his peers before a neutral adjudicator." The dissent: "The majority today upends longstanding precedent and the established practice of its coequal partners in our tripartite system of government." ”Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry"... The Supreme Court overturned the Chevron doctrine, stifling broad power to interpret laws held by federal regulatory agencies sine 1984 including the SEC and determine how vague laws should be implemented. ItWorks??? Over the last six months the 15 largest coworking operators added 252 locations, growing the industry by 20%, despite WeWork eliminating 30% of its US space (it's now only the third-largest coworking company) as demand for flex space from both small and large companies continues to grow rapidly. "See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen"... The US raised the reward for information leading to the capture of Ruja Ignatova to $5 million. Also known as the "Crypto Queen", she vanished after founding OneCoin, marketed as a revolutionary cryptocurrency but actually a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of over $4 billion. #investmentbanking #technology #corporatecurrency #privateequity #venturecapital #castleplacement #cpgoapp

What’s Happening. A View from the Castle. Thou shalt not take the name of the military in vain... Crypto portfolio manager CoinStats temporarily shut down after 1,590 wallets were drained. The platform had promised its users “military-grade encryption.” "I find Milton probably as boring as you find Milton; Mrs. Milton found him boring too"... Small cap stocks are down 2% so far this year while large cap stocks are up 15%, causing many to change their investment philosophy. Kids, are you reading this??? An estimated 29 million people in the US workforce also care for an adult family member. 60% of them work full time (compared with 46% in 2009) spending about 20 unpaid hours per week providing care. "Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue"... Short-term rental specialist Sonder is closing down 25% of its portfolio and faces at least two class-action fraud complaints. Its valuation has fallen from $1.9 billion (when it went public in 2022) to $44 million. It has yet to reach profitability and its financial reporting has been significantly questioned. Drip, drip, drip, default... The distress category rate for commercial real estate collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) has risen to 9.74%. "If you think you are leading and turn around to see no one following, then you are just taking a walk"... There are 50 million influencers globally profiting from their social media posts. 50% make $15,000/year or less. In total they make $13.7 billion. 13% make over $100,000 (1 out of every 1,250 people on the planet, so don't quit your day job). "That's right, Iceman"... Golden Goose, the shoe company that makes $600 distressed-look sneakers, paused what was expected to be one of the biggest European IPOs one day before the planned launch amid volatile market conditions in Europe. Reality bites... Commercial property prices have declined by 21% since March 2022, $1.2 trillion of commercial real estate debt is maturing in the next two years, CMBS loans are resolving for increasingly greater losses, and many loans are being extended to be revisited later. And more reality bites even more... The underlying valuations implied by CMBS prices are often out of whack with the prices at which real estate is actually trading. In 2023 CMBS loan special servicing volume increased by 29% to $41 billion (7% of the $600 billion CMBS universe). Well, this is certainly a head scratcher... In May: i) home prices hit a record high; and ii) housing supply continued to pile up as inventory rose 34.2% YOY. If you can't beat them... The SEC has reportedly dropped its lawsuit against Consensys which, in conjunction with its approval of ETH ETFs, indicates the government's intention to treat ETH as a commodity. ETH staking? Not so fast. #investmentbanking #technology #corporatecurrency #privateequity #venturecapital #castleplacement #cpgoapp