Retail Investors Are Chasing Anthropic Before an IPO. Does Destiny Tech100 Offer Exposure or a Premium Trap?

A September 2 WallStreetBets thread asked how retail investors could gain Anthropic exposure before an initial public offering and listed Destiny Tech100 among several proxy routes. The interest is understandable, but the social-media claim about Anthropic's portfolio weight should not be treated as authoritative. Destiny Tech100 Inc. (NYSE: DXYZ ) reported net asset value of $34.30 per share on June 30, making NAV the essential starting point.

The fund gives public investors access to private technology holdings that normally remain behind venture-capital gates. Destiny said it made a $100 million investment in a vehicle tied to Anthropic financing on January 26; its June 30 report carried that position at $235.7 million on a $107 million cost basis. After quarter-end, it also disclosed $169 million of deployments, including $150 million of additional OpenAI exposure, $15 million in Fluidstack, and $4 million in Boom. If those companies compound before going public, shareholders can participate without meeting private-market eligibility requirements.

Access does not guarantee a fair entry price. Destiny Tech100 can trade far above or below the value of its underlying assets, and private-company marks rely on financing rounds and valuation judgments rather than continuous markets. The fund also sold 17.19 million shares through its at-the-market program from April through June at a weighted average price of $41.82, generating about $715.4 million of net proceeds. That capital expanded the portfolio, but it also shows how quickly the share count can change.

Hedge-fund interest rose from a small base. Insider Monkey tracked five funds holding Destiny Tech100 Inc. (NYSE:DXYZ) at the end of Q2, up from four in Q1. Saba Capital reported 644,280 shares as of June 30 and was the largest listed holder. The filing reveals the position, while its intended payoff could involve private-AI appreciation, discount-to-NAV convergence, closed-end-fund mechanics, or some combination of the three.

Short interest was a secondary risk. The August 14 settlement showed 215,394 shares short, down 70.1% from July 31, with 0.2 days to cover. Premium compression can still hurt even when the bearish trade is lightly populated.

DXYZ offers real private-AI exposure, but investors are buying a fund structure as well as Anthropic. The disciplined question is not whether Anthropic is exciting. It is whether Destiny Tech100's market price offers enough discount, transparency, and portfolio quality to compensate for uncertain marks and potential rapid share issuance. A sensible watchlist should therefore include reported NAV, shares outstanding, follow-on deployments, and the market price on the same date. Mixing those dates can make a premium appear smaller or larger than it really was.

While we acknowledge the potential of DXYZ as an investment, we believe certain other AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock .

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