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Those making fortunes in Silicon Valley are ditching the champagne for premium water while splashing their bitcoin

The rapid growth of AI-focused companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic has created a wave of millionaires and billionaires, and they are starting to spend — with trophy assets near the top of their lists.

The number of billionaires globally rose 13 per cent year-on-year to 3,302 in the 12 months that ended in April, more than a thousand of whom are based in the US, according to UBS.

The first trophy is always a house. There has been a surge in property prices in San Francisco, where the median price for a single-family home jumped to $2.1mn in June, up almost 25 per cent from the same month in 2025, according to real estate brokerage Compass.

But once they have a home, those with fortunes minted in the AI boom are spending big on hyper-personalised and high-performance yachts, jets and cars.

They are spurning the champagne and white-glove service typically associated with luxury travel and instead looking for things that are practical, private and allow them to maintain their healthy lifestyles. They don’t want to wait and they do want to pay with crypto.

“The emergence of the AI super-wealthy has opened up a whole new wave of demand for those companies providing access to private jets, yachts and supercars,” said Paul Charles, a luxury travel consultant. “The notion of the discerning client is rather outdated and so companies now have to adapt to cater to a new generation of luxury-focused traveller, created by this AI wealth.”

Companies that supply such assets are having to learn very quickly about the very particular demands of this new class of wealthy.

Few modes of travel are a greater hallmark of vast wealth than a private jet. Flexjet, which allows people to buy fractional ownership of an aircraft, has noted an increase in clients who made money through AI or in other technology flotations. The trend has pushed the average age of its customers down by a decade, said Flexjet’s chief executive Andrew Collins.

That wealth is also spreading to those in businesses adjacent to AI. One of jet charter group FlyVictor’s newest clients is a data centre builder who has been chartering planes in the US and Europe while waiting for his purchase of a new long-range Bombardier jet to go through.

That new breed of buyer, some as young as 25, brings new demands, according to FlyVictor’s co-chief executive Toby Edwards.

As well as wanting to pay in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, these digital-native clients typically prefer to book using a company’s app or WhatsApp, bypassing brokers and the “theatre of traditional private aviation”, said Charles Robinson, founder of charter marketplace EnterJet. “If it takes more than a few minutes to get quotes and confirm, many will lose interest.”

Onboard standards have also been updated. “The private aviation golden standard of yesteryears, sipping champagne on crisp linen [tablecloths], has largely gone out the window with this cohort,” said Robinson, adding that they looked for “specific types of water” such as artisanal brand Fiji and Acqua Panna as well as “health-conscious catering”.

“They’re flying privately for efficiency and discretion — not to impress socially,” he added.

The new AI multimillionaires and billionaires prioritise exclusive features and are willing to change vehicles after as little as six months to secure the latest models.

Lamborghini has been particularly successful in attracting the younger generation of AI entrepreneurs, according to brokers, with its Urus sport utility vehicle, which can be hyper-personalised with a choice of more than 150 colours. Beyond the customisation options offered by the carmaker, younger buyers can add aerodynamics and carbon-fibre kits to their Lamborghinis to change the look of the body, perfect for posting on social media.

“This kind of car, at the end of the day, is like a toy. It’s a way to express the personality of a customer,” said Stefano Cossalter, Urus product line director at Lamborghini.

Ferrari, according to people close to the company, has received positive feedback from customers in Silicon Valley for the Luce, its first electric vehicle, which drew backlash among some traditional fans for its polarising design. Benedetto Vigna, the Italian luxury group’s chief executive, has defended it, stressing the importance of widening the brand’s appeal. On the day of the EV’s launch, he pointed to interest he’d received from a technology entrepreneur in San Francisco.

“It’s for sure a good opportunity for us,” Vigna said when asked about the AI-related new wealth creation. “Whenever you have a new flush of money in the market . . . Ferrari is a good source.”

Porsche’s chief executive Michael Leiters also said new customer groups were emerging from the AI boom. “Naturally, we are making every effort to reach these customers and win them over to the Porsche brand,” he added.

EMJ Exclusive, which provides a range of services to wealthy individuals, recently bought a low-mileage Rolls-Royce Cullinan for a LA-based AI entrepreneur in his twenties who had asked for a “one of a kind” vehicle. The company customised the vehicle extensively, including by changing its signature black exterior and interior to a bespoke bright blue and orange.

“I think the thing individuals of AI wealth care about is exclusivity,” said EMJ Exclusive founder Ed Somner Bogard. “Our client is never going to drive somewhere with his Rolls-Royce and someone has the same car.”

Jeff Brown’s San Diego-headquartered yacht dealership has “benefited greatly” from a new wave of San Francisco-based buyers that “became wealthy overnight”, he said. Customers at his branch in Sausalito, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, include new multimillionaires seeking smaller boats that can take on the rough Pacific Ocean and travel up the winding Napa River.

These buyers — who include employees of and investors in chipmaker Nvidia — are not looking for gin palaces, but rather faster and longer-range expeditionary vessels. “These aren’t luxurious boats. These are very functional machines that can go long distances fast and carry a lot of fun stuff,” he said. They also place a greater premium on privacy measures, such as more heavily tinted windows, than Brown’s traditional clientele.

Annie Reed, chief commercial officer of British luxury yacht manufacturer Princess Yachts, said the company was “sending more boats to the west coast of America”, as well as to Florida, and had already sold five units of its new 90ft superyacht model X90, which costs upwards of £10mn, to US buyers ahead of its official launch in September.

Princess has received multiple requests to fit high-end Technogym fitness equipment, including functional and strength-training equipment, onboard its vessels. One customer even asked to install a Peloton bike on their flybridge, the open-air deck on a yacht’s rooftop. The company has also been asked to fit Starlink internet terminals.

Health is also a growing focus in his business, said Brown. His customers are requesting more and fancier “toys” — from scuba diving kits to hydrofoil sailboats — in place of catering and alcohol: “These clients are into fitness and they’re out doing stuff. They’re not sipping a Mai Tai on the deck.”

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Company founded by former Snap executive Alex Mashrabov targets marketing content for businesses

Higgsfield, an AI video generation platform, has raised $400mn at a $5.4bn valuation from investors including DST Global, Goldman Sachs, Liberty Global and Intel, as the two-year-old start-up expands its push into corporate subscriptions.

The fundraising comes eight months after the company, founded by former Snap executive Alex Mashrabov, raised $80mn at a $1.3bn valuation amid growing adoption of its technology by businesses.

The AI platform, which launched in 2025, reached $700mn in annualised revenue in August, up from $20mn about a year earlier. Higgsfield has attracted more than 30mn users across 238 countries and territories, with the US its largest market.

“The new funding will help us accelerate our move upmarket. Today, most of our revenue comes from businesses, which is a significant change from January, when business customers accounted for less than 25 per cent of revenue,” Mashrabov told the FT.

Higgsfield sits at the intersection of social media marketing, entertainment and the creator economy, where a new generation of creators is using AI to produce more polished visual content. More recently, it has shifted its focus towards corporate marketing clients.

“At Snapchat, the face filters I built were primarily used by teenagers for entertainment. At Higgsfield, we are transforming how larger businesses run marketing campaigns,” Mashrabov said.

Goldman Sachs has estimated that the global creator economy, encompassing about 50mn people, could grow from $250bn in 2023 to $480bn by 2027, fuelled by influencer marketing and short-form video advertising. Global spending on digital advertising is forecast to reach $1.1tn by 2030, growing at an annual rate of 8.6 per cent, according to The Business Research Company.

Since May, Mashrabov said, brands including Dollar Shave Club had begun building AI-driven marketing systems that used Higgsfield to create multiple videos each day, rather than a single campaign asset.

“Dollar Shave Club’s CMO has spoken about using Higgsfield and there are hundreds of similar nationwide direct-to-consumer brands using AI not just to make one video but multiple videos a day,” said Mashrabov.

He said social media teams were using AI to keep pace with the rapid turnover of online content while reducing their dependence on expensive creative agencies. The technology could both lower marketing costs and help brands sell more products by producing fresh videos at scale, he added.

The round will allow Higgsfield to continue investing in enterprise products, security and computing power.

“Compute is scarce and the funding will enable us to make substantial compute reservations so that we can offer a best-in-class service,” said Mashrabov.

Higgsfield has also supported AI-generated films, a use of the technology which has unsettled some in Hollywood over its potential effect on creative jobs. The company is increasingly targeting corporate customers using its tools to produce marketing content.

The other investors include Tribe Capital, Smash Capital, Fifth Wall, Valor Capital, Liberty Global Tech Ventures, Mirae Asset Capital and NTT DOCOMO Ventures. Goldman is making the investment through its Equity Growth fund.

Q2 2026 13F REVIEW — 53 MANAGERS, 19 READ OFF PRIMARY FILINGS

Graham Advisors / LC / 15 Aug

Three things in this quarter's filings are not visible on a standard 13F screen, and all three cut against the obvious read.

Start with SpaceX, because the marks are wrong. Divide value by shares on any filer holding SPCX and you get the same number: $170.86. D1 at $21.54bn over 126,042,232 shares, Nvidia at $20.98bn over 122,764,805, Atreides and Coatue identical. That is the 30 June mark. The stock priced at $135 on 12 June, ran to $225.64 intraday on the 16th, broke back through issue on 15 July and closed at $108.27 on 5 August, an all-time low. It trades near $140 today. So every SPCX line in these filings is carried roughly 18% above market, and D1's disclosed $34.78bn book — 61.9% of which is this one position — is overstated by something like $3.9bn. Anyone ranking managers by disclosed AUM off

these filings is ranking them on a stale print.

The lock-up matters more than the mark. SpaceX staggered its release

rather than running a single cliff. The 6 August tranche freed 911.5m

shares and took the float from 4.9% to 11.8%. A 10% bonus tranche was

written to release early if the stock held 30% above $135 into

earnings; it did not trigger, because the stock was between $108 and

$135. Roughly 7% tranches drip through to October. Then the largest

single release, about 28% or 1.3bn shares, lands at Q3 earnings in late

October or November, with full 180-day expiry on 8 December. Musk's

6.4bn shares are locked to 12 June 2027 with no early release. Only 5%

of the company traded at IPO. The point for positioning is simple: a 30

June ownership snapshot tells you very little about who owns this by

year-end, and the worst of the supply is still in front of us.

Second, the crowded trade already had its forced seller. Situational

Awareness held $20.24bn at 30 June with 55% in SanDisk and Micron,

levered around four times, up roughly 439% in the first half. In July

it lost about two thirds, took margin calls from Goldman, JPMorgan and

Bank of America, and sold a $16bn equity book to Citadel inside 24

hours. Read its holdings against the consensus accumulate list and they

are the same list — MU, SNDK, CORZ, APLD, NBIS, CRWV, RIOT, IREN. The

Q2 filings are a photograph of a portfolio that was liquidated three

weeks later. Treat any Q2 accumulation signal in those names with that

in mind.

Third, the most committed books are hedged, and you cannot see it long

only. Atreides carries a QQQ put of $2.36bn notional, 16.4% of the fund

and its second-largest line, sitting directly against its AI supply

chain positions. TOMS Capital's single largest position is a SPY put,

$1.19bn against a $4.67bn book. Appaloosa runs an AAPL put. Separately,

Millennium shows an unpaired NVDA put of $5.1bn. Citadel's much larger

MU and SNDK put lines are paired against comparable calls and are

dealer inventory, not a view — do not read those directionally.

Two smaller correctives. The Nvidia exit story is overstated: four

funds sold out, but Coatue still holds $1.21bn, Appaloosa $305m and

Atreides $250m, so the three most AI-literate books in the sample

stayed long. And ignore the Berkshire homebuilder headline — the DHI

line is 3,564 shares, $580,504, inside a $299bn book. The real housing

commitment is the $6.8bn Taylor Morrison acquisition in July, which

does not appear in the 13F at all.

One trade idea rather than an observation: the interconnect layer is

the least crowded part of this rotation. Astera Labs is held by both

Gavin Baker ($588m) and Cliff Sacerdote ($757m). Coherent is held by

both, plus Nvidia itself at $3.07bn. Nvidia's own eight-position book

reads as a supply-chain map — Intel $29.99bn, CRWV $4.70bn, COHR

$3.07bn, NOK $2.21bn, SNPS $2.15bn — and the funds selling Nvidia

bought into names Nvidia owns.

Full note attached. All figures aggregated per issuer from primary

13F-HR filings, not top-holdings summaries.

GRAHAM ADVISORS | AI INFRA -- THE BAKER CONTRADICTION (QUICK NOTE ATTACHED)

Gavin Baker (Atreides) gave two irreconcilable AI-financing narratives 11 days apart -- worth 5 minutes before the hyperscaler Q3 prints.

* 04-Aug (Invest Like the Best): buildout is SELF-FUNDING. Compute contracted 50-100% below spot reprices hyperscaler OCF within ~6 months; "~$700bn of credit need disappears". July drawdown = "2022 in a month", zero negative fundamental datapoints.

* 15-Aug (All-In E285): endorses NVDA's $500bn GPU-BACKED CREDIT FACILITY (GS/BX/KKR/APO/BLK) as validation. NVDA US guarantees residuals; lenders bear only ~25% of risk. His top risk flipped to supply: "dark GPUs".

If the buildout self-funds, why the $500bn facility? Only reconciliation credit serves the NON-hyperscaler tier -- i.e. the marginal GPU buyer is
credit-financed. Lucent/Nortel echo, residuals warehoused on NVDA US.

Watch: GPU rental spot (new credit-cycle tell), facility terms at close (T1), hyperscaler OCF >32% at Q3 (Baker's own bar), Anthropic IPO Oct (~$2tn tgt).

Not a short signal -- a monitoring-regime signal: the cycle moved from equity to credit instruments. Full 2-pager attached. Figures podcast-cited, unaudited. Not investment advice.

Laurent Chekroun
Graham Advisors Sarl, Pfaffikon SZ