What to Watch in 2026 (Dec ‘25)
Note from the Founders 👋
The Girl Math of Alternatives: What to Watch in 2026 📈
Deal Spotlight: Concarlo Therapeutics 👩⚕️
Investor Resource: Token Evaluation Framework 👾
Media & Press: Up Close with GMC 🔍
What’s Coming Up: Cohort 3 & Q1 Events 🗓️
Note from the Founders 👋
GM ☕ from Serena, Porter, and Emma, the co-founders of Girl Math Capital! We can’t believe our FIRST FULL YEAR of Girl Math is coming to a close! Thank you for being along for the journey, whether you found us during our pilot year or only recently subscribed.
For those who are new here, welcome! We hope that our newsletter gives you a sneak peak into the amazing insights shared in our community every day and gets you excited to put your money to work. Happy holidays, and happy reading!
The Girl Math of Alternatives: What to Watch in 2026 📈
Read time: 8 minutes
If 2025 has taught us anything, it’s that traditional portfolio frameworks are no longer resonating with individual investors. While stocks still account for a large share of typical portfolios (about 25% on average) nearly half (45%) of investors are actively interested in owning alternatives, with 47% expecting to increase their alternatives exposure over the next two decades.¹
Two key factors are driving this shift:
Wealth creation feels unattainable through current systems. Record inflation and sky high cost of living are just a few of the tailwinds driving individuals to seek out supplemental forms of wealth creation through more active investing. According to Charles Schwab’s 2025 Modern Wealth Survey, two-thirds of Americans say investing success today requires supplementing traditional stocks and bonds with non-traditional asset types, and 42% believe the classic 60/40 portfolio is outdated.¹
Companies are staying private longer, and much of the upside is captured before reaching the public markets. Historically, public markets have served as the primary avenue for capital formation and wealth creation. Today, however, shifts in the IPO market are fundamentally changing that role. Global listings are down roughly 22% over the past five years,² as high-growth companies increasingly choose to stay private longer - not due to a lack of opportunity in public markets, but because the economics and incentives of remaining private have improved. Abundant venture and private equity capital now allows companies to raise substantial funding well before ever listing, often at valuations that previously required public-market access.
At the same time, the costs of being public have reason. Pressure to deliver on quarterly earnings, regulatory and compliance burdens, and activist scrutiny can conflict with the long-term horizons required to build category-defining companies. Combined with cheaper technology and global talent, private capital has made it possible to scale massive businesses without tapping public markets at all.
The result is sub-optimal for public market investors. Much of the upside that once accrued after IPO is now captured pre-IPO, leaving public-market participants exposed to a smaller share of a company’s total growth curve.
The New Rails for Retail
The IPO shift has given way to a new set of rails for investors seeking earlier access and higher growth opportunities for their money. In the last few months, we’ve seen a surge in new financial products, and the result is a structural shake up we expect to continue into 2026. Let’s dive into a few of these emerging and expanding products 👇
Prediction markets: The rise of prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket have enabled millions of users to trade on the outcomes of real-world events, from asking “Is Taylor Swift releasing a new album?” to “Will the Fed reduce rates?” Over $3.7 billion in total volume has been traded in prediction markets, and $450 million traded on the U.S. presidential election alone. These markets are proving that retail investors want to put their money behind their convictions on everything from sports outcomes to geopolitical events.
Venture secondaries: Secondaries, which allow investors to buy and sell stakes in private companies ahead of an exit, have long been reserved for institutions but are now opening up to a broader base of retail investors. Firms like Schwab are expanding client access to private shares - through a recent acquisition of Forge Global, a platform that offers pre-IPO investment opportunities, Schwab can now provide clients exposure to companies such as SpaceX and OpenAI.³
Tokenized assets: The digitization of traditional assets on the blockchain has enabled a new level of liquidity and access for private markets. Take Securitize for example. The SEC-registered platform has tokenized over $1 billion in assets, giving everyday investors access to alternative investments like private equity, real estate funds, and tokenized securities at entry points as low as $1k. Securitize is just one example of how tokenization is turning previously illiquid and exclusive investments into accessible, tradeable assets for retail investors.
Community-led deal flow: Gaining access to private markets through community networks is becoming increasingly popular, with Girl Math Capital being just one example. The ability to leverage shared knowledge and resources is enabling individual investors to come together and deploy capital into private markets seamlessly. These communities are creating a new stakeholder in the investment ecosystem - helping consumers-turned-angel investors to directly back the companies and founders they believe in.
This era of investors is looking for something different, and they’re moving money and creating wealth in ways that are shaking up traditional industries.
These markets look very different on the surface, but they’re driven by the same instinct: earlier access, fewer gatekeepers, and more control over how and when you participate. Investors are building portfolios across multiple paths to returns, choosing structures that reward insight, conviction, and participation rather than just patience.
Above all, these trends give us even more conviction in what we’re building here at Girl Math Capital. We’re creating the social layer for private markets - one where community is replacing institutions as the filter, educator, and capital allocator. As the landscape continues to evolve, we could not be more excited to have you along for the ride with us. Here’s to 2026 🥂
Deal Spotlight: Concarlo Therapeutics 👩⚕️
ICYMI: Each month, we’ll share a few of the deals our community has backed, not to give investment advice, but to show you the breadth of opportunities Girl Math members are exploring and spotlight some epic founders.
One of the most rewarding parts of being an angel investor is having the opportunity to back companies driving real impact. This past August, Girl Math Capital led an SPV for Concarlo, a cancer therapy tackling drug resistance to help breast cancer patients live longer, better lives. As a female founder and mother of 3, Concarlo’s founder Dr. Stacy Blain, Ph.D set a goal for her most recent fundraise to increase the number of women on Concarlo’s cap table. We are so grateful to have been able to play a part in making that goal a reality.
Dr. Blain is an internationally known expert in cell cycle and cancer biology and has been studying the p27 target for over 30 years. Her differentiated approach, patented IP, and early validation, combined with her dedication to changing the outcomes for the >660k women that die from breast cancer every year, are what gave us strong conviction in Concarlo’s potential and make us proud to support the team.
We recently met Dr. Blain in person at our holiday party, and it was incredibly moving witnessing so many of her Girl Math investors share their personal stories and words of support for what Dr. Blain is building.
Investor Resource ✏️
Token Evaluation Framework 👾
from Girl Math speakers Suz Dannheim and Aya Kantorovich
The third segment of our Girl Math Capital cohort curriculum focuses on crypto and digital assets. In this month’s investor resource, we’re sharing a simple framework to help evaluate a token’s utility when considering investing.
Does the token have a specific purpose or function? If you can’t explain it in plain English after an honest amount of diligence, the answer is probably no.
If yes, does that purpose or function the crypto helps facilitate have intrinsic value or clear and present demand? Can you measure that value or demand, and if so, how?
If yes, how does the value accrued to the purpose or function of the token (ex: network activity) actually translate to value accrual in the token?
For more tips like this, consider joining our next cohort!
Media & Press: Up Close with GMC🔍
T Palmer Agency: Emma Pratt, Co-Founder at Girl Math Capital
This month, Emma Pratt was featured on the T Palmer Agency blog - a women-led marketing and creative firm spotlighting founder-led brands. The piece dives into Emma’s background, the early days of Girl Math, what makes our community different, how social media became one of our biggest growth levers, and what we’re building next. 👩💻 Read the full blog post here!
What’s Coming Up: Cohort 3 & Q1 Events 🗓️
In January, we’ll be kicking off our third cohort! We’re welcoming 175 incredible women to Girl Math Capital to begin our four-month alternative investing bootcamp and start investing alongside Cohorts 1 & 2 and our community members.
We won’t get too ahead of ourselves, but the year 2026 is shaping up to be a good one. We’re excited to roll out a new partnership with a female-founded firm to unlock even more resources for our members, host an Angel 101 cocktail night for emerging investors, collaborate with a boutique grocer we know and love, and plenty more along the way. We can’t wait to have you along for the ride. 💫
Closing Note 💌
Girl Math Capital was born from the frustration that deals were shared in some circles and not in others. This newsletter is one more way to make sure those conversations and opportunities reach more people, and in particular, more women.
As we close out the year, we just want to say how grateful we are for this community. Building Girl Math alongside you this past year has been so energizing and genuinely fun. Thank you for showing up, following along, sharing deals, and helping shape what Girl Math is becoming.
If you know someone who’d love this newsletter, pass it along. We believe alternative investing isn’t just for finance and tech bros - it’s for women who want to get smart, build community, and build generational wealth. See you in 2026 💸💅
The Girl Math Team
¹ Charles Schwab: The 2025 Modern Wealth Survey
² Financial Times: Public markets “under thread” from listing slumps, exchange bosses warn
³ Reuters: Schwab to buy Forge Global for $660 million as demand for pre-IPO shares grows
If this got you curious, submit your information to join our next cohort, or apply to be a community member here.
Have a topic you’d like to see us cover in the future? Feel free to reply to this email with your thoughts.
