Hello there,
Welcome to the best of the Altea Community.
- Japan Trip. Early bird pricing is open. Only 5 spots left before prices go up June 1.
- Real Estate II. Ask your questions directly to the deal developer.
- Community Discussions. US agriculture is shaky, the agglomeration theory of housing, and how shipwreck gold actually becomes cash.
- Asks & Offers. Omar’s opening a Founder Circle round for Sportsnection. And Lance needs a fund formation lawyer for US real estate.
Performance update:
Let’s go 🚀
Table of Contents
👋 New Members
Welcome to the 34 new members since last week 👋
A few notable members..
🦞 Michael Szymkowski is a Bostonian whose specialty is real estate note investing and loan origination, which he’s been doing in his spare time over the last 5+ years
🇪🇸 Katie Owens is an OG newsletter subscriber since 2022. Originally from Arizona, she has lived in Spain since 2005 when a study abroad semester in Alicante turned into a new home.
Since investing in crypto at the start of the pandemic, and the prospect of “changing world order” – she has become more interested in alternate investments.
🍑 Robert Varghese is the Head of Investments at Groundfloor. He’s spent 30+ years investing in private markets, including equity, credit, real estate, and other alternatives. He currently lives in Atlanta.
⛰️ Orin Wilson founded and built a national accounting organization, and co-founded a YC-backed startup that raised $15m+ before it sold.
Today he’s building SmartVenture AI with a dream team to tackle the future of business in interesting ways. He currently lives in Colorado Springs.
🇬🇧 Olivier Staub is the founder of WineCube, a wine collection management platform for the new generation of collectors.
As a banker and lifelong wine lover and investor, he grew disappointed by the service provided by wine merchants and the lack of governance from wine investment companies, and decided to build a management platform focused on wine and rare spirits.
⛩️ Investor Trip to Japan
A whisky & private equity themed investing journey to the Land of the Rising Sun.
Early bird OPEN until May 31 | Five spots remain
It’s official: our third Alts investor trip is locked in. Japan. October 18–22, 2026.
This is the strongest demand we’ve ever seen for an investor trip. Pricing goes up June 1.
Experience Japan like an Insider
Three nights in Tokyo, one night up at Kiyokawa Distillery in the Nagano highlands — where some of our Whisky I casks are aging right now. Shinkansen up, private tour with the master distiller, cask tasting on the property, overnight on-site.
Plus:
- A live sumo match — and you can actually get in the ring with a real pro wrestler
- Bonsai Day in Omiya with Hayato Takahashi — visits to Tojuen (Japan’s oldest bonsai garden) and Mr. Saeki’s studio
- Knife forging demo in Kappabashi
- A Japanese tea tasting session (matcha and sencha scarcity thesis, made tangible)
- Vinyl hunting in Shimokitazawa
- Tokyo at dusk for our final evening — Shibuya Sky at sunset, then a farewell dinner
Who’s speaking
🥃 Ronan Cullen and Samuel O’Dwyer (dekantā). Our partners on Whisky I. They run the world’s largest e-commerce platform for Japanese whisky and the entire Kiyokawa cask program. Anchoring the whisky session and the distillery day.
📈 Jamie Halse and Tsubasa “Toby” Umezaki (Senjin Capital) — Tokyo-based fund running deep-value Japanese small-cap activism. Previously a senior PM at Platinum running global and Japan equities. Jamie and Toby will walk us through the 150%+ upside Senjin underwrites on every position. A cornerstone of the trip.
🌿 Hayato Takahashi (Bonsai Azukari) — Tokyo-based bonsai builder, Alts community member, founder of bonsai-azukari.com. Leading our Bonsai Day.
🌿 Mr. Saeki — Bonsai artist and the first artist on Hayato’s Azukari platform. A look at how the next generation is taking the craft global.
Pricing
- Early Bird (open now!): $3,499
- Standard (June 1+ onwards): $3,999
- Final Call (Sept 1+ onwards): $4,499
- Bring a guest at any tier: +$2,999
Everything covered except your flight: 4 nights of hotel, all meals, all drinks, in-country transport including the shinkansen up to Nagano, every activity, every speaker session.
Lock it in now (Only 5 spots left!)
$1,000 deposit holds your spot. Fully refundable up to 60 days before the trip.
👉 https://book.stripe.com/9B6aEZ7fFdGC1zp9e0cZa00
This is the strongest demand we’ve ever seen for an investor trip. I highly suggest you book now if you’re thinking of joining.
There are only 5 spots left, and pricing goes up June 1.
🇪🇸 Real Estate II
Lots of interest coming in for Real Estate II. Developer Guy Kleinboim has just introduced himself with a detailed post.
We’ve created a dedicated space where you can express interest in the deal and ask Guy questions directly.
💬 New Discussions
- Philipp asks some great due diligence questions on the upcoming Real Estate II SPV
“Two features materially limit exposure to third-party creditors. First, the bank finances construction on a progress basis against work certifications, so…trade payables are settled as the work advances. Second, the project operates as a closed financial system. All amounts paid by apartment purchasers flow into a supervised escrow account opened with and controlled by the financing bank. Bonum has no access to those funds. The mechanism…also ring-fences cash flows at project level and prevents leakage. There are no security interests over the asset or the SPV other than the dedicated enforcement mechanism for investors’ rights. – Guy Kleinboim
- Florian shares an article on US agriculture: It looks strong on output, but is structurally fragile
- Stefan got some good comments on his agglomeration theory of housing.
“I think the instinct to ‘just build more’ isn’t necessarily a bad one, but it does rely on Econ 101 thinking where supply and demand curves are purely independent entities. Examples like traffic and the labor market show that one can shift the other, so it’s interesting to hear the same logic applied to housing. – Brian Flaherty
- Oliver points out that Lisbon has a huge stock of empty or near empty decrepit buildings that are just waiting to be waiting to be renovated.
“An acquaintence set-up a fund to begin redeveloping properties in Lisbon. It seems like a great opportunity (maybe for Altea?) if you have the right team managing a fund into the developers.” – Oliver Sampson
- Birgit explains what happens once shipwreck gold gets to the surface, and how they ensure it translates into a “cash-out”
“We partner with refineries to verify purity and certify the weight of every bar and coin. Coins can carry a significant premium compared to gold bars because of their history, collectability, rarity, and condition.
Gold bars, on the other hand, were mainly used to transport the precious metal as efficiently as possible, so their value is usually tied more directly to the gold price. We sell at the most opportune market moments to maximize ROI. Every gram is backed by a clear maritime title and legal documentation, ensuring a compliant and seamless payout process.” – Birgit Petalozzi
🙏 New Asks & Offers
Sportsnection Founder Circle Round 🏏
Omar Khohkhar been a founding member of Altea for years, and wanted to share something he’s personally building and deeply invested in.
You may recall Omar is the founder of Sportsnection, a sports and athlete IP platform focused on trading cards and memorabilia.
As a company, they’ve already seen strong early traction, including complete sell-through on initial releases, repeat customers, and exclusive partnerships with globally recognized athletes and cricket legends. Things are starting to move!
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He’s opening a limited Founder Circle round and given how much our community has meant to him personally, he wanted to share it here first.
Omar is happy to connect privately with anyone interested in learning more.
Legal expert in fund formation for real estate investing ⚖️
Lance Goldberg is looking for a lawyer with expertise in helping individuals launch investment funds focused on investing in US real estate assets. Whether that be an investment fund or a REIT.
Would love to connect or refer me to someone you know who could help.
That’s it for today!
See you next week,
Wyatt & Stefan
