xAI SpaceX merger, LatAm 2026 IPOs, Anurag Chandra wisdom from managing pension funds & FOs | Ep22

Welcome back to Trading Places — the terrible, very bad, absolutely horrible VC secondaries podcast with Dave McClure and Aman Verjee.This week is a full-spectrum market tour: the latest rumors swirling around Elon’s empire (SpaceX + Tesla + xAI), the mega-rounds and IPO chess games of Anthropic + OpenAI, the reality check hitting public SaaS multiples reported by Jamin Ball, and a deep dive into secondaries, LP liquidity, and why DPI is suddenly the only thing anyone cares about.We’re joined by Anurag Chandra (operator → investor → allocator) for a rare look inside how real capital allocators think: risk budgets, time horizons, pension constraints, and why governance + incentives matter more than “manager genius.” Then we head to Valuation Corner LATAM with Karin from the Practical VC team for a breakdown of Latin America unicorns, the IPO window reopening, and what could be next after PicPay’s IPO — plus why Brazil’s Pix changed the game.Timestamps:0:00 – cold open00:53 – [ news ]1:13 – Elon Inc: xAI + SpaceX + Tesla 🚀6:06 – Anthropic doubles to $350B 💰8:16 – OpenAI Q4 IPO 🏁12:25 – Ethos Technologies $200M US IPO 🔔13:55 – AI eats SaaS 🍽️16:00 – Kevin Warsh Fed chair nod 🪑19:04 – Waymo $110B valuation 🚕21:37 – Social media goes on trial 👩🏽‍⚖️24:11 – MoltBook viral swarm AI 🦞30:31 – [ intvw: Anurag Chandra ]32:05 – $2B VC money managed 💪33:12 – Family office fundamentals 💼37:40 – San Jose Pension Fund success 🙌38:17 – Future of San Jose 🔮1:01:32 – [ val corner: PicPay $2.5B IPO ] 1:02:07 – Analysis: LatAm exit market & liquidity history1:03:43 – top LatAm unicorns 🦄1:11:44 – PicPay & fintech competition1:17:46 – second takes[ links ][ invest = https://practicalvc.com ][ trading places socials = www.linktr.ee/tradingplacespod ][ anurag chandra = https://www.linkedin.com/in/anchandra/ ][ karin tenenboim = https://www.linkedin.com/in/ktenenboim/ | https://x.com/LadyChutzpa ][ aman verjee = https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-verjee | https://x.com/amanverjee ][ dave mcclure = https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemcclure | https://x.com/davemcclure ]*This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice.#secondarymarkets #secondaries #venturecapital #tradingplacespod #davemcclure #amanverjee