--- title: "Neostellar, a fund holding OpenAI and VAST Data, values itself at $12.64 a share; the market pays $5.76" description: "The only listed fund holding VAST Data, OpenAI and WHOOP reported $12.64 of net asset value per share; the stock changed hands near $5.76. The gap is the market auditing private AI marks in real time." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Economy" published: 2026-11-08T16:15:28.953Z modified: 2026-11-08T16:15:28.953Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/neostellar-a-fund-holding-openai-and-vast-data-values-itself-at-12-64-a-share-the-market-pays-5-76 language: en keywords: "Private Markets, Net Asset Value, Listed Funds, VAST Data, OpenAI, WHOOP" --- # Neostellar, a fund holding OpenAI and VAST Data, values itself at $12.64 a share; the market pays $5.76 > The only listed fund holding VAST Data, OpenAI and WHOOP reported $12.64 of net asset value per share; the stock changed hands near $5.76. The gap is the market auditing private AI marks in real time. Neostellar Capital (NSLR), a business development company, a Nasdaq-listed fund that buys stakes in private venture-backed firms, [told investors on November 3](https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/neostellar-capital-corp-reports-third-quarter-2026-financial-results-1036709330) that its assets were worth $12.64 a share [1][3]. Four days later [the stock traded near $5.76](https://www.ainvest.com/news/5-76-stock-carrying-12-64-assets-neostellar-nav-discount-realization-bet-2611/) [1]. A closed-end fund's book is only as good as its marks, and this week the market put its own price on those marks: about 46 cents for a manager-certified dollar [1]. The fund, externally managed by Neostellar Advisors, a joint venture with Magnetar, holds 34 companies including [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai), [VAST Data](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/vast-data), [CoreWeave](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/coreweave), TensorWave, [ClickHouse](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/clickhouse) and WHOOP [3][4]. Its September 30 net assets were $334.7 million, down from $13.44 to $12.64 per share in the quarter [3]. A year earlier NAV was $9.23, so book value rose even as the shares fell roughly 55% in four months [1]. ## The prints are running below the marks The mechanism is WHOOP. The fitness company, 38% of the portfolio at $143.3 million, was cut because real secondary-market buyers paid less than the March round's $10.1 billion valuation [1][4]. Exits confirmed the gap: Learneo sold for $9.4 million against a roughly $5.6 million realized loss, and Aventine and Catona were written off [3][4]. Neostellar chairman and CEO Mark Klein said [the March financing does not independently set the value of the specific shares the fund owns](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/neostellar-capital-q3-earnings-call-021405664.html) [4]. Notably, VAST Data, held through a Series B preferred stake worth $34.0 million, was not among the names marked down [3]. Its test has not come yet. ## What VAST announced the same week VAST Data's own [November 5 release](https://www.vastdata.com/press-releases/leading-ai-builders-massive-commitments-vast-powered-infrastructure) claims more than $10 billion in aggregate commitments this year from 14 customers, four over $1 billion each, 9 of the top 10 frontier labs on its platform, and over 200 exabytes of flash supply locked through 2029 [2]. Commitments are not cash; they are the demand case for a $30 billion private valuation [2]. This builds on [The Inference's November 1 piece](https://theinference.org/article/hyundai-and-kia-bought-a-stake-in-vast-data-the-ai-storage-vendor-coreweave-put-1-17-billion-behind), which reported VAST's founders' case that debt-free private companies can wait out an IPO [2]. What is new since: the $10 billion commitments release, and the first public mark on this class of paper from the one listed fund that holds it [2]. *Chart: **WHOOP alone is 38% of Neostellar's portfolio** Bars chart of Neostellar's five largest holdings by fair value at September 30, 2026, ranked from WHOOP at $143.3 million down to Blink Health at $13.1 million.* *Fair value of Neostellar Capital's five largest holdings at September 30, 2026, $ millions, per the company's Q3 2026 press release; together about 72% of a $377.2 million portfolio. Source: Neostellar press release via Markets Insider, November 3, 2026. [3]* ## The fund's own cash plan comes before any buyback Klein has $40.9 million in cash, and the 6.00% notes due December 30 get repaid first; he called retiring that debt "paramount" [3][4]. Only after monetizations free up cash does the $25 million buyback, extended to October 2027, get deployed, and only if shares keep trading at a substantial discount to NAV [1][3]. A $20 million Magnetar note converts to stock after a $230 million raise, a dilution clause that hangs over any large financing [3]. ## Two clocks now tick on the same paper VAST counts commitments; the market counts prints. Watch the year-end debt payoff and the next WHOOP secondary print: those, not the press release, price the book. *Chart: **NAV rose to $12.64 while the traded price sank to $7.69 and then $5.76** Line chart of NSLR net asset value per share at September 30, 2025, June 30, 2026, and September 30, 2026, against the market price where reported, with a gap visible at September 2026.* *Net asset value per share from Neostellar's Q3 2026 release; market price per share at period end as reported in the same release ($9.00 at September 2025, $7.69 at September 2026). No market price is reported for June 2026, so that point is absent from the price line. By November 7 the stock traded near $5.76 per Ainvest. Source: Neostellar press release via Markets Insider, November 3, 2026; Ainvest, November 8, 2026. [1][3]* ## Takeaway The market pays 46 cents for Neostellar's certified dollar; the year-end note payoff and the next WHOOP secondary print, not a press release, will set the price of the book. ## Sources 1. [Ainvest, "A $5.76 Stock Carrying $12.64 of Assets: Neostellar's NAV Discount Is a Realization Bet", 8 November 2026](https://www.ainvest.com/news/5-76-stock-carrying-12-64-assets-neostellar-nav-discount-realization-bet-2611/) 2. [VAST Data press release, "Leading AI Builders Make Massive Commitments to VAST-Powered Infrastructure", 5 November 2026](https://www.vastdata.com/press-releases/leading-ai-builders-massive-commitments-vast-powered-infrastructure) 3. [Neostellar Capital Corp. press release via GlobeNewswire/Markets Insider, "Neostellar Capital Corp. Reports Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results", 3 November 2026](https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/neostellar-capital-corp-reports-third-quarter-2026-financial-results-1036709330) 4. [MarketBeat via Yahoo Finance, "Neostellar Capital Q3 Earnings Call Highlights", 3 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/neostellar-capital-q3-earnings-call-021405664.html) --- Neostellar, a fund holding OpenAI and VAST Data, values itself at $12.64 a share; the market pays $5.76 — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/neostellar-a-fund-holding-openai-and-vast-data-values-itself-at-12-64-a-share-the-market-pays-5-76