Storm Duncan offers Mill Valley home for Anthropic equity

Storm Duncan, an investment banker and homeowner, has proposed a unique transaction for his 13-acre property in Mill Valley, located just north of San Francisco. Rather than pursuing a traditional cash sale, Duncan has created a dedicated LinkedIn page for the Bay Area estate, stating that he would like to exchange the property for equity in the AI company Anthropic.

According to a report by The San Francisco Standard, Duncan described the proposed trade as a diversification play. Duncan, a homeowner and investment banker, stated that he is “under-concentrated in AI investments relative to the importance of AI in the future, and over-concentrated in real estate.” He suggested that a potential buyer, such as an early Anthropic employee, might be in the exact opposite scenario. To discuss specific terms of the transaction, Duncan is asking interested parties to email him directly. He noted that the exchange would be structured as a private transaction and would not require the buyer to sell their stock outright. Under the proposed structure, the homebuyer would retain 20% of the upside value of the shares during the lockup period, which is a window of time during which shareholders are restricted from selling their shares.

Duncan, who described himself as a longtime Bay Area resident who relocated to Miami during the pandemic, originally purchased the Mill Valley property in 2019 for $4.75 million. While he is now looking to trade the property to rebalance his investment portfolio, the home remains occupied. Duncan stated that the estate is currently occupied by a high-profile venture capitalist, though he declined to identify the individual.

Why it matters

This unconventional barter highlights the extreme demand for AI equity among private investors, who are increasingly willing to leverage illiquid assets like luxury real estate to secure positions in high-growth AI firms.