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Chipmaker AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) has unveiled a range of innovative AI solutions spanning from data centers to personal computers. The AMD Instinct MI300 Series features data center AI accelerators, while the ROCm 6 open software stack introduces new features supporting Large Language Models (LLMs). Additionally, the Ryzen 8040 Series processors come equipped with Ryzen AI capabilities.
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Alternative Investments/Digital: State Street Digital, A New Division At State Street, To Focus On Crypto
State Street (NYSE: STT), which has $40.3 trillion in assets under custody or administration, said Thursday it is establishing a new digital finance division called State Street Digital. The new unit will focus on digital financial services for crypto, tokenization, blockchain and CBDCs.
Venture Capital: UAL Floats United Airlines Ventures For Innovation In Travel And Sustainability
United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) announced its new corporate venture fund, United Airlines Ventures, on Thursday. The fund’s brief is to invest in emerging companies that could reinvent travel and aviation while engaging with startups that advance sustainability. These innovative companies and their technologies would help UAL meet its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 – without relying on traditional carbon offsets.
Digital Assets: IMF Has Reservations On El Salvador’s Bitcoin Move
The IMF warned Thursday that El Salvador’s move to adopt bitcoin as a legal currency in parallel with the US dollar could have various economic and legal repercussions. El Salvador’s Congress this week approved a proposal to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, a historic and “world-first” move that sparked a sharp rally in the price of the cryptocurrency.
FinTech: Mexican Payments Platform Clip Raises $250M, Turns Unicorn
Clip, a Mexican digital payments and commerce platform founded in 2012, announced June 10, its raise of $250 million in a round led by the SoftBank Latin America Fund and Viking Global Investors LP. The round valued Clip at approximately $2 billion.
Artificial Intelligence: The Biden Administration Establishes Task Force For The National AI Research Resource (NAIRR)
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced Thursday the establishment of the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Resource (NAIRR) Task Force.
Digital Assets: Ledger, The Hardware Wallet Maker For Crypto, Nabs $380M
Ledger, the Paris-based manufacturer of hardware wallets that hold cryptos including bitcoin, announced today the close of its Series C funding of $380 million led by 10T Holdings. The round gave Ledger an implied valuation of more than $1.5 billion, and saw participation by existing investors including Cathay Innovation, Draper Esprit, Draper Associates, Draper Dragon, DCG, Korelya Capital, and Wicklow Capital. New investors included Tekne Capital, Uphold Ventures, Felix Capital, Inherent, Financière Agache (Groupe Arnault), and iAngels Technologies.
FinTech: With $639M In The Bag, Klarna Notches Massive $45.6B Valuation
Klarna, the Swedish fintech best known for its buy-now-pay-later offering, announced today its raise of $639 million in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. It included participation by Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and WestCap Group, all existing investors. Klarna achieved a post-money valuation of a staggering $45.6 billion.
Alternative Investments/ESG: A New ETF From iClima For Exposure To Distributed Renewable Generation
iClima Earth, a fintech with a mission to decarbonize the planet, will launch an ETF, the world’s first, focusing on companies promoting the decentralisation of energy generation. The term refers to industries that enable the creation and management of clean energy close to the point of use, for example at home.
Venture Capital: Swedish “Green” Battery Maker Northvolt Raises $2.75B
Northvolt AB, the Swedish battery developer and manufacturer said Wednesday that it closed a $ 2.75 billion private placement co-led by new investors AP funds 1-4, via the co-owned company, 4 to 1 Investments, and OMERS, one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plans, alongside existing investors Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Volkswagen Group (ETR: VOW3). Northvolt will use the funds to expand its battery capacity and boost its R&D efforts.
Artificial Intelligence: FDA Grants Breakthrough Device Designation To Israeli Startup Ibex’s AI-Powered Galen Platform For Cancer Detection
In a situation where there is a growing and alarming scarcity of trained pathologists, and a rising number of tissue biopsies to be scanned for cancer, Ibex Medical Analytics has deployed AI to address the gap. It announced Wednesday that it won Breakthrough Device Designation from the U.S. FDA for its Galen cancer detection platform.
Venture Capital: Oversubscribed RET Ventures Fund II Closes With $165M For “Rent Tech”
RET Ventures announced Tuesday the final close of its second fund, RET Ventures Fund II, at $165 million. The fund received “extremely strong” interest and exceeded its initial target of $130 million. The investors in the fund were a group of real estate “strategic” investors focused on real estate technology for rental properties.
Digital Assets: El Salvador Makes History Adopting Bitcoin As Legal Tender Alongside The US Dollar
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s proposal to make bitcoin legal tender in the country was greenlighted by its lawmakers on Tuesday night by a solid 62/84 majority. El Salvador does not have a currency of its own and uses the US dollar as its official medium of exchange. Now, bitcoin too will function as legal tender alongside the dollar, and every business must accept it as payment.
FinTech: NeoBank Tonik Awarded Philippines’ Digital Banking License
With the award of the two licenses, which marks a further push in favor of fintech banking in Southeast Asia, the Philippines central bank has greenlighted a total of three banks for digital banking in the country. It awarded a license to state-backed Overseas Filipino Bank in March. Tonik had received its initial rural bank license from the BSP in 2019, allowing the neobank to provide retail banking services focused on retail deposits, card payments, and consumer loans. It claims its digital license is the first for any private and purely digital bank in the country.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Is “Extraordinarily Precise” At Diagnosing Sleep Disorders
Sleep disorders range from sleep apnea to insomnia, narcolepsy and many more. For the typical diagnostic procedure (called a polysomnography test—or PSG or sleep study) the patient is admitted into a sleep clinic overnight. Various measuring instruments monitor the patient’s sleep patterns and their data is then reviewed by a sleep specialist. It could take the doctor as long as three hours to analyze the readings. However, an AI algorithm can perform the same task in seconds.
Alternative Investments/ESG: New SPDR ETFs For Dividends As Well As ESG
Three new ETFs from State Street Global Advisors offer investors exposure to equities with high dividend yields from across global, US and eurozone as well as a good ESG profile.
The SPDR S&P Global Dividend Aristocrats ESG UCITS ETF (GEDV), SPDR S&P US Dividend Aristocrats ESG UCITS ETF (UEDV) and SPDR S&P Euro Dividend Aristocrats ESG UCITS ETF (ZPD9) have listed on the Deutsche Boerse and Euronext Amsterdam on 8 June.
Venture Capital: Relativity Space Raises $650M Series E For Its ‘Terran R’ 3D-Printed Rocket
Relativity Space, which builds large-scale 3D printers and 3D-printed a complete rocket, announced today its Series E equity funding of $650 million led by Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC. Other investors included Baillie Gifford, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Centricus, Coatue, K5 Global, Soroban Capital, Tiger Global, Tribe Capital, XN, Brad Buss, Mark Cuban, Jared Leto, and Spencer Rascoff.
Artificial Intelligence: ProtectedBy.AI Launches AI-Powered, Code-Level Defense Against Cyberattacks
AI-driven solutions provider ProtectedBy.AI announced today the launch of CodeLock, claimed to be the first and only solution that continuously monitors an organization’s software at the code level and eliminates malware threats completely.
FinTech: Buffett’s Berkshire Invests $500M In Brazilian Digital Bank Nubank’s $750M Extension Round
Brazilian digital bank Nubank, the largest fintech in Brazil and one of the biggest in the world, on Friday closed a $750 million funding round that included an investment of $500 million by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A).
Digital Assets: In Major Victory, FBI Recovers Most Of Colonial Pipeline Ransom
The US Justice Department announced Monday that most of the ransom money of $4.4 million paid by Colonial Pipeline to DarkSide, the alleged perpetrator of the cyber attack, has been recovered. According to US authorities, this gang operates from Eastern Europe, possibly Russia.
Alternative Investments/Digital: 21Shares Launches Bitcoin ETP On London’s Aquis Exchange
Institutional investors in Britain looking for exposure to bitcoin can now trade a bitcoin exchange traded product (ETP) on the U.K.’s Aquis Exchange. The new ETP, launched by Swiss crypto exchange traded product issuer 21Shares, is named 21Shares bitcoin ETP.
Venture Capital: Trulioo, The Canadian Identity Verification Startup Scores $394M
Trulioo, a Canadian startup offering online ID verification services globally, announced its close of a $394 million series D round of funding at a $1.75 billion valuation. TCV led the funding round, recognizing that the pandemic had boosted the need for global identity verification given the explosion in e-commerce transactions and digital payments.
FinTech: Challenger Bank Dave To Go Public Via $4 Billion SPAC Merger
Challenger bank Dave, which is backed by billionaire Mark Cuban and other investors such as Norwest, Section 32, Capital One, The Kraft Group, SV Angel, and The Chernin Group, said today it was going public by merging with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings III, Inc. (NYSE: VPCC), a so-called Special Purpose Acquisition Company or SPAC.
Digital Assets: MicroStrategy To Scale Up Its Bitcoin Bet By $400M
MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), one of the pioneering corporations to invest their balance sheet reserves in cryptocurrencies, announced today its private offering of $400 million of senior secured notes, due 2028, to qualified institutional buyers and persons outside the United States. The company said it intends to use the proceeds from the sale of the notes to acquire additional bitcoins.
Artificial Intelligence: UK Unit For AI And Quantum Computing To Cost £210M
The UK Government’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) will establish a facility in the UK for quantum computing and machine learning. Titled the Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation (HNCDI), it is being created at the Daresbury Laboratory near Halton in Cheshire.