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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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Venture Capital: Payroll Company Deel Raises $156M In Series C Funding, Turns Unicorn
Deel, the payroll company, announced Wednesday its Series C raise of $156 million at a valuation of $1.25 billion. The round earned the company its horn and was co-led by YC Continuity, Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital. Deel has now raised $206 million in total, and most of it in the space of just a year.
FinTech: Revolut Prepping For India Launch; Hires Country Lead
Global fintech and challenger bank Revolut is planning to set up shop in India and has appointed Paroma Chatterjee, previously of Lendingkart, Via.com, Flipkart, and Airtel Money, as its CEO for the Indian venture. Chatterjee was named as one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Financial Technology of Asia for 2020.
Artificial Intelligence: The European Commission Declares Its Regulatory Approach To AI
The European Commission (EC) on Wednesday set forth new rules and actions for governing AI with the twin objectives of guaranteeing the safety and fundamental rights of people and businesses while strengthening AI uptake, investment, and innovation across the EU.
Digital Assets: Nearly 63% Of U.S. Adults Are “Crypto Curious” (Gemini Survey)
The “2021 State of U.S. Crypto Report” from Gemini takes a look at what investors and crypto-curious consumers in the United States think about cryptos after new trends that emerged in 2020. These include rising institutional interest and corporate actions by companies such as Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) that fuelled a huge rally in bitcoin.
Alternative Investments/ESG: The First “Green Building” ETF From Invesco Will List Today
Invesco has launched a first-of-its-kind ETF focused on companies that have a “green” slant to their operations in the buildings sector – which accounts for a whopping 38% of global carbon emissions according to the UN Environment Program.
Digital Assets: Bitcoin Could Tank 50%, Says Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd
Speaking on CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange” Guggenheim Partners’ Scott Minerd warned that bitcoin could see another of its gut-wrenching declines – as much as 50% – as the leading crypto had likely had run too hot, too quickly. Long-term, however, Minerd remained bullish on bitcoin.
Venture Capital: Electric Flying Ferry Startup Regent Raises $9M
“Regent” stands for Regional Electric Ground Effect Naval Transport. Boston-based startup Regent focuses on coastal, maritime transportation using electric sea gliders as ferries that are zero-emission and fly at ultra-low-altitudes at cruise speeds of 180 mph. The service would need no airport security and is highly cost-effective because it saves on fuel costs, maintenance and…
Artificial Intelligence: Cerebras Systems Unveils WSE-2, A Monster AI Chip With 2.6T Transistors
Cerebras Systems, which is building a new class of computers to accelerate artificial intelligence work by orders of magnitude beyond what is currently possible, announced Tuesday the launch of the Wafer Scale Engine 2 (WSE-2), the largest processor ever made. The new chip will power the Cerebras CS-2, the industry’s fastest AI computer, which will now run at 2X the speed of the first-generation CS-1.
FinTech: Fresh From A £322M Funding Round, Starling May Target Another Lender
Boden said at the event that Starling now had the wherewithal to buy out another lender. Further, responding to the U.K. Government’s newly-announced fast-track “scale up” visas proposal, she said there was no need for these because home-grown talent was available in plenty within the U.K.
Alternative Investments: Disruptor-Focused, Hyper-Concentrated ETFs From Volt Equity
Volt Equity, the boutique investment firm based in Silicon Valley, has joined with Simplify Asset Management to launch a new class of ETFs that are highly concentrated in their exposure and come with an inbuilt options strategy. These ETFs allow investors to “bet big” on companies that are disruptors in their field, or are creating new industries, yet also offer a cushion against downsides. The target audience for these ETFs is Robinhood-era bull investors.
FinTech: Cryptocurrencies Now On Venmo
Social payments, or P2P, app Venmo has launched the facility to buy, sell or hold cryptocurrencies from within its app. Users can buy bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, or bitcoin cash with as little as $1 and enjoy the thrills of owning cryptocurrencies.
Venture Capital: Zoom Announces $100M Zoom Apps Venture Fund
Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM) said Monday it was launching the Zoom Apps Fund, a new $100 million venture fund created to stimulate growth of Zoom’s ecosystem of Zoom Apps, integrations, developer platform, and hardware.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Its Raining Crypto ETF Approvals In Canada, But Fee Wars Erupt In Ether
Canadian regulators cleared three Ethereum ETFs last week. These were funds from Purpose Investments, CI Global Asset Management, and Evolve ETFs that are expected to commence trading today. Meanwhile, the fourth bitcoin ETF to be approved by Canada, the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin ETF, commenced trading on the TSX effective Monday. Unsurprisingly, the (surfeit?) of new ETFs has resulted in a chase for investors’ dollars, and fee cuts have been announced.
Digital Assets: CBDC Tid-Bits
The Bank of England and HM Treasury announced Monday the joint creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Taskforce to coordinate the exploration of a potential UK CBDC. Slowly, but steadily, more and more central banks and governments across the globe are waking up to the potential of CBDCs.
Artificial Intelligence: Sony AI’s Flavorgraph Points Chefs To Innovative Food Pairings
Sony AI and researchers at Korea University put their heads together to develop an AI tool called FlavorGraph that could come up with innovative ingredient pairings to help chefs develop new, delicious dishes.
Digital Assets: The U.K. Makes Exploratory Moves Towards CBDC
The Bank of England and HM Treasury today announced the joint creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Taskforce to coordinate the exploration of a potential UK CBDC. However, in a statement, the Bank said no final decision has been made on whether to launch a CBDC in the U.K., and that the Bank and the Government would “engage widely with stakeholders on the benefits, risks, and practicalities of doing so.”
FinTech: U.K. Challenger Bank Starling Gets £50M From Goldman Sachs
Starling, the U.K.-based digital bank, announced today its raise of £50 million ($69 million) from Goldman Sachs’ growth equity investment arm. The funding came as an extension of the £272 million Series D round announced in March 2021, taking its total fundraising to £322 million. The round had valued the bank at £1.1 billion.
Alternative Investments/Digital: New Ethereum ETFs Launch In Canada
CI Global Asset Management announced Friday that its CI Galaxy Ethereum ETF had been cleared by the Canadian Securities regulators and that the ETF is likely to start trading on the TSX on April 20. On the same day, Purpose Investments Inc said it had received the regulator’s go-ahead for the Purpose Ether ETF which will invest in physical Ether tokens.
Venture Capital: Audio-based Social App Clubhouse Raises Undisclosed Amount Via Series C
With three months of its Series B fundraise, audio-based social app Clubhouse announced Sunday its Series C raise (amount not disclosed) from investors including DST Global, Tiger Global, and Elad Gil. Andrew Chen at a16z led the round at a valuation of $4 billion, according to Reuters.
Artificial Intelligence: Google Cloud And Siemens Tie Up To Bring AI To The Shop Floor
Siemens Digital Industries and Google Cloud announced today a collaboration that will integrate their factory automation solutions and AI/machine learning technologies respectively to enable the scaled deployment of AI-based solutions in industrial manufacturing.
Alternative Investments/Digital: The First Inverse Bitcoin Fund From Horizons ETF Canada
Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc announced the launch of the BetaPro Inverse Bitcoin ETF (TSE: BITI) on the Toronto Stock Exchange effective Thursday. The ETF will allow investors to make bearish bets against bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency. It will provide up to 100% of the inverse daily performance of an index, the Horizons Bitcoin Front Month Rolling Futures Index.
Venture Capital: Amazon Launches $250M SMB And Tech-Focused Venture Fund In India
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) India has launched the Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund, a $250 million fund that will drive technology innovation by small and medium businesses (SMB) in digitization, agriculture, and healthcare.
Digital Assets: BlackRock’s Larry Fink Says Cryptos “Can Become A Great Asset Class”
BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink, giving his views on cryptos in a CNBC interview on Thursday, said large and long-term investors such as retirement funds, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices didn’t appear to be too interested in investing in cryptos.
FinTech: Even, The Earned Wage Access Platform, Has Paid Out $2.5B In On-Demand Pay
Even, the earned wage access platform announced that it had completed the distribution of $2.5 billion in on-demand pay, a facility it has provided since 2017. Earned wage access is a fintech service that allows users to receive on-demand a portion of their wages for hours they have already worked but not yet been paid for by their employer.