Investments
Types of investments
Top Story
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.
Get Daily Updates
Subscribe to DailyAlts Today to get Alternative Investment news, insight, and commentary delivered straight to your inbox every day.
More Stories on Investments
Alternative Investments/ESG: Alger Debuts ESG-Focused Growth Equity ETF
Fred Alger Management, LLC has launched the Alger Weatherbie Enduring Growth ETF (NYSEARCA: AWEG), a vehicle suited for investors looking for quality growth stocks that also score well on ESG parameters. The new ETF is a non-transparent, actively managed ETF that will run with a portfolio of 30 or fewer growth stocks.
Digital Assets: Powell Offers Mixed Views On Crypto In Senate Testimony
Speaking before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged the potential of blockchain technology for practical applications in the real world and said that the central bank doesn’t want to stifle crypto innovation, but warned of the industry’s fraud and risks.
FinTech: Alternative Credit Firm Evolution Credit Raises Over $1B
Boston-based alternative credit firm, Evolution Credit Partners Management, has announced the final close of its opportunistic credit strategy, Evolution Credit Opportunity Fund II, L.P. (ECO II). With approximately $1.05 billion of investable capital, the Fund will invest opportunistically across Evolution’s entire credit platform, including leveraged finance and trade finance strategies.
Artificial Intelligence: Salesforce Launches EinsteinGPT, Or CRM Powered By Generative AI
Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) has launched Einstein GPT, the first generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology for customer relationship management (CRM). The technology will produce AI-created content across all sales, marketing, IT and service interactions, creating personalized emails and responses and generating targeted content for marketers.
Venture Capital: Salesforce Ventures’ Launches $250M Generative AI Fund, Invests In Cohere AI
Salesforce Ventures has announced a $250 million generative AI fund, with Toronto-based start-up Cohere among the first four companies to receive investment. Cohere, which provides access to large language models and natural language processing tools through one API, has previously raised $170m, including a $125m Series B round in 2021. It is understood to be seeking further investment in a current funding round. Cohere will partner with Salesforce to bring its technology to Salesforce’s enterprise customers.
Fintech: Stripe Raising Funds To Buy Employees’ Shares And Cover Their Tax Bill
Stripe, a payments company, plans to use the funds it raises in its latest round of fundraising to cover a $3.5 billion tax bill. The company is aiming to raise $2.3 billion to cover tax withholdings in Q1 and an additional $500 million and $700 million in taxes later this year and next year respectively, according to a Bloomberg report.
Venture Capital: UK Fintech Abound Lands $601M
Abound, a UK-based consumer lending service, has raised £500m ($601m) in equity and debt funding to expand its open banking business. The start-up, which uses open banking data and machine learning algorithms to offer lower interest loans and develop “better credit scores”, will use the funds to finance loans, bring in more customers and invest in its technology.
Alternative Investments/ESG: A New ETF From First Trust Seeks Out Companies In Democratic EM Countries
First Trust Advisors has launched a new fund, the First Trust Bloomberg Emerging Market Democracies ETF (NYSEARCA: EMDM), which focuses on companies in emerging market countries with high regard for political rights and civil liberties.
Artificial Intelligence: A New AI Tool Could Speed Up The Hunt For Life On Mars
Scientists have developed a new method for optimizing the search for alien life on Mars by training artificial intelligence (AI) to identify sites that are most likely to contain “biosignatures,” or signs of life. The AI framework was trained to find biosignatures in an extreme Chilean environment that is exposed to high levels of radiation and extremely cold temperatures, conditions that are similar to those on Mars.
Venture Capital: Australian Agtech SwarmFarm Robotics Raises A$12M
Australian company SwarmFarm Robotics has secured $12m AUD ($8.3m USD) in a series A funding round, which it will use to launch its technology in North America and expand its SwarmBot platform with new applications. The investment was led by Conexus Venture Capital’s agtech fund Emmertech, based in Canada, with participation from Tribe Global Ventures and Access Capital. Existing investors including Tenacious Ventures, GrainInnovate, and the Grains Research and Development Corporation also joined the round.
Digital Assets: Crypto Exchange Bybit Ties With Mastercard To Launch Crypto Debit Cards
Bybit, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, has launched a debit card, Bybit Card, powered by Mastercard (NYSE: MA) and issued by Moorwand, enabling users to convert their crypto balances into fiat currency to purchase goods and services or withdraw cash from ATMs directly.
FinTech: WhatsApp Gets Brazil’s Nod For Payments To Small Businesses
Guilherme Horn, PhD, Head of WhatsApp, Latin America, announced that Brazil’s Central Bank has authorized the launch of the payment service for small and medium-sized enterprises through WhatsApp.
Artificial Intelligence: Bad Actors Are Using Voice Impersonation To Dupe Victims
Increasingly sophisticated AI allows scammers to replicate someone’s voice with an audio sample that could be as short as just a few sentences. Voice impersonation scams are on the rise in the US. The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has made it easier for bad actors to mimic voices, tricking people into believing that their loved ones are in distress.
FinTech: Klarna Reports Record $1B Loss In 2022
Klarna, the Swedish fintech company that was once Europe’s most valuable private tech firm, has reported its largest annual loss to date in 2022, but is optimistic about its prospects for returning to profitability. The company’s annual losses increased by 47% to SEK10.4bn ($1bn) in the 12 months to December 31, 2022, up from SEK7.1bn ($680m) in the previous year.
Digital Assets: Key Crypto Players Sever Links With Silvergate Capital
On March 2nd, four firms related to cryptocurrency announced that they will no longer be doing business with Silvergate Capital (NYSE: SI). This decision was made after Silvergate revealed in an SEC filing that it was delaying its annual report due to ongoing investigations. (PYMNTS)
Venture Capital: Fertility Facilitator Kindbody Lands $100M
Kindbody has raised $100 million in capital from Perceptive Advisors, a leading life sciences investment firm, to support future company growth. This latest financing brings Kindbody’s total equity and debt funding to more than $290 million and its valuation to $1.8 billion, making it the largest women-owned fertility company serving employers and consumers.
FinTech: Zenus Bank Ties With Visa To Issue Debit Cards Across 46 Countries
Zenus Bank and Visa (NYSE: V) have extended their partnership, and Zenus has become the first bank to launch a single Visa Infinite Debit Card to customers across the globe. Zenus offers true US bank accounts remotely to people in over 46 countries and provides a virtual Visa Infinite debit card, and a physical card can be received in under 10 days.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Can Be Useful For Reinventing Business Processes
In the 1990s, companies used enterprise resource planning systems and the internet to carry out business process reengineering (BPR) in order to bring about radical changes to broad end-to-end business processes. However, the implementation of such systems often failed to meet expectations.
Digital Assets: Binance Creates AI-Fueled Frenzy On Bicasso, Its NFT Generator
Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume, has announced the launch of Bicasso, an AI-based art generation platform that allows users to create and mint NFTs on demand. The beta version of Bicasso was launched on March 1, but the overwhelming demand for the platform caused technical issues, with the hard cap of 10,000 NFT mints selling out within just 2.5 hours.
FinTech: Payments Giant Stripe May Accept A Lower, $50B Valuation In Funding Round
As negotiations progress, investors are reportedly seeking to lower the Stripe valuation. Payments processing company Stripe has reduced the valuation of its $55 billion fundraise by around 10%, according to sources cited by The Information. The valuation has been reduced from $23 per share to around $20 per share, bringing the company’s overall valuation down…
Artificial Intelligence: Bridgewater Post-Dalio – More AI And Machine Learning, Less People
CEO Nir Bar Dea is now at the helm of Bridgewater. Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, is adopting a new strategy under the leadership of CEO Nir Bar Dea, following its founder Ray Dalio’s departure five months ago. Bar Dea’s strategy aims to improve returns, increase profitability, and develop new sources of revenue….
Venture Capital: 8VC Raises $880M For Its Fund V
8VC has launched its fifth fund with $880 million in new capital to support and partner with entrepreneurs at all stages of their journey, and to build companies. Despite the evolution of the venture world over the last decade, big problems remain, and innovative people from all over the planet are inspired to address them through technology. 8VC’s mission to “fix a broken world” remains the same, and it works with founders to chase dreams and explore the vast uncharted wilderness yet to be explored.
Liquid Alternatives: Man Group Anticipates Higher Demand For Liquid Alternatives This Year
Man Group (LON: EMG), one of the largest publicly traded hedge funds, has reported higher pre-tax profit in 2022, up from 2021, and raised its core net revenue by 14%. The UK-based asset manager has said that it expects more demand for liquid alternative strategies this year after delivering positive returns for investors from the strategy in 2022.
FinTech: CoreLogic Acquires Digital Mortgage Platform Roostify
CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), a property information and analytics provider, has acquired digital mortgage platform Roostify for an undisclosed amount. The integration of Roostify’s digital lending platform with CoreLogic’s data and analytics suite will allow lenders to access important data on borrowers and properties early in the lending process, resulting in a faster and more efficient customer experience with lower underwriting expenses.