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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: Troubled Indian On-Line Education Startup Byju’s Wants To Restructure $1.2B Loan
Byju’s, the storied Indian educational startup that last scored a valuation of $22 billion, is seeking to renegotiate the terms of its $1.2 billion dollar loan amidst a surge in interest rates and steep losses in its business.
Digital Assets: Ledger Launches Stax, A Hardware Wallet Designed By Tony Fadell Of iPod Fame
Digital hardware maker Ledger has launched Stax, a new digital wallet designed by Tony Fadell, the builder of the iPod. It can be used to store and manage an NFT collection and over 500 coins and assets.
FinTech: Curve Amasses $1B Funding To Scale Its Curve Flex Lending Business
Financial superapp Curve has secured a $1 billion loan facility from Credit Suisse (SWX: CSGN) to grow Curve Flex, its lending business, in the UK, the EU and the United States. Curve Flex enables users to better plan their cash flows and reduce borrowing costs.
Artificial Intelligence: AI And A Camera Can Now Measure Your Blood Pressure
Researchers from the University of South Australia and Baghdad’s Middle Technical University have developed an innovative technique to monitor blood pressure using a digital camera and AI algorithms. The new method could be a vast improvement on the current system (the digital sphygmomanometer) of using an inflatable cuff tied to a patient’s arm or wrist.
FinTech: Sunbit Raises $250M Revolving Debt Facility
Sunbit has closed a $250 million revolving credit facility with an affiliate of Credit Suisse AG (SWX: CSGN), with access provided by Sector Financial, Inc., a Credit Suisse AG affiliate, and Waterfall Asset Management. The facility will enable Sunbit to power further growth for its Sunbit Card, a next-generation, no-fee credit card, and point-of-sale payment options offered at more than 16,000 service locations, including auto dealership service centers, optical practices, dentist offices, veterinary clinics, and specialty healthcare services.
Digital Assets: Who Owns Customer-Deposited Coins At Celsius? Judge To Decide
US Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn will soon decide on the vexed question of the ownership of the coins deposited by customers with crypto lender Celsius for earning interest income. Celsius is in bankruptcy proceedings and has asked the court’s permission to sell $18 million of coins held on its balance sheet to pay for ongoing expenses.
Artificial Intelligence: Facebook Dating Will Use Facial Scanning To Detect Underage Users
“We’re bringing our age verification tools to Facebook Dating to verify that only adults are using the service, and to continue our efforts in preventing minors from accessing it,” said a blog post Monday by Meta (NASDAQ: META), the parent company of Facebook Dating. Users would be provided two options to verify their age, one of which is to take a video selfie.
Alternative Investments/ESG: DWS Launches Paris-Aligned Emerging Market Equity ETF
DWS has launched the Xtrackers Emerging Markets Net Zero Pathway Paris Aligned UCITS ETF listed on Deutsche Boerse and the London Stock Exchange, with other exchanges to follow. Providing exposure to emerging market equities the ETF aims to achieve 50% lower carbon use amongst its constituents.
Venture Capital: Defense Startup Anduril Mops Up Giant $1.48B Funding
California-based defense and security startup Anduril raised a $1.48 billion Series E led by Valor Equity Partners, with participation from Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, 8VC, Lux Capital, Thrive Capital, DFJ Growth, Elad Gil, Lachy Groom, Human Capital, Marlinspike, WCM Investment Management, MVP Ventures, Lightspeed Venture and US Innovative Technology Fund.
FinTech: Global Fintech Intuit Acquires SeedFi, Which Helps Low, Or No-Credit Borrowers Build Credit
Following from a partnership struck last year between Intuit’s Credit Karma and SeedFi, the partner behind Credit Karma’s Credit Builder product, Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) has now acquired SeedFi for undisclosed terms. SeedFi enables members make regular payments, starting with as little as $20 per month or $10 per paycheck. By reporting these payments to the credit bureaus, members took steps toward improving their financial health and increased their credit score.
Artificial Intelligence: Bionaut Labs Raises $43.2M For Its Micro Robots That Swim Inside The Human Body
Bionaut Labs is developing micro-scale, magnetically guided robots that deliver biologics or small molecule therapies locally to targeted disease areas to help patients suffering from severe brain disorders. The company raised a $43.2 million Series B round led by Khosla Ventures, bringing the company’s total financing raised to date to $63.2 million. New investors Deep Insight, OurCrowd, PSPRS, Sixty Degree Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, GISEV Family Ventures, What if Ventures, Tintah Grace and Gaingels participated alongside existing investors Upfront Ventures, BOLD Capital Partners, Revolution VC, and Compound.
Liquid Alternatives: Arrow Capital Launches Liquid Alternative ETF
Arrow Capital Management, a Canadian alternative investment company, has launched its third actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) series with the Arrow Canadian Advantage Alternative Class (TSX: ACAA), a liquid alternative strategy investing in equity, fixed income, currency and commodity markets.
Digital Assets: Mike Novogratz Hits Out At Sam Bankman-Fried, Calls For His Prosecution
Mike Novogratz, the billionaire CEO of Galaxy Digital (TSE: GLXY), was unequivocally critical about Sam Bankman-Fried’s virtual New York Times (NYT) Dealbook Summit interview.
“I’m hoping that the authorities get to the bottom of this faster,” Novogratz said to Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday, referring to the FTX imbroglio. “Not just for the sanctity of the crypto markets, but for all markets. Markets are based on trust and when you have trust broken like this, it questions everyone else.”
FinTech: Monzo To Turn Profitable In 2023, Says CEO
“We will be profitable in the next financial year,” TS Anil said at the summit on Thursday, though Monzo reported pre-tax losses of £119mn for the 12 months to the end of February 2022 in the financial results it declared in July. Anil’s statement also marks a sea change from 2021, when auditors expressed “material uncertainties” over its ability to remain in business.
Artificial Intelligence: OpenAI Launches ChatGPT, A New Conversational AI System
OpenAI has unveiled ChatGPT, a new AI system that interacts in a conversational way. As part of a dialogue format, ChatGPT answers followup questions, admits its mistakes, challenges incorrect premises, and rejects inappropriate requests. The new model is based on the advanced GPT-3 neural network that OpenAI first debuted in 2020, and was trained using the Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) method.
Artificial Intelligence: Monarch’s Electric, Driver-Optional, Smart Tractor Now In Commercial Production
Monarch Tractor has rolled out the first production model of the MK-V tractor that combines electrification, automation, and data analysis to help farmers reduce their carbon footprint, improve field safety, streamline farming operations, and boost profitability. The company’s first customer is liquor and wine group Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), which has purchased the first six Founder Series MK-V tractors.
Artificial Intelligence: Elon Musk Claims A Neuralink Chip Will Be Implanted In A Human Brain In Six Months
Elon Musk said in a company show-and-tell presentation on Wednesday that Neuralink was readying to plant its first chip into a human brain in six months, after successful testing on monkeys and pigs. According to prior research, a person with paralysis can control a computer mouse or keyboard just by thinking about how they want to move. Neuralink is therefore building a fully implantable, cosmetically invisible brain-computer interface to let a human control a computer or mobile device anywhere they go.
Alternative Investments: Nicholas Wealth Management Launches Fixed Income Alternative ETF
Nicholas Wealth Management has launched its inaugural ETF. The Nicholas Fixed Income Alternative ETF (FIAX US), listed on NYSE Arca, will provide investors with income from short-term US Treasuries as well as an options-based sleeve.
Alternative Investments/ESG: ProShares Launches New ETF For Opportunities In Battery Metals
ProShares has launched the ProShares S&P Global Core Battery Metals ETF ION which will invest in companies that supply the raw metals needed to power the batteries used in the rising number of electric vehicles, laptops, smartphones, and energy storage devices. These are typically metals such as lithium, nickel, or cobalt used in the batteries required to power electric vehicles and other devices.
Venture Capital: Frore, Which Makes Cooling Chips For Consumer Devices, Raises $100M
Frore Systems is a developer of innovative thermal technology for consumer devices. The company’s active cooling chips, AirJet® Mini and AirJet® Pro, are integrated into devices to remove heat silently, delivering 2X improvement in device processor performance. AirJet’s compact size and unique capability enables faster, quieter, thinner, lighter and dust-proof devices. Frore has emerged from stealth, wrapping up a $100 million round from investors including Mayfield, Addition, Clear Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures.
FinTech: 160-Year Old Poste Italiene Ties With Neobank AideXa For Digital Loans To SMBs
Poste Italiene (BIT: PST) has a 160-year old history, approximately 12,800 post offices, 121,000 employees, total financial assets of €586 billion and 35 million customers. Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 2015, the group’s BancoPost unit has announced a tie up with Italy’s largest neobank, Banca AideXa, for fast digital loans to small and medium enterprise customers and sole proprietorships.
FinTech: More Dental Patients Are Opting For Financing Offered By Sunbit
Dental treatment is one of the fastest growing verticals for fintech Sunbit, which provides financing for various everyday expenses that can be large enough to cause cash flow problems for most people. The financing facility offered by Sunbit is now available in over 6,000 dental locations, and in more than 550 DSOs, with more than 500 new offices being added each month. In addition, Sunbit’s technology is integrated with multiple platforms serving small- and medium-sized dental practices.
Digital Assets: Doom And Gloom Predictions, And A Massive Layoff By Kraken
Luminaries from both the financial and crypto worlds are sounding dire warnings about the future of the industry. At an event hosted by the New York Times DealBook, Larry Fink, CEO, BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), said he believed the majority of crypto businesses “are not going to be around” in the future, given that “there were misbehaviours of major consequences.”
Artificial Intelligence: AI Automatically Classifies 1000 Supernovae For Caltech Astronomers
Data is captured every night by the Zwicky Transient Facility or ZTF, a sky survey instrument based at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory, which scans the skies looking for changes (transient events) that could be of interest to astronomers. These alerts have led to the discovery of thousands of supernovae, but the sheer volume of data from ZTF makes its classification and analysis very difficult for humans.