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
Venture Capital: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Launches Its Falcon Heavy Rocket On National Security Mission
Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Tuesday launched a classified USSF-44 mission for the U.S. Space Force on board its towering Falcon Heavy rocket. The launch came more than three years after the Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission in June 2019, which carried experimental satellites on a demonstration flight for the Pentagon. It was also the company’s record 50th launch this year from the Falcon series, with most from the Falcon 9.
Artificial Intelligence: Israeli Research Institute MIGAL Applies AI To Quadruple Cucumbers’ Postharvest Life
The MIGAL Galilee Research Institute (MIGAL), a regional mega-R&D center supported by Israel’s Ministry of Science and Technology, has extended the postharvest life of cucumbers from two to nine weeks. The cucumber is a sensitive fruit with a high wastage rate due to its average postharvest storage lifespan of less than two weeks.
Artificial Intelligence: Silver Lake Backed Bayanat AI Triples On IPO Debut In Abu Dhabi
An Initial Public Offer (IPO) by Bayanat AI, a company owned by Abu Dhabi’s G42, and backed by IHC, the most valuable firm in the United Arab Emirates, proved to be highly successful on its trading debut today on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX). Shares of Bayanat AI, whose IPO was oversubscribed over 90X, more than tripled from their IPO price of 1.10 dirhams each, but closed the day at 4.10 dirhams, with gains of 272%.
Venture Capital: Indian B2B E-Commerce Platform Udaan Raises $120M
An internal email sent by Aditya Pandey, the CFO of Indian business-to-business e-commerce major Udaan revealed that the startup has raised $120 million in convertible notes and debt led by existing shareholders and bondholders.
Digital Assets: Google Cloud Launches Blockchain Node Engine, A Fully Managed Node-Hosting Service
Google Cloud announced today a product for fully managed node-hosting for Web3 development – its Blockchain Node Engine – which minimizes the need for node operations. The Blockchain Node Engine will first support the Ethereum blockchain, providing developers with fully managed Ethereum nodes with secure blockchain access.
Digital Assets: FTX CEO And Billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried Confirms The Crypto Platform May Launch Stablecoin
FTX CEO and crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried said during an interview with The Big Whale that FTX would probably launch its own stablecoin, thus joining the ranks of other crypto exchanges such as Binance, with its Binance USD (BUSD) issued by Paxos, and Coinbase, which launched the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin in collaboration with Circle.
Liquid Alternatives: Simplify Launches Two New Income ETFs With Low Correlation To Credit And Duration Risks
Simplify Asset Management as launched two new ETFs designed to enhance portfolio yield without significant credit or duration exposure, and which use sophisticated option-writing algorithms to enhance returns.
FinTech: India’s Money View In Talks To Raise $150M At $1B Valuation
Sources have told The Economic Times that Money View, an Indian fintech, is in talks to raise up to $150 million at a valuation of $900 million to $925 million pre-money and over $1 billion post-money. The sources also revealed that global private equity giant Apis Partners is expected to join as a new investor and also lead the round.
FinTech: Stripe Makes Its Debut In Thailand
Global payments network Stripe has launched operations in Thailand, competing head-to-head with other payments players including PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) and local players including Omise and 2C2P. Stripe has emerged from a beta phase held in Thailand over the past year during which it says thousands of companies have signed up for its services. Thailand marks Stripe’s expansion into its third Southeast Asia market, after Singapore and Malaysia.
Venture Capital: Australian VC Square Peg Raises $550M For Two Funds
Square Peg, an Australian VC firm, announced its raise of $550 million, a so-called “fifth generation” of funds, for the Square Peg Fund 4 and Opportunities Fund 2. The firm has now received capital commitments in excess of $1.6 billion since it launched a decade ago. The size and timing of the raise is noteworthy given the global macroeconomic situation and the meltdown in technology valuations.
Venture Capital: Black-Owned VC Firm Collide Capital Raises $66M From Top Investors
Collide Capital, a VC firm founded in 2016 by Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels, seeks to back founders best positioned to solve the next generation of global challenges. The firm announced Thursday its debut VC fund of $ 66 million backed by nameplate investors. These include the University of California endowment as anchor, Citi, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR).
Artificial Intelligence: Study Finds AI-Enabled Drones Can Reliably Detect Sharks Near Beaches
Intelligent Systems for Planetary Good, led by Dr Cormac Purcell, and other researchers have published a study that investigated the ability of commodity deep learning algorithms to detect marine objects in video footage from drones, with a focus on distinguishing between shark species. The objective was to improve upon current drone-based shark surveillance methods which are effective, safe and affordable, but are labor intensive and rely heavily on pilot skill to detect sharks.
Artificial Intelligence: Google Acquired Alter, An AI Avatar Startup, Two Months Ago
The fact of the Alter acquisition was not made public. TechCrunch reported Thursday that Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) had made a hush-hush acquisition of Alter, an AI avatar startup that helps developers put avatars into games and apps. The transaction, estimated at $100 million, occurred a couple of months ago but was disclosed only now to…
Alternative Investments/ESG: VanEck Launches Thematic ETF Focusing On The Circular Economy
VanEck Asset Management has launched the VanEck Circular Economy UCITS ETF (REUS), a thematic ETF focusing on the circular economy that keeps materials, products, and services in circulation for as long possible. The ETF is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Digital Assets: Blockchain.com Launches Marqeta-Powered Visa Debit Card For Crypto
Blockchain.com has launched its Blockchain Visa debit card that leverages Visa’s (NYSE: V) payments network and Marqeta’s (NASDAQ: MQ) modern card issuing platform to let U.S. residents spend from a crypto balance fee-free and earn 1% crypto rewards.
FinTech: Bilt Rewards, The Credit Card For Renters, Lands $150M Funding
Bilt Rewards, a credit card and loyalty program offered to renters to help build their credit and earn rewards on rent payments, has landed a $150 million round led by Left Lane Capital with participation from banking giant Wells Fargo, Smash Capital, Greystar, Invitation Homes, Camber Creek, Fifth Wall and Prosus Ventures. Bilt earned a valuation of $1.5 billion in the funding.
Venture Capital: Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Temasek And Others To Launch Agritech For Rice Cultivation Decarbonization
Wavemaker Impact, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GenZero, and Singapore’s Temasek have come together to create an innovative agritech that will promote rice decarbonization in Southeast Asia and the rest of Asia. The agritech will identify strategies to cut rice field emissions using a combination of climate-tech, agri-food, and venture-building capabilities.
Venture Capital: Saudi Aramco Launches $1.5B Sustainability Fund
Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL: 2222) announced Wednesday a $1.5 billion Sustainability Fund to be managed by Aramco Ventures, its venture capital arm. The Fund would support Aramco’s ambitions to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions across its wholly-owned operated assets by 2050, development of new lower-carbon fuels businesses, and furthering Aramco’s broader environmental objectives.
Artificial Intelligence: Self-Driving Startup Argo AI Shuts Down, Parts To Be Absorbed By Backers Ford, VW
The signs were all there. In July, Argo AI, the self-driving startup backed by Ford (NYSE: F) and Volkswagen (ETR: VOW) laid off 150 jobs and slowed down its hiring. At the time the company attributed the action to “prudent adjustments to our business plan.” Three months down the line, Argo has downed shutters, with parts of it being taken over by Ford and VW.
Venture Capital: Walmart To Raise Upto $3B For Indian E-Commerce Subsidiary Flipkart
A news report said Flipkart, Walmart’s (NYSE: WMT) Indian e-commerce subsidiary was mulling a fundraise of $2 – 3 billion at a valuation of over $40 billion to drive a country-wide expansion. Last year, Flipkart raised $3.6 billion in a funding round that had the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, GIC, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Walmart as investors. That round gave it a valuation of $37.6 billion.
Artificial Intelligence: Shutterstock Ties With Open AI To Launch AI-Generated Content Capabilities
The Shutterstock partnership with OpenAI will deliver the most advanced creative tools in the industry. Creative platform Shutterstock (NYSE: SSTK) has announced a partnership with OpenAI to launch its AI-generated content capabilities in a manner that is responsible and transparent for its customers and contributors, and a fund to compensate artists for their contributions to…
Alternative Investments/ESG: Global X Launches Green Metals ETF In Australia
Global X ETFs Australia, which is a part of international investment manager Mirae Asset Financial, has launched the Global X Green Metal Miners ETF (ASX: GMTL). The new ETF provides investors with exposure to international companies producing critical metals for clean energy infrastructure and technologies, including lithium, copper, nickel, rare earths and cobalt. These are all minerals used extensively in the production, transmission and storage of renewable energy, and which will be instrumental in worldwide efforts to fight global warming as governments and companies alike strive to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Alternative Investments/ESG: IndexIQ Launches High Yield And Equity ESG Funds
IndexIQ has launched the IQ MacKay ESG High Income ETF (IQHI) and the IQ Candriam ESG U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF (IQSM). The funds expand further the firm’s existing lineup of ESG investment solutions.
FinTech: Nirvana Money Offers A Hybrid Credit-Cum-Debit Card
Bill Harris has launched Nirvana Money, a credit card that also works like a debit card, allowing for the best of both worlds. It allows the user to use credit when they need it, and cash when they have it. The product also includes an inbuilt gamified rewards program. Intending users need to put their names onto a waiting list, however.