News
Each day, DailyAlts tracks major developments across the alternative investment world. Our content is procured from primary contacts in the industry and secondary sources across the web. Our goal is to give readers the most up-to-date news and engaging experience to open new doors and areas of knowledge. Our stories cover nine separate verticals of the alternative investment industry.
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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: Ynsect, Which Farms Insects, Snags $372M
Ÿnsect is a start-up based in France that farms insects for use as feed for aquaculture and pets, as well as a fertilizer for crops. It is building the world’s largest insect farm in northern France where it will grow mealworms and produce proteins. It raised $ 224 million in its Series C round which culminated with a total of $ 372 million.
FinTech: U.K. Digital Lender Molo Raises £266M As The Pandemic Boosts Demand
Digital lender Molo, which focuses on buy-to-let purchases or remortgages only, raised £ 266 million to cater to a sharp rise in mortgage applications since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Alternative Investments/ESG: New “Blue Economy” Equity ETF From BNP Paribas
Investors looking for sustainable investment opportunities may consider ESG criteria like the blue economy and its sectors such as renewable marine energies, biotechnologies, aquaculture and fishing, tourism and environmental protection. The new BNP Paribas Easy ECPI Global ESG Blue Economy UCITS ETF is tailor-made for this purpose.
Artificial Intelligence: U.K. Plane Manufacturer Plans Pilotless Flight By 2030
Britten-Norman, the only commercial aircraft manufacturer in the U.K., manufactures the world-renowned Islander aircraft. The short take-off and landing plane is a reliable workhorse that serves multiple functions such as transportation of cargo or passengers, search and rescue, and medevac. It also specializes in short-haul flights and is in operation between the Scottish islands, with a capacity of nine passengers. By 2025, Britten-Norman plans to have just one pilot in its planes, and none at all by 2030. For this, it has partnered with Blue Bear, a pioneer and leader in unmanned flight systems.
FinTech: Banking Platform Mambu Ties Up With Digital Lending Platform Ranqx
Global, white-label, SaaS-on-cloud banking platform Mambu will parter with New Zealand-based digital banking platform Ranqx. According to an announcement, RanqX will utilize Mambu’s API-first digital banking platform for loan origination, decisioning, and monitoring as part of a frictionless digital lending experience for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Venture Capital: Instant Needs Platform goPuff Raises $380M At $3.9B Valuation
goPuff, the startup that brings the convenience store to your home, announced Thursday its latest funding round worth $ 350 million led by Accel and D1 Capital Partners. The round helped the everyday fulfillment company garner a valuation of $3.9 billion and included participation by Luxor Capital and previous investor SoftBank Vision Fund.
Digital Assets: Jack Dorsey’s Square Buys $50M of Bitcoin
Square (NYSE: SQ), the payments processing company co-founded by Jack Dorsey, just signaled a massive vote of confidence in bitcoin. It bought 4,709 bitcoins for $50 million, an amount equivalent to 1% of its total assets, or about 2.5% of its cash as on June 30.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Renewable Energy ETFs Soar On Possible Dem Election Sweep
As clean energy supporter and Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden’s election chances seem to brighten, so do the prices on two renewable energy ETFs.
Artificial Intelligence: Skoda Car Maintenance And AI’s Growing Role
Skoda Auto Digital Lab is testing a new smartphone app called Sound Analyser that uses artificial intelligence to identify whether the car needs servicing. The app is trained to compare the noise made from a running vehicle with a stored library of sound patterns. The artificial intelligence algorithm determines what the problem is after identifying any discrepancies between the actual noise from the car and what it should be.
Digital Assets: As 60:40 Falters, Could Bitcoin Be An Alternative?
The traditional, rule-of-thumb portfolio allocation of 60:40 between equities and bonds is under threat. With bond yields at record lows, and likely to remain there for a few years at least, and stocks at handsome valuations, investors need to be more creative with their portfolios. That often means more risk. But bitcoin is shaping up as a worthy alternative.
Venture Capital: E.ON’s Energy-Focused VC Fund Launches With €250M
E.ON, the Germany-based, international, privately owned energy supplier, announced October 8 the launch of Future Energy Ventures, its venture capital arm. The fund will invest in energy focused startups employing digital technology or business models that could “redefine the energy landscape.
Fintech: Fraudsters Use Fintechs To Milk The PPP Loan Program
After the virus pandemic broke, small businesses were desperate to get their hand on the forgivable loans offered under the Paycheck Protection Program administered by the Small Business Administration. As banks lumbered along with disbursements, often described as slow and cumbersome, the SBA roped in fintech companies to speed up payments. However, it appears that some checks and balances failed, because nearly three-quarters of the loans found fraudulent by the U.S. Deptt of Justice were processed by fintechs.
Alternative Investments/Real Estate: Mortgage Rates Set Another Record Low; Real Estate ETFs Could Benefit
The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with conforming loan balances of up to $510,400 slipped to 3.01% from 3.05% last week, CNBC reports.
Venture Capital: Salesforce Ventures Launches $100M Impact Fund (II) For Cloud Startups
Salesforce Ventures, the global strategic investment arm of Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), announced Tuesday the launch of its second Impact Fund worth $ 100 Million. The fund will invest in cloud companies that have a positive social mission in education, climate action, diversity, equity, and inclusion, or support for nonprofits and foundations.
Artificial Intelligence: BlackBerry Now Arms Its Mobiles With AI-Powered Threat Defense
BlackBerry Protect Mobile is the new AI-powered mobile threat defense solution from BlackBerry Ltd (NYSE: BB).
BlackBerry Protect Mobile is an extension of the BlackBerry Protect AI-based endpoint security solution that prevents breaches and provides additional controls to guard against sophisticated threats. BlackBerry Protect does not need human intervention, cloud connections, signatures, heuristics, or sandboxes.
Digital Assets: The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Bans Crypto Derivatives For Retail
After an 18-month study of the cryptoassets market, followed by a consultation, the U.K’s Financial Conduct Authority banned the sale of crypto-derivatives to retail customers on grounds they were “ill-suited for retail consumers due to the harm they pose.”
FinTech: BNPL Partnerships To The Fore As Holiday Shopping Looms
Macy’s (NYSE: M), the iconic American departmental store, has bought a stake in the Swedish payments group Klarna which is known for its BNPL service. The two companies have also inked a five-year partnership whereby Klarna will make its BNPL offer available to Macy’s online customers. Under the offer, shoppers can choose to pay for their purchases in four interest-free installments.
Alternative Investments/ESG: New Social Justice ETF From Tidal And Adasina
Adasina Social Capital is committed to utilizing public financial markets to implement social justice. It spurs investors to divest from companies that are guilty of racial inequities, do not support gender equity, are unfair in their financial dealings with employees or the public, and contribute to detrimental climate change.
Venture Capital: Crowdfunding Peers Crowdcube And Seedrs To Merge
Crowdcube and Seedrs, the competing leaders in the UK crowdfunding market, have joined forces.
Digital Assets: Cyber and Crypto Legend John McAfee Arrested In Spain
Cybersecurity specialist, of McAfee AntiVirus fame, and prominent crypto personality John McAfee was arrested in Spain on charges of alleged tax evasion and fraud.
FinTech: Italian Payments Providers Nexi And SIA To Combine In €15B Deal
Nexi Spa and SIA Spa, both companies in the payments sector, announced Monday their merger by incorporation of SIA into Nexi. The transaction will create a digital behemoth with approximately €1.8 billion in annual revenues and about €1 billion of EBITDA. The market cap of the merged organization will be approximately €15 billion.
Artificial Intelligence: NVIDIA To Build AI Supercomputer For Healthcare
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), the US tech giant that specializes in GPUs for computer gaming and artificial intelligence and has a market capitalization of $337 billion, is building the U.K.’s most powerful supercomputer. According to a Reuters report, the machine will power AI for the solution of problems in drug discovery and other medical challenges such as COVID-19.
Alternative Investments/ESG: iShares Launches Europe’s First Govt Bond Climate ETF
The iShares € Govt Bond Climate UCITS ETF seeks to track the performance of a climate risk-adjusted index offering exposure to Eurozone, investment-grade government bonds. Among Eurozone government bonds, it will provide a higher exposure to countries less exposed to climate change risks and lower exposure to countries that are more exposed to climate change risks.
Digital Assets: Coinbase Enables Real-Time Withdrawals To Customers’ Cards
Coinbase have made it very simple to withdraw cryptos sitting in your account with them. Just sell the amount you need to your GBP, Euro, or USD wallet with Coinbase. Once you have money in any of these wallets, it’s a cinch to withdraw it directly to your Visa (NYSE: V) Fast Funds enabled credit and debit card.