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.

Top Story

Artificial Intelligence: AMD Takes On Rivals In The AI Chip Sweepstakes

December 7, 2023

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.

Read More...

Get Daily Updates

Subscribe to DailyAlts Today to get Alternative Investment news, insight, and commentary delivered straight to your inbox every day.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

More Stories on News

FinTech: Grab Seeks To Raise From $300 To $500M For Fintech Thrust

September 8, 2020

According to a Reuters Exclusive report, Grab, which has evolved from being a ride-hailing cab operator to a multi-business conglomerate, is looking for funding in the range of $300 million to $500 million. Reuters’ sources said the company is in advanced talks with investors such as Prudential plc (LON: PRU), AIA Group Ltd (HKG: 1299) and others.

Artificial Intelligence: AI Could Improve Hearing For Millions of Americans

September 8, 2020

Here are some shocking statistics on hearing loss from the US National Institutes of Health. Twenty-five percent of adults aged between 65 and 75, and half of those aged 75 and older, experience disabling hearing loss. And, 28.8 million US adults could benefit from using hearing aids. However, artificial intelligence could improve modern hearing aids to make sound more natural and life-like for everyone.

Artificial Intelligence: China’s Frightening, Orwellian Use Of AI

September 4, 2020

Ross Andersen, deputy editor at The Atlantic writes a chilling account of China’s sinister intentions behind its avowed objective to achieve global AI supremacy by 2030.
“Xi wants to use AI’s awesome analytical powers to push China to the cutting edge of surveillance,” says Andersen. “He wants to build an all-seeing digital system of social control, patrolled by precog algorithms that identify potential dissenters in real-time.”

Alternative Investments/ESG: Thematic Specialist Rize Floats Sustainable Foods ETF

September 4, 2020

Rize is Europe’s first specialist thematic ETF issuer. The firm aims to provide investors access to the most ground-breaking megatrends shaping the planet, and to companies that have the potential to become the growth stories of tomorrow. It announced twin ETFs on the themes of sustainable food and digital education.

Venture Capital: VW And Bill Gates-backed QuantumScape To Go Public Through SPAC

September 4, 2020

QuantumScape partners with Volkswagen (ETR: VOW3) on the development of advanced solid-state batteries for electric vehicles. In a $700 million deal announced Thursday, QuantumScape will merge with blank-check company Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp (NYSE: KCAC) and thereby get its shares listed on the NYSE.

FinTech: Jiko, A 23-Person Startup, Becomes The First Fintech to Buy A National Bank

September 4, 2020

Jiko, the four-year-old upstart fintech, and digital bank, which has all of just 23 employees, appears to have pulled off the impossible. It acquired Mid Central National Bank, a 63-year old retail bank based in Minnesota, becoming the first fintech to complete the acquisition of a nationally regulated bank in the U.S.

Digital Assets: Revolut Steps Up Crypto Offerings; Revolut Business Snags 500K Customers

September 4, 2020

According to an announcement Wednesday, digital challenger bank Revolut has enhanced the scope of crypto trading for its customers in the US. It has added Bitcoin Cash and LiteCoin to its range of cryptocurrencies that customers can buy sell or hold.

FinTech: Sezzle Makes Its BNPL Virtual Card Available In-Stores

September 3, 2020

Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL), the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform, announced Wednesday that its customers can now use the Sezzle Virtual Card to convert their purchases at brick-and-mortar stores into easy installments. They may also use the Card online.

Digital Assets: Rising Crypto Adoption – Pornhub Expands Crypto Payment Options

September 3, 2020

Pornhub is the leading free, ad-supported adult video streaming website with over 12 million videos and over 130 million visitors a day. On Tuesday, it announced via Twitter that it had started to accept Bitcoin and Litecoin as payment methods. (Bitcoin.com)

Alternative Investments: Somerset Capital’s New Fund To Pick ESG Winners in EM

September 3, 2020

The Somerset Emerging Markets Future Leaders UCITS Fund, a new fund from Somerset Capital Management, seeks to generate returns from the growth potential in small and medium-sized ESG-friendly companies in emerging markets across the globe. Swedish national pension fund Första AP-fonden (AP1) has already provided seed capital of about $ 350 million to the fund. (Investment Week)

Venture Capital: Brazilian Fintech Neon Nabs $300M In Series C

September 3, 2020

Neon Pagamentos, a leading Brazilian fintech, has received a Series C investment of $300 million led by General Atlantic. New investors participated in the round, too. These included funds and accounts managed by BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), as well as Vulcan Capital, PayPal Ventures, and Endeavor Catalyst. Existing investors Monashees and Flourish Ventures also took part in the funding, while BBVA participated through existing shareholder Propel Venture Partners.

Liquid Alternatives: One Solution For Navigating The Challenges From Unprecedented Low Bond Yields

September 3, 2020

In a note titled “A Roadmap For Navigating Today’s Low Interest Rates,” GMO’s Matt Kadnar warns investors of three challenging fallouts from today’s unprecedented low bond yields. These are: replacing the income bonds used to provide; the loss of depression protection arising from bond yields having little or no room to fall; and protection against the twin risks of rising inflation and rising interest rates.

Digital Assets: Singapore Exchange Firsts – Issues Digital Bond; Launches Crypto Indices

September 2, 2020

The Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) digital asset issuance, depository, and servicing platform announced Tuesday the successful pilot of its first digital bond – a S$400 million 5.5-year public bond issue and a follow-on S$100 million tap of the same issue by Olam International (SGX: O32).

Artificial Intelligence: Got Procrastination? Get Help From These AI-Powered Glasses

September 2, 2020

Startup Auctify has developed Specs, special glasses that are fitted with a camera in their frame. The camera is unique because it can figure out what is occupying your attention currently – a laptop, book, or a person. It does this using machine learning. What’s more, the device also records this information and relays it to a connected app. At the end of the day, or anytime, the user can figure out where their time went.

Venture Capital: Owl Ventures Raises $585M For Investments in Global Edtech

September 2, 2020

Owl Ventures, the venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, announced Tuesday the close of two funds raising an aggregate of $585 million. The firm’s fourth fund raised $415 million, while its first Opportunity Fund collected $170 million. The new funds will add further muscle to the firm’s already expansive portfolio in global edtech, spanning China, Europe, India and the U.S.

FinTech: Plaid Unveils Instant Account Updates For Plaid Exchange Users

September 2, 2020

Plaid is the fintech famous for its API that connects customers and their apps with their bank accounts. It is also the fintech for which Visa (NYSE: V) paid an acquisition price of $5.3 billion. Plaid announced Tuesday in a blog post that it was upgrading its Plaid Exchange service, which debuted in May. Banks and financial institutions, as well as their fintech partners, which use the service, can now provide real-time updates to their customers.

Alternative Investments/ESG: BMO Global Launches China A-Shares Fund

September 2, 2020

BMO Global Asset Management has expanded its range of 14 Responsible Investment products with the launch last week of the BMO LGM Responsible China A-Shares Equity fund. The ESG-oriented fund will invest in the top Chinese stocks that feature strong corporate governance and management of social and environmental issues.

Artificial Intelligence: About RoboRXN, IBM’s Lab In The Cloud

September 1, 2020

The time and cost incurred to develop a new material or molecule can take as long as 10 years and $ 10 million. A lot of actions in the chemical research are repetitive, or cumbersome because they rely on a trial and error practice. At IBM (NYSE: IBM) Research Europe, scientists have reinvented chemical research and molecular discovery by incorporating artificial intelligence, cloud technology, and robotics into the mix. The result: RoboRXN.

FinTech: PayPal Introduces “Pay in 4”, An Interest-Free BNPL Offering

September 1, 2020

PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) is getting into the Buy Now Pay Later sphere as consumers increasingly adopt the product, which is often used as a replacement for a credit card. On Monday, the payments giant announced “Pay in 4,” a short-term installment product that allows consumers to make a purchase and pay for it in four, interest-free installments.

Venture Capital: Cancer Drugs Creator Erasca Expands Series B To $236M

September 1, 2020

Erasca, whose mission it is to Erase Cancer, announced Monday the completion of a $36 million extension of its Series B round, originally targeted for $200 million. The new investors this time around were Partner Fund Management and OrbiMed. The original $200 million Series B round was led by ARCH Venture Partners and Cormorant Asset Management. New investors at that time included EDBI, Terra Magnum Capital Partners, and Invus.

Digital Assets: Vertalo to Tokenize Real Estate in Mexico and Canada

September 1, 2020

MountX Real Estate Capital is a proptech investment platform that provides access to investment opportunities backed by institutional-quality real estate assets in Canada. The firm has partnered with Vertalo, a digital transfer agent that specializes in the tokenization of assets, to design and launch over 15 digital real estate projects in Mexico and Canada.

Artificial Intelligence: Elon Musk Demos Neuralink, A Future Brain Implant

September 1, 2020

At the much-anticipated Neuralink “product update,” Elon Musk demonstrated how Gertrude, a pig implanted with a Neuralink brain-computer-interface (BCI) device, was alive and healthy. “We have a healthy and happy pig, initially shy but obviously high energy and, you know, kind of loving life, and she’s had the implant for two months,” Musk said of Gertrude, the pig.

Liquid Alternatives: Soon, On A Blockchain With The Archax+ Algorand Tie-Up

August 31, 2020

Archax and blockchain provider Algorand will collaborate to create smart financial products that can trade on the newly FCA-regulated Archax digital exchange. These innovative new products include stablecoins and liquid alternatives. The latter are financial products, available in an ETF or mutual fund wrapper, that employ alternative investment strategies but can be bought or sold every day.

Venture Capital: BITKRAFT Closes Gaming Fund At $165M

August 31, 2020

BITKRAFT Ventures is a venture capital company that invests in companies and start-ups in the fields of games, media, and esports. BITKRAFT is led by Jens Hilgers, the former ESL CEO and G2 Esports chairman. It announced a raise of $ 165 million for its new fund, exceeding the originally targeted amount of $ 125 million.