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: AI Platform Dataiku Raises $100M In A Series D Round
Dataiku announced Monday its Series D raise of $100 million led by Stripes with Tiger Global Management joining existing investors Battery Ventures, CapitalG, Dawn Capital, FirstMark Capital, and ICONIQ.
Digital Assets: Canadian Software Company Snappa Converts 40% Cash to Bitcoin
Canadian graphics software company Snappa started converting cash reserves into bitcoin since March this year after realizing that the purchasing power of Canadian and U.S. dollars is actually decreasing after adjusting for inflation. Writing in a blog, Snappa co-founder Christopher Gimmer said bitcoin “now makes up a significant percentage of our company’s overall cash reserves.”
FinTech: Afterpay Buys European BNPL Provider Pagantis for €50M+
ASX-listed Afterpay Limited (ASX: APT) is making moves to expand into the Continent. According to a Monday announcement, its subsidiary Clearpay (Europe) Limited has acquired the entire shareholding in Pagantis SAU and PMT Technology SLU from NBQ Corporate SLU.
The companies (collectively referred as Pagantis) provide a range of buy now, pay later (BNPL) services, as well as traditional credit services, in the EU countries of Spain, France, and Italy. Pagantis also has regulatory approval to operate in Portugal.
Artificial Intelligence: How AI Can Help Improve The Kidney Transplant Network
How to give desperate patients a better chance to get a kidney? Researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T) have started a project that utilizes AI to process data inside a kidney transplant network. It will help remove the current difficulties of kidney transplants – thousands of patients on a waiting list, while a large number of kidneys are discarded because donor matching could not be completed in time.
Private Equity: Private Equity to Invest More in Women’s Healthcare
Private Equity: Private Equity to Invest More in Women’s Healthcare Private equity has already heavily invested in the healthcare industry, but women’s healthcare has been overlooked. However, there has been a “substantial increase” in women’s health providers connected to private equity companies. According to researchers, 17 of the 24 women’s health companies that gained private…
Hedge Funds: Hedge Funds Hesitant on Gold
Hedge Funds: Hedge Funds Hesitant on Gold Hedge funds have reduced their focus on gold as the market for gold has become more turbulent. The CFTC illustrated that money managers decreased their gross long positions. Comex gold futures shrunk by 4,402 contracts to a total of 151,016. Short bets fell by 2,148. Gold’s net length…
Digital Assets: Bitcoin An Insurance Policy Against Inflation [Grayscale Report]
In an attempt to unravel the complexities of evaluating the dominant cryptocurrency, Grayscale Investments has assessed macroeconomic factors and indicators of demand and supply in a new report titled “Valuing Bitcoin.” The report concludes that the current Bitcoin market structure parallels that of early 2016 before it began its historic bull run.
Liquid Alternatives: Churn Amongst Senior Portfolio Managers at AllianzGI Liquid Alt Funds
Portfolio managers at AllianzGI for three funds in the market neutral long/short category and one fund in the merger arbitrage strategy have been reassigned.
Venture Capital: Goldman Sachs To Raise A $2B Tech Venture and Growth Fund
Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) is mulling the flotation of a technology-focused venture and growth fund worth $ 2 billion.
FinTech: Checkout.com and Pakistan Payment Gateway NIFT Sign Deal
The Memorandum of Understanding is for collaboration between the two entities for Pakistan’s payment systems. National Institutional Facilitation Technologies, Pakistan (NIFT), and checkout.com have agreed to collaborate on cross-border payment solutions. (ProPakistani) Incorporated in September 1995 as a joint venture between a consortium of six major Pakistani banks and entrepreneurs from the private sector, NIFT…
Artificial Intelligence: Deep Learning AI To Foil Cryptojacking Computer Pirates
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have devised an AI-based software watchdog that thwarts malicious actors from hijacking computer resources for the illicit mining of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and monero. This criminal activity is known as cryptojacking.
Hedge Funds: Hedge Fund to Close Following Neiman Marcus Bankruptcy
Hedge Funds: Hedge Fund to Close Following Neiman Marcus Bankruptcy Hedge fund Marble Ridge Capital plans to divest following questionable actions taken by managing partner Dan Kamensky. These actions were in relation to the Neiman Marcus bankruptcy. According to a statement by Marble Ridge, “After much consideration, and in light of the operating environment, we…
Private Equity: Vista Private Equity Founder Under Investigation
Private Equity: Vista Private Equity Founder Under Investigation Private equity investor Robert Smith is currently under investigation regarding his taxes. Smith gained recognition when he donated to Morehouse College’s graduating class. Federal investigators are trying to figure out whether Robert Smith paid his taxes on assets worth millions of dollars. Smith is currently innocent and…
Liquid Alternatives/ESG: New Challenges for Pension Financing and Retirement Security
The webinar by the Bloomberg Women’s Buyside Network featured John Livanas, Chief Executive Officer, State Super; Geraldine Buckingham, Chair and Head of Asia Pacific, BlackRock; and Ludovic Subran, Chief Economist, Allianz. Bloomberg’s Executive Editor, Tracy Alloway, moderated the webinar.
Venture Capital: Chinese Insurtech Waterdrop Lands $230M in Pre-IPO Funding
Waterdrop Inc raised $ 230 million in funding led by Swiss Re (SWX: SREN) and Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings (HKG: 0700). Existing investors including IDG Capital and Wisdom Choice Global Fund also participated.
Digital Assets: Crypto Lender BlockFi Raises $50M in a Series C Round
BlockFi, an online crypto lender that also offers accounts paying compound interest and trading, raised $ 50 million in a Series C round led by Morgan Creek Digital. Other participating investors include Peter Thiel-backed Valar Ventures (the lead investor in BlockFi’s Series A and B), CMT Digital, Castle Island Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, SCB 10X, Avon Ventures, Purple Arch Ventures, Kenetic Capital, HashKey, Michael Antonov, NBA player Matthew Dellavedova, and two university endowments.
FinTech: China’s Ant Group Reports Nearly $3.5B In Profits to June 2020
Ant Group, the holding company for Alipay, the mobile payment service with over 1 billion users, reported a solid streak of profitability during the first six months of 2020. The Jack Ma controlled company earned about 9.1 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) of profit in the recent June quarter and 15.3 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) in the preceding March quarter. These numbers have been derived from the results for the June quarter declared by Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA), which holds 33% of Ant Group.
Hedge Funds: Investors Gain Interest in Hedge Funds Amid Pandemic
Hedge Funds: Investors Gain Interest in Hedge Funds Amid Pandemic Investors now plan to put more cash into hedge funds rather than less. This has not occurred in years. For instance, a survey by Preqin showed that 44 percent of hedge fund investors plan to invest in hedge funds in the next year. This is…
Private Equity: HSBC Closes Second Private Equity Fund
Private Equity: HSBC Closes Second Private Equity Fund HSBC has raised $260 million for its second Vision Private Equity fund. Last year, HSBC’s private equity fund closed at $250 million. The strategy for this fund is to make primary and secondary co-investments. These investments will be made globally and across various sectors and strategies. This…
Alternative Investments/Digital Assets: CoinShares ETPs’ AUM Hits $1B
CoinShares’ bouquet of XBT Provider Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) has grossed AUM of above $1 billion. CoinShares is Europe’s largest digital asset manager and allows trading in a range of ETPs to investors.
Venture Capital: Travel Platform Omio Raises $100M To Expand and Acquire
Formerly known as GoEuro, Berlin-based travel booking platform Omio announced Wednesday its successful raise of $100 million from existing and new investors. These included Temasek, Kinnevik, Goldman Sachs Asset Management L.P., NEA, and Kleiner Perkins.
FinTech/Alternative Investments: Real Estate Loan Investing Platform PeerStreet Launches Credit Fund
PeerStreet, a platform for investing in real estate backed loans, was a pioneer in the field of fractional investing in real estate loans. The crowdfunding platform made the process of investing in real estate loans as simple as buying stocks. It offered investors the resources to create and structure their own customized real estate debt investment portfolios. In response to investor demand, PeerStreet has now launched the Peer Street Credit Opportunity, LP.
Digital Assets: Institution-Focused Digital Exchange Archax Is Now FCA Regulated
Institutions can soon trade on a fully regulated exchange for digital assets. The UK-based Archax digital exchange boasts of several licenses received from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA has licensed Archax to operate as a multilateral trading facility exchange, a broker, and a custodian for cash and assets. Archax also became the first-ever company to receive the FCA crypto-asset registration and is therefore a fully compliant Virtual Assets Service Provider (VASP).
Artificial Intelligence: Israeli Shipping Co Deploys AI to Sniff Out Cargo Misdeclarations
The 75-year-old Israeli shipping company ZIM operates globally with four operational headquarters and regional offices around the world to service its 30,000+ customers. In a drive to make its vessels, crew, cargo and the global supply chain safer, ZIM has developed and implemented ZIMGuard™. It is an AI-based software to detect and flag hazardous cargo that has been mis-declared by the shipper.