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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Private Equity: Triage, Treat, Shop in the Age of Coronavirus
All around the world, private equity firms are scrambling to adapt to the new environment caused by the rapid spread of the coronavirus. Many countries, especially in the developed world, have shut down large parts of their economies to halt the virus’ spread. The resulting global recession will strain companies that private equity firms own….
Venture Capital: Transit Startup Via Raises $200 Million in Latest Funding Round
Transit startup Via raised $200 million in a new round of funding. The new deal brings its valuation to $2.25 billion.
Exor NV (EXXRF), Giovanni Agnelli’s European holding company led the Series E round. Agnelli is a co-founder of Fiat (NASDAQ: FCAU).
Active Alpha – Insider Buying for April 1, 2020
Here is the latest update on insider buying and activist actions by alternative asset firms. As stock prices were falling once again on Tuesday, we saw more reports of activist investors and private equity funds taking positions in stocks with the intent of influencing management to take steps to improve the stock price.
FinTech: Amidst the Pandemic, Fintech Fast-becoming The New Normal, Says Study
The world is adapting to unforeseen lockdowns and social distancing by using more digital technology. As people spend more time indoors, the demand for online services is exploding. But, the virus may accelerate, and perpetuate, digital trends that may already have been taking shape in our lives.
Liquid Alternatives: Lyxor’s New Suite of Climate Change ETFs
French asset manager Lyxor is the first ETF manager to launch a suite of ETFs that focus on the objectives of the European Union’s Climate Transition Benchmarks. These benchmarks target an immediate 30% reduction in carbon intensity and a 7% annual emission reduction trajectory.
Venture Capital: General Catalyst Raises $2.3B Despite Pandemic
Undeterred by the coronavirus health crisis and its grim impact on the economy, investors have plowed $2.3 billion into General Capital (GC) to deploy across three new funds. But the virus has certainly affected GC’s investing thesis. Suddenly, technology is again front-and-center, with its potential to improve lives in a world scarred by fear and loss from the disease.
DailyAlts Playbook: Margin Call, the WHO’s Latest Projections, Depression Level Unemployment, and Larry Fink’s Outlook.
Yesterday, the Federal Reserve dropped a bombshell on the markets. According to the central bank, up to 47 million Americans could lose their jobs, bringing the U.S. unemployment rate up to 32%.
Private Equity: Ardian Raises $18 Billion for New Fund
Ardian has raised $18 billion for a new fund to buy stakes in private equity funds. Reports say the European private equity manager could close the fund to new investors as soon as next month.
Alternative Investments: Insider Buying Recap for March 31, 2020
Most analysts expect private equity and activist investors to become very active in buying companies at depressed stock prices. The activists will be urging many companies to make drastic changes deigned to force the stock price higher, giving them outsized profits. When an activist takes a position of 5% or more in a particular company and intends to engage with management on an active basis. Tracking those filings each day can help us determine which companies and industries are attracting buying from these investors.
Artificial Intelligence: Using Home-specific Weather Data With AI to Boost Lithium Solar Batteries
The usage of solar batteries varies widely from home to home. That’s because each home is different – from the roof’s orientation and pitch to nearby trees that cast a shadow on the panels, even weather conditions. Optimizing solar battery usage to adjust for such variables, amidst real-time and in changing weather conditions, is a challenge. IBM (NYSE: IBM) is combining weather data and AI to solve this.
Venture Capital: VC-backed Small Businesses May Get Short Shrift from the SBA in Stimulus Relief
A startup may have as few as 20 employees but still not qualify for stimulus relief by way of SBA loans.
The devil is surely in the details, as VC-backed startups with less than 500 employees will tell you. They may not qualify for SBA relief loans because their employees may be classified as “affiliates” of the VC firm that financed them.
DailyAlts Playbook: Commercial Real Estate Woes, Crude Collapse, 2002 Music Reviews, and Ackman’s “Hell is Coming” Defense
THE DAILYALTS PLAYBOOK March 30, 2020 Today, the DailyAlts Playbook talks about Commercial Real Estate Woes, Crude Collapse, 2002 Music Reviews, and Ackman’s “Hell is Coming” Defense. PRIME OVERVIEW Good morning: The markets are flat this morning, and my projection this week is that we’re looking at more downside pressure. We are likely heading into…
Real Estate: Taubman Letter Shows How Ugly April Will Get for Commercial Real Estate
Taubman Centers (NYSE: TCO) sent a letter to tenants last week saying that they must honor their leases and pay rent despite the spread of coronavirus. In a letter dated March 25, the mall operator said that it needs the cash flow to meet its obligations to utility companies and mortgage lenders.
Private Equity: Winners and Losers from The $2 Trillion Stimulus Package
The $2 trillion stimulus package passed by Congress and signed by President Trump last week contains wins and losses for the private equity industry. While none of the legislation was directly aimed at the industry, restrictions on which companies can access aid will affect those companies with private equity ownership.
Alternative Investments: Howard Hughes Corporation Announces Secondary Offering
The Howard Hughes Corporation (NYSE: HHC) announced a secondary offering on Friday. The offering consists of two million shares at $50 a share.
The company said it also entered into a purchase agreement with Pershing Square Capital Management.
Pershing Square will buy another 10 million shares. Combined, the two stock sales netted the real estate developer and operator more than $580 million.
Private Credit: Coronavirus to Shift Market in Profound Ways
Private credit has been one of the fastest-growing areas of the credit market since the great credit crisis ended a decade ago. As banks stepped back from small and mid-market lending, especially in riskier areas like expansion and takeovers, funds sprang up to fill the void for a price. Institutions pensions placed enormous sums of…
Liquid Alternatives: Semi-transparent ETFs Get Advisor Love
Assets under actively managed ETFs constituted a minuscule percentage (< 3%) of total ETF assets ($4.4 trillion) as of end-2019. The most commonly attributed reason for this phenomenon is the fear that active managers face regarding their “secret sauce.” They are loath to make full daily disclosure of holdings as required by regulations for ETFs, as other fund managers and traders copy their strategies. However, a new breed of “non-transparent” ETFs that “mask” some or all of the fund’s portfolio, may soon become a reality.
These may be great for fund managers, but what about advisors and investors? Certainly, there is evidence of rising advisor interest in non-transparent ETFs.
FinTech: Grandmother-inspired Quick Checkout Startup Fast Adds $20M In Series A
Fast announced Thursday its Series A funding round worth $ 20 million. The round was led by Stripe though existing investors Index Ventures and Susa Ventures also chipped in. Fast is a San Francisco-based start-up aiming to make online shopping a wholly ‘one-click’ experience. It’s ‘Fast Login,’ a free to use one-click login tool, is already available to consumers.
Venture Capital: HighByte, Which Makes Sense of Industrial Data, Raises $875K
HighByte, an industrial software company based in Portland, Maine, closed on its pre-seed round funded by angel investors and early-stage venture capitalists. Investors included Maine Venture Fund and Momenta Ventures. HighByte raised a total of $ 875,000 comprising $ 625,000 in convertible debt and a long-term, low-interest loan of $250,000 from Maine Technology Institute (MTI).
DailyAlts Playbook: Money Printing, Jams on the 90s, and Why Sovereign Funds are Struggling
The Dow Jones projected a 680-point decline in premarket hours as the markets selloff from a massive three-day rally. The mainstream press is back in cheerleader mode, proclaiming that the Bear market is over, despite the fact that the American economy is effectively shutting down for the foreseeable future.
Digital Assets: Traditional Trading Firms May Adopt Digital Assets in a Big Way – Acuiti
Acuiti Management Intelligence, in association with Bitstamp and the CME Group (NASDAQ: CME), conducted a study on institutional adoption of digital assets’ trading. The key question: What’s holding back institutions?
Hedge Funds: Paul Tudor Jones Expects Stocks to Retest March Lows
Paul Tudor Jones said Wednesday that he expects that the market will push higher by June. However, he expects there to be a very volatile market come April.
In an interview with CNBC, the money manager said that things could get bumpy once we start to look at the real economic impact of coronavirus.
Hedge Funds: Bodenholm Capital to Shutter Its Doors
Bodenholm Capital, a large Swedish hedge fund with $511.2 million in AUM, is shutting its doors and returning money to its investors. A report indicates that the multi-strategy fund has struggled to perform in the ongoing coronavirus downturn. One of its core investors, Brummer & Partners, said on its website that Bodenhelm was shutting.
Digital Assets: How ‘Helicopter Money’ Will Affect Bitcoin and Gold
The Senate unanimously approved Wednesday a massive stimulus package worth $2 trillion to steady an economy feared to be on the ropes from the coronavirus. How will this ‘Helicopter Money’ stimulus affect Bitcoin and gold?