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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Liquid Alternatives: New CP ETF Is a Defensive High Yield Fixed Income Diversifier
CP ETFS is a fund house that specializes in managing downside risk with the ability to participate in market upside with a low-correlation diversifier strategy. This strategy reduces the impact of advisor and client emotion on portfolio performance. CP ETFs has launched CP High Yield Trend ETF (HYTR), which alternates exposure between the US high yield corporate market and three-seven year US Treasuries.
FinTech: SoftBank Steps Up LatAm Focus With $1B Investment Plan
SoftBank steps up LatAm focus with $1B investment plan. SoftBank Group has upped the ante in its gambit to profit from financing promising startups in Latin America. Its $5 billion Softbank Innovation Fund, launched in March 2019, plans to spend $1 billion in 2020 to bankroll LatAm ventures in e-commerce, health care, and fintech.
Venture Capital: Restaurant Software Maker Toast Raises $400 Million
Restaurant POS maker Toast scooped up $400 million at a valuation of $4.9 billion in its latest funding round. Toast will use the funds to invest in the development of new products on its technology platform including hardware and software. It will also hire hundreds of new employees.
Investors in the latest round of funding included Bessemer Venture Partners, TPG, Greenoaks Capital, and Tiger Global Management.
The DailyAlts Playbook: Coronavirus Blowback, Targeting the Astros, Digital Waste, Money Mergers, and the Shop that Predicted Tesla’s Surge
We start the day with the U.S. markets in the red after Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) missed earnings and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) warned about the impact of the coronavirus.
Digital Assets: A Cloud-based, Turnkey Crypto Exchange Solution From Binance
Binance, which is the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, announced Monday the launch of its Binance Cloud. The Binance Cloud is an all-in-one solution for crypto market participants to launch digital asset exchanges quickly within their local markets.
FinTech: Digital Lending Startup BlockFi Raises $30 Million Series B
BlockFi Inc. provides consumer financing services. Its platform offers loans to crypto-asset owners who collateralize the loan with their crypto-assets. On the other hand, its BlockFi Interest Account (BIA) lets depositors put their crypto to work and earn monthly interest payments in the asset-type that deposited with BlockFi. The company raised $30 million in its Series ‘B’ funding round, led by Valar Ventures.
ESG: By No Means A Passing Fad; It’s a Mega-Trend
Investors are cracking the whip to ensure that their demands for ESG (environment-social-governance) options are met. Money is flowing to ESG-focused ETFs and mutual funds, while hedge funds that are slow on the uptake are being cold-shouldered. BlackRock CEO last month told investee company CEOs that “we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance,” with reference to climate change and climate risk. He further warned that BlackRock will be disposed to vote against non-compliant management and board directors. Clearly, the tide has turned decisively in favor of ESG investing.
Digital Assets: CelticGold, An EU Gold Company, Advocates Bitcoin
CelticGold, a Frankfurt-based precious metals trading company, that trades “one of the largest portfolios of investment gold & silver coins and bullion worldwide,” has recommended bitcoin as an investment. “At least 10% and a maximum of 25% of one’s total assets should be invested in precious metals (mostly physically), while in cryptos and especially in Bitcoin one should hold at least 1% and a maximum of 5%,” CelticGold said in a post last week.
Hedge Funds: Kerrisdale Capital Takes Aim at Match.com
Activist hedge fund Kerrisdale Capital has taken a short stake in Match Group (NASDAQ: MTCH). The online dating operator owns Tinder and Match.com. The activist fund expects that shares will fall due to increasing threats around government regulation and intervention.
Digital Assets: Blockchain Securities May See New Dawn in 2020
Regulatory progress may lay the base for a revival of blockchain-based securities such as tokens and ICOs. According to Aaron Kaplan, the SEC’s strategy to crack down on digital assets and apply the rigor of traditional securities’ regulation to blockchain securities is a welcome move.
He likened it to the days of old when the criminal excesses of “bucket shops” yielded to regulation through securities law.
Venture Capital: Chinese Startups On The Rocks As Funds Dry Up Following Virus
The flow of funds to Chinese startups has been severely constricted after the coronavirus outbreak. Venture capitalists rely on mutual contacts, conferences and field visits to monitor progress at startups they finance. The virus has put paid to all that, with executives staying put at home, working remotely, or video-conferencing.
Liquid Alternatives: Lyxor Launches High Yield Bond ETFs With ESG Exposure
Lyxor launches three new ETFs for investors looking to invest in high yield bonds with a sustainability angle.
Lyxor’s new ETFs have a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.25%, the lowest among ETFs tracking High Yield indices with ESG filters.
FinTech: EasyEuro, the Platform for SMB Remittances Between China and Europe, Raises $4M
EasyEuro, the Platform for SMB Remittances Between China and Europe, Raises $4M. EasyEuro is fintech that focuses on digital banking and global B2B remittances, especially between Europe and China. This week, it raised $4 million in a pre-A funding round. (BusinessMole)
The round was led by Shanghai-based Ally Capital, with participation from seed investors SwiftPass, Geoswift, Huashan Capital and Unity Assets.
Artificial Intelligence: Shell’s Initiative to Bring Employees Upto Speed on AI
About 2,000 employees at Royal Dutch Shell have shown interest in or been sounded out by the company, in online AI courses offered by Udacity.
The courses are free for employees, though they can cost as much as $400 per month for a normal individual customer at Udacity. However, it is not known what fees Udacity is charging Shell for the enterprise AI course. Shell describes the amount spent on AI training as “material and strategic.”
The employees, such as geophysicists, petroleum engineers, and chemists, can take the self-paced courses during working hours.
The DailyAlts Playbook: Tesla Cults, China’s Deception, and a Very Busy Slate of Activist Interventions.
We return this morning thanks to modern medicine, good sleep, and the first time the household has been quiet in five days. Thank you for the emails and the texts. The flurry of “Where is the DailyAlts?” texts at 9 a.m. helped motivate me this Friday.
BlackRock Makes Big ESG Push on ETFs
BlackRock ESG ETFs have emerged as a popular draw among institutional investors. This week, the alternative investment manager announced a $600 million investment from Finland’s largest pension insurance firm. Ilmarinen invested the capital in the iShares ESG MSCI EM Leaders ETF (NASDAQ: LDEM). This was the firms’ second investment in iShares ESG strategies.
Private Equity: Ares Management Corporation Reports Quarterly Earnings
Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) beat earnings expectations for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 reports.
GAAP net income attributable to Ares Management Corporation was $38.5 million and $148.9 million, respectively, for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2019. On a diluted basis, net income attributable to Ares Management Corporation per share of Class A common stock was $0.25 and $1.06, respectively, for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2019. With approximately $149 billion in assets under management, Ares Management Corporation is one of the largest global alternative asset managers. It operates three investment groups: credit, private equity and real estate.
Hedge Funds: Rishi Sunak Takes Over Role as British Chancellor
Rishi Sunak has become the new U.K. Chancellor after the sudden resignation of Saji Javid. The news comes amid a shakeup in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet. It was a sudden and surprising announcement given Sunak’s relatively short career in politics. The son-in-law of a billionaire had previously worked at Goldman Sachs and at hedge funds across London.
Venture Capital: Sequoia Eyes Europe; To Set Up Base in London
Sequoia Capital, the storied venture capital firm that funded the likes of Apple, Google, PayPal, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Eventbrite, Airbnb, Stripe, and WhatsApp, is dropping anchor in London. According to The Times, Sequoia is planning a post-Brexit shopping blitz that could include British tech start-ups.
But the reasons could be more structural. Investing in European startups is cheaper on every count compared to their American counterparts: valuations, cost of living, cost of talent. Best of all, European startups appear to be coming of age – they are bigger, more sophisticated, more promising. (Sifted)
Liquid Alternatives: Credit Suisse Back In The ETF Game; Launches Three Funds including ESG
Credit Suisse announced the addition of three new, “ultra-efficient” ETFs to its range of funds. These funds will supplement the existing Credit Suisse index Funds.
Credit Suisse Asset Management had an AUM of CHF 132 billion as of end-December 2019. It has a core business of index funds and has been replicating indices for a wide array of asset classes, regions and currencies since 1994. Currently, it has a range of more than 90 index funds on offer. It has extended this capability to ESG sustainability indices.
Two of the new funds have a focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects.
Artificial Intelligence: Now A Bot Mimics Rapper Travis Scott; Creates Song and Melodies
Creative digital agency space150 tried out an interesting experiment to find out if AI could be taught to recreate music and a whole new song. They picked rapper Travis Scott – known for his song “Sicko Mode,” the first song in United States history to spend over 30 weeks on the top 10 Billboard charts.
The result of the experiment: a bot-generated song and music video complete with lyrics and melodies. To give the music video an AI-feel and look, the agency engineered a computer distorted deepfake of Scott dubbed Travis Bott.
FinTech: N26’s Shock Announcement of its Departure From the U.K.
Challenger bank N26 asks UK customers to shut accounts by April 15.
N26 has announced its departure from the UK on account of Brexit in a blog post.
“With the UK now having left the European Union, we will in due course be unable to operate in the UK with our European banking license,” the Berlin-based N26 said. “As a result, we will be leaving the UK and closing all accounts in the coming months.”
In a press release, N26 blamed the “timings and framework outlined in the Withdrawal Agreement,” but said it fully respected the decision that had been taken.
Alternative Investments: SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 Loses Investors
SoftBank investors are refusing to take part in the Vision Fund 2 unless the Japanese conglomerate turns performance around. The first $100 billion fund has struggled with performance due to investments in WeWork, Uber (NYSE: UBER), and a number of other struggling firms. The first Vision Fund saw a $2.5 billion loss during the December-ending quarter.
Digital Assets: German Banks Line Up for Licenses to Offer Crypto-Custody Services
About 40 banks have applied to Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, or BaFin, for licenses to operate custody services for digital assets. (Coingeek)
Bafin last month released new guidelines that will impact firms offering or intending to offer custody services for digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and tokens. Effective January 1, 2020, depository or custody services for crypto assets stand classified as a financial service under the German Banking Act.