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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Real Estate: Catalyst Opportunity Funds Completes Three Projects
Catalyst Opportunity Funds, an investment firm focused on Opportunity Zone investments, has completed investments for its first three projects. Catalyst’s initial developments will convert underutilized real estate into high-impact office, residential, and retail space. It focuses on neighborhoods that offer immense growth potential but lack capital investment and quality development.
FinTech: Digital Lending Platform LendUp Notches Up $2B in Loans
Ethical online lender LendUp announced Thursday its achievement of having disbursed aggregate loans worth $2 billion on its platform.
Founded in 2012, the company’s main goal is to help anyone improve their financial condition. Along the way, it has handed out 6.5 million loans at an average ticket size of $300.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Joins Battle Against Skin Cancer
Artificial intelligence (AI) is helping in the diagnosis of skin cancers such as melanoma.
It’s early days yet, but artificial intelligence is proving to be a promising resource in the early diagnosis of skin conditions, especially cancer.
“We are just beginning to scratch the surface of what is possible,” says Bobby Buka, MD, CEO of The Dermatology Specialists in New York.
Liquid Alternatives: CI Investments Floats Three Liquid Alt ETFs in Modernization Drive
CI Investments Floats Three Liquid Alt ETFs in Modernization Drive. The ETFs will trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The new ETFs from CI Investments are a take on the strategies followed in the fund manager’s liquid alternative mutual funds launched in November 2018. These funds have scooped up inflows above US$1.1 billion as of December 31, 2019.
Digital Assets: Swiss Ski Resort Zermatt Goes Crypto; Will Accept Taxes in Bitcoin
Swiss Ski Resort Zermatt Goes Crypto; Will Accept Taxes in Bitcoin. A curious mayor and the precedents from other municipalities trigger the move.
Inspired by Swiss Municipality Zug, which started accepting payments in Bitcoin in 2016, the Swiss ski resort of Zermatt followed suit.
The DailyAlts Playbook” The Return of Coronavirus, New Ponzi Schemes, and the State of Tesla Shorts.
The U.S. markets are deep in the red Thursday as markets address the ongoing coronavirus crisis in China. The Dow shed 222 points on news that the death toll in China increased to 170. The number of confirmed cases of the virus has topped 7,700. It was just two days ago that the markets shrugged off warnings and bounced back from its Monday downturn. But now economic woes are kicking in. The Shanghai index was off 2.7%, Hong Kong stocks slumped 2.6%, and the Nikkei shed 1.7%. Oil also continues to fall as analysts slash economic growth outlooks across the globe.
Artificial Intelligence: Microsoft’s $40 Million Healthcare AI Program
Microsoft announced Wednesday its AI for Health, a new $40 million, five-year program that will use artificial intelligence to solve the world’s toughest challenges in health.
“Through AI for Health, Microsoft will work to ensure that nonprofits, academia, and research organizations have access to the latest technology, resources, and technical experts to help implement AI to accelerate research, generate insights and improve access to care,” the company said in a statement.
Digital Assets: Insurance Market Evolving in Step With Growth of Cryptos
Insurance coverage for digital assets is gradually adapting to the rapid changes and growth in crypto assets, says a presentation by Marsh JLT Speciality, a global leader in risk management and insurance broking . However, 2020 will be the test year for digital assets’ insurance.
ESG: Is Biodiversity is the New Climate Change?
Biodiversity is now in the same league as climate change from an ESG perspective. AXA Investment Managers, BNP Paribas Asset Management, and Sycomore Asset Management want investors to focus on biodiversity preservation.
Hedge Funds: Citadel, Marshall Wace Take Aim at Airline Stocks
British Airways announced plans to suspend flights to mainland China this week. The coronavirus continues to deter commercial travel among tourists and business people. We’ve now seen hedge funds take direct aim at the stocks of major airline companies that service the Asian markets.
Liquid Alternatives: The Goldman Sachs “Stealth” ETF
Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs filed to set up a non-transparent ETF that would not disclose its investments daily. The fund would, therefore, be different from run-of-the-mill ETFs which are required to publish details of their holdings every day in the interests of transparency.
Venture Capital: The Kobe in “Bryant Stibel & Co”
Kobe Bryant was a legendary basketball player and star. Until his untimely death in a helicopter crash on Sunday, it was not commonly known that he was also a successful businessman who ran a venture capital firm.
Bryant Stibel & Co, the VC firm Kobe founded in 2013 with Jeff Stibel, is said to hold more than $2 billion in assets.
The DailyAlts Playbook: Fed Futures, Woodford Haircuts, a Terrible HBO Spinoff Idea, Joe Biden’s Awful Voter Pitch, and the Best Acquisition Case for Apple.
Today, the DailyAlts Playbook talks Fed Futures, Woodford Haircuts, a Terrible HBO Spinoff Idea, Joe Biden’s Awful Voter Pitch, and the Best Acquisition Case for Apple.
FinTech: Founding Member Standard Chartered Boosts Investment in Contour, the Blockchain Trade Platform
Standard Chartered invests an undisclosed amount in Contour.
Contour is a global trade finance platform that runs on R3’s Corda blockchain. It specializes in digitally creating, exchanging, approving, and issuing Letters of Credit (LCs). Last week, Contour announced the success of a series of live pilot tests in 14 countries and a global trial with over 50 banks and corporates.
ESG: State Street Will Turn Screws on ESG Laggards
State Street Global Advisors will vote against companies that lag behind on ESG standards. The company stands as one of the largest shareholders in public companies due to its stance as a global index fund provider. The firm will lean on its “responsibility factor” a system that measures the performance of companies on ESG metrics.
Hedge Fund: Martin Shkreli Faces New Charges in Drug Pricing Scheme
Martin Shkreli now faces new charges over the alleged price inflation of the drug Daraprim. The infamous “Pharma Bro” and his hedge fund bought the rights to the drug that treats malaria and foodborne illnesses.
Liquid Alternatives: 5G-Themed, “The First 5G ETF” (NYSE: FIVG) Rakes in $200 Million
The First 5G ETF (NYSE: FIVG), from the Defiance stable, mopped up AUM of over $200 million in less than 12 months.
FIVG, a thematic ETF focused on investing around the theme of 5G connectivity, has met with an enthusiastic response from investors.
Artificial Intelligence: Coronavirus! This AI Startup Warned of the Outbreak on December 31
Toronto-based BlueDot, which uses big data and AI, red-flagged the coronavirus outbreak in December. BlueDot’s AI-driven health monitoring platform analyzes billions of data points. Its process works something like this: It pores over global news reports, airline data, and animal disease outbreaks using natural language processing and machine learning techniques. The outputs from the platform are scanned by epidemiologists who sound the alert if they spot an outbreak.
Artificial Intelligence: AI-enabled Monitors Detect Secret Energy Guzzlers In Your Home
AI-enabled Monitors Detect Secret Energy Guzzlers In Your Home. A study of Wisconsin households by Alliant Energy finds that most homes could save as much as $300 annually by unplugging the so-called “phantom” energy guzzlers.
DailyAlts Playbook: Bernie Sanders Blowback, ESG Battery Woes, Impeachment Implications, the ECB, and New York State Tax Revenge – January 28, 2020
U.S. equity markets are pushing higher Tuesday after their worst day since October. Health experts are calling for calm and insist that coronavirus has been contained for the moment. Chinese health officials claim that 4,515 have been infected, while 106 have died from the disease. China has taken dramatic steps to contain the virus – including the cancelation of Lunar New Year events in Beijing and quarantining several cities.
Banking M&A 2020: Tim Melvin on Recent Survey Data
Banking M&A 2020 became a major topic of discussion this week. Bank Director Editor in Chief Jack Milligan and Rick Childs, a partner at Crowe, conducted a live survey at the magazine’s Acquire or Be Acquired conference in Phoenix.
Community Banking: Expect MOE Bank Deals and Other Takeovers in 2020
Tim Melvin reports from the 2020 Acquire or Be Acquired Conference. The panel “Wall Street’s Perspective on Bank Deals” featured three noted bank investors. Jonathan Ashe, equity analyst at Wellington Management Company; John Eggemeyer, Founder & Managing Partner at Castle Creek Capital; and, Anton Schutz President at Mendon Capital, all spoke on Monday. The three discussed…
Act Analytics Launches New ESG Portfolio Analytics Platform
Act Analytics announced the launch of a new Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) portfolio analytics platform. The new platform allows RIAs to compare, contrast, and construct customized ESG portfolios. The new Act Analytics technology combines analytics and more than 200 ESG factors. It allows RIAs to “x-ray” securities, funds and portfolios to assess for ESG levels. They can also construct custom, values-based portfolios for clients.
Digital Assets: Covantis, a Blockchain-based Agri-business Platform, Ties With ConsenSys
Covantis is a blockchain-focused project backed by multinational agri-business companies Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland Company, Bunge and Louis Dreyfus Company. Launched in 2018, the project aims to digitize the firms’ global shipping transactions using distributed ledger technology (DLT) and AI.
Covantis and Consensys will set up the blockchain-powered platform. The founding firms have also announced covantis.io, the new website for the project. The platform will launch this year and will initially focus on digitizing grain and oilseed post-trade execution.