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
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.
Get Daily Updates
Subscribe to DailyAlts Today to get Alternative Investment news, insight, and commentary delivered straight to your inbox every day.
More Stories on News
FinTech: Walmart Readies For BNPL Fray Through Fintech Arm
One, a fintech majority-owned by Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is likely to enter the highly competitive Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) market amidst rising price pressures on shoppers and a challenging economic environment. One’s BNPL product is one that shoppers could use at both Walmart and other retailers.
Alternative Investments/ESG: BlackRock Debuts iShares Global Equity SRI ETF
BlackRock has launched the iShares MSCI ACWI SRI UCITS ETF (SAWI) listed on Euronext and the Deutsche Boerse. It provides exposure to broadly diversified companies, combining developed and emerging markets exposure for added diversification.
Alternative Investments/Digital: BlackRock Launches Metaverse ETF
BlackRock has issued the iShares Metaverse UCITS ETF, which offers investors an ESG-screened exposure to small, mid, and large capitalization developed and emerging market companies which invest in the development of certain metaverse related technologies such as virtual reality, 3D image modelling, avatar, graphics processing unit, blockchain and non-fungible tokens.
Artificial Intelligence: Deutsche Bank And NVIDIA Partner On AI-Powered Financial Services
Deutsche Bank (ETR: DBK) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) have entered a partnership to embed AI into financial services but primarily focusing on the use cases of risk model development, high-performance computing, and the creation of a branded virtual avatar.
Digital Assets: Don’t Paint Bitcoin And Ether In The Colors Of Scam-Tainted FTX, Says The Wolf Of Wall Street
And in more good news for crypto aficionados, Belfort also said he expected the price of bitcoin and ether to be “a lot higher.” The Wolf also dismissed the FTX imbroglio as a fraud: “FTX was a scam and there is no way to protect against a scam like that.”
Venture Capital: Security And Compliance Platform Drata Raises $200M Series C
ICONIQ Growth and GGV Capital led a $200 million Series C round in Drata, a continuous security and compliance automation platform, at a valuation of $2 billion. Other investors included Alkeon Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, S Ventures (SentinelOne), Silicon Valley CISO Investments (SVCI), and FOG Ventures (Operators Guild). Strategic individuals participating in the round included Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn), Frank Slootman (Snowflake), Jennifer Tejada (PagerDuty), Amit Agarwal (Datadog), Olivier Pomel (Datadog), and Jonathan Rubinstein (Amazon), joining Satya Nadella (Microsoft).
Artificial Intelligence: AI Helps Solve Many Solar Energy Problems
The ramifications from climate change are becoming clearer everyday as mankind confronts extreme weather instances across the globe. Renewable energy, particularly solar, has become of paramount importance in the race to achieve 2050 climate targets and replace fossil sources as early as possible. AI is being increasingly deployed to accelerate and optimize the use of solar power by solving a range of problems.
Artificial Intelligence: Gabriel, An Israeli AI Startup, Helps Fight Gun Violence In The USA
Gabriel, an Israeli AI startup that specializes in security against gun violence and mass shootings, has upgraded its the software package for customers that uses existing surveillance cameras to identify early signs of a threat and sends responders live video from the scene.
Venture Capital: Getir Buys Gorillas For $1.2B
In a sign of the consolidation sweeping across the rapid delivery sector, Istanbul-based online grocery start-up Getir has acquired German competitor Gorillas in a deal valuing the latter at $1.2 billion. Both participants in the deal managed to weather the tech meltdown that decimated valuations at many smaller grocery apps and led to their closure. Combined, the group is valued at $10 billion.
Venture Capital: Swedish Electric Self-Driving Truck Start-up Einride Lands $500M
Einride, the Swedish electric self-driving truck start-up, announced a raise of $500 million comprising an equity-based $200 million Series C portion from investors including Northzone, EQT Ventures, Temasek, Swedish pension fund AMF, Polar Structure and Norrsken VC. A debt funding of $300 million was led by Barclays Europe.
FinTech: Brazil’s MercadoLibre To Process Business Payments On WhatsApp
Pedro Arnt, CFO at Latin American e-commerce retailer and fintech firm MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) is in discussions with Meta (NASDAQ: META) to process payments in Brazil on the latter’s WhatsApp messaging service.
Alternative Investments/Real Estate: Dimensional Launches Global Real Estate ETF
Dimensional Fund Advisors has added a real estate ETF to its ETF line-up. The Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF offers investors the opportunity to invest in a variety of US and international real estate equities. The fund is a systematic active transparent ETFs built on Dimensional’s foundational investment approach that the firm has continuously refined over its 41-year history.
Artificial Intelligence: Soon, A New York Festival For AI-Created Films
Runway ML, the company behind text-to-image AI system Stable Diffusion, is hosting a festival of short films made using AI. Films with a runtime of between one and 10 minutes that either include AI-generated content or were pieced together with AI-powered editing techniques will qualify for the competition, which carries a $10K prize.
Venture Capital: Troubled Indian On-Line Education Startup Byju’s Wants To Restructure $1.2B Loan
Byju’s, the storied Indian educational startup that last scored a valuation of $22 billion, is seeking to renegotiate the terms of its $1.2 billion dollar loan amidst a surge in interest rates and steep losses in its business.
Digital Assets: Ledger Launches Stax, A Hardware Wallet Designed By Tony Fadell Of iPod Fame
Digital hardware maker Ledger has launched Stax, a new digital wallet designed by Tony Fadell, the builder of the iPod. It can be used to store and manage an NFT collection and over 500 coins and assets.
FinTech: Curve Amasses $1B Funding To Scale Its Curve Flex Lending Business
Financial superapp Curve has secured a $1 billion loan facility from Credit Suisse (SWX: CSGN) to grow Curve Flex, its lending business, in the UK, the EU and the United States. Curve Flex enables users to better plan their cash flows and reduce borrowing costs.
Artificial Intelligence: AI And A Camera Can Now Measure Your Blood Pressure
Researchers from the University of South Australia and Baghdad’s Middle Technical University have developed an innovative technique to monitor blood pressure using a digital camera and AI algorithms. The new method could be a vast improvement on the current system (the digital sphygmomanometer) of using an inflatable cuff tied to a patient’s arm or wrist.
FinTech: Sunbit Raises $250M Revolving Debt Facility
Sunbit has closed a $250 million revolving credit facility with an affiliate of Credit Suisse AG (SWX: CSGN), with access provided by Sector Financial, Inc., a Credit Suisse AG affiliate, and Waterfall Asset Management. The facility will enable Sunbit to power further growth for its Sunbit Card, a next-generation, no-fee credit card, and point-of-sale payment options offered at more than 16,000 service locations, including auto dealership service centers, optical practices, dentist offices, veterinary clinics, and specialty healthcare services.
Digital Assets: Who Owns Customer-Deposited Coins At Celsius? Judge To Decide
US Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn will soon decide on the vexed question of the ownership of the coins deposited by customers with crypto lender Celsius for earning interest income. Celsius is in bankruptcy proceedings and has asked the court’s permission to sell $18 million of coins held on its balance sheet to pay for ongoing expenses.
Artificial Intelligence: Facebook Dating Will Use Facial Scanning To Detect Underage Users
“We’re bringing our age verification tools to Facebook Dating to verify that only adults are using the service, and to continue our efforts in preventing minors from accessing it,” said a blog post Monday by Meta (NASDAQ: META), the parent company of Facebook Dating. Users would be provided two options to verify their age, one of which is to take a video selfie.
Alternative Investments/ESG: DWS Launches Paris-Aligned Emerging Market Equity ETF
DWS has launched the Xtrackers Emerging Markets Net Zero Pathway Paris Aligned UCITS ETF listed on Deutsche Boerse and the London Stock Exchange, with other exchanges to follow. Providing exposure to emerging market equities the ETF aims to achieve 50% lower carbon use amongst its constituents.
Venture Capital: Defense Startup Anduril Mops Up Giant $1.48B Funding
California-based defense and security startup Anduril raised a $1.48 billion Series E led by Valor Equity Partners, with participation from Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, 8VC, Lux Capital, Thrive Capital, DFJ Growth, Elad Gil, Lachy Groom, Human Capital, Marlinspike, WCM Investment Management, MVP Ventures, Lightspeed Venture and US Innovative Technology Fund.
FinTech: Global Fintech Intuit Acquires SeedFi, Which Helps Low, Or No-Credit Borrowers Build Credit
Following from a partnership struck last year between Intuit’s Credit Karma and SeedFi, the partner behind Credit Karma’s Credit Builder product, Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) has now acquired SeedFi for undisclosed terms. SeedFi enables members make regular payments, starting with as little as $20 per month or $10 per paycheck. By reporting these payments to the credit bureaus, members took steps toward improving their financial health and increased their credit score.
Artificial Intelligence: Bionaut Labs Raises $43.2M For Its Micro Robots That Swim Inside The Human Body
Bionaut Labs is developing micro-scale, magnetically guided robots that deliver biologics or small molecule therapies locally to targeted disease areas to help patients suffering from severe brain disorders. The company raised a $43.2 million Series B round led by Khosla Ventures, bringing the company’s total financing raised to date to $63.2 million. New investors Deep Insight, OurCrowd, PSPRS, Sixty Degree Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, GISEV Family Ventures, What if Ventures, Tintah Grace and Gaingels participated alongside existing investors Upfront Ventures, BOLD Capital Partners, Revolution VC, and Compound.