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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Alternative Investments/ESG: HSBC Launches Four ESG ETFs Across Value And Small Caps
HSBC Asset Management has launched in London four ESG focused ETFs. Two of these are equity value-oriented and span World and Emerging Markets respectively. The other two are equity small-cap oriented and similarly invest across World and Emerging Markets.
Liquid Alternatives: Interview With George Matthews Of Allspring Global Investments
George Matthews is a managing director and co-head of Product for the Systematic Edge Equity team at Allspring Global Investments. In this capacity, he leads global institutional product direction for the Systematic Edge platform. George specializes in factor-based investing and serves as a senior product specialist for the team’s equity group.
Alternative Investments/ESG: New Paris-Aligned World Equity ETF From Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs Asset Management has launched the Goldman Sachs Paris-Aligned Climate World Equity UCITS ETF (WRLD) on the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse. WRLD is labelled ‘light green’ Article 8 under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
Venture Capital: Lionel Messi Launches Investment Vehicle
San Francisco-based Play Time Sports-Tech HoldCo LLC is a holding company created by soccer superstar Lionel Messi to explore and invest in ventures that include football teams or football technology, said a Bloomberg report.
Digital Assets: Retail Vigilantes Join In The Global Race To Nab Do Kwon
Kang Hyung-suk, who used to work in Do Kwon’s cryptocurrency operator Terraform Labs in Seoul, belongs to the UST Restitution Group, which is trying to locate Do Kwon alongside Interpol and South Korean authorities. Do Kwon is wanted in South Korea on charges of financial fraud.
Artificial Intelligence: AI-Generated Content Platform Jasper Raises $125M Series A
Jasper, the platform for AI-generated content, announced its $125 million Series A round led by global software investor Insight Partners and joined by other leading firms including Coatue, Bessemer Venture Partners, IVP, Foundation Capital, Founders Circle Capital, HubSpot Ventures and more. The round valued the firm at $1.5 billion.
FinTech: VISA Ties With Nuvei, Tender Retail, To Offer BNPL To Canadians
Canadian shoppers at at some of Canada’s largest retailers including Simons, Canada Computers, Soft Moc, and Trévi, will soon be offered an option to pay for their qualifying purchases through smaller, predictable “Installments” payments made over a defined period using an eligible Visa (NYSE: V) credit card.
Digital Assets: FTX And Its Billionaire Owner Sam Bankman-Fried Being Investigated By Texas State Securities Board
Joe Rotunda, the enforcement director of the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB), found that he could easily apply to join FTX’s yield-earning offering even though he listed his Austin address. The problem? FTX has not registered to sell securities in Texas. It appears, therefore, that FTX has been offering unregistered securities to Texas residents through its yield-bearing cryptocurrency accounts – a matter under investigation by the TSSB since last week.
Venture Capital: Under-The -Radar Oncology Start-up Treeline Biosciences Nabs $261M
Treeline Biosciences, a cancer biotechnology startup led by biotech executives and Co-Founders Joshua Bilenker (CEO) and Jeffrey Engelman (CSO), has landed a Series A funding of $262 million to further its research pipeline. Bilenker, who had previously worked a stint in the oncology division of the FDA, went on to found a biotech company called Loxo Oncology which was later acquired by Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) for $8 billion in 2019.
Artificial Intelligence: Open Source AI Company Stability AI Lands $101M
Stability AI, an open source AI company driven by a community of developers that launched the highly successful, free-to-use, text-to-image generator Stable Diffusion, has raised a $101 million, oversubscribed round led by Coatue, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC.
Alternative Investments: Desjardins Launches New Long-Short Alternative ETF
Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc announced the launch of the new Desjardins Alt Long/Short Global Equity Markets ETF comprising two classes of units, the CA$ hedged units (“DAMG”) and the US$ hedged units (“DAMG.U”). The ETF, which joined the Desjardins Alternative ETFs line-up, began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange with effect from October 14.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Harbor Capital Launches US Equity ETF Focusing On Corporate Culture
Harbor Capital Advisors, Inc. has launched the Harbor Corporate Culture ETF (NYSEARCA: HAPI) to give investors the ability to access the power of a company’s most important asset – its people, based on the premise that “doing the right thing pays and is strongly linked to future investment performance.”
Artificial Intelligence: NVIDIA Founder Jensen Huang And Wife Lori Huang Donate $50M To Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU) has announced the launch of a $200 million research and education center incorporating one of the nation’s most powerful supercomputers. Jen-Hsun Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), and his wife Lori have contributed a gift of $50 million to the OSU Foundation, following which the center is to be named the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex.
Digital Assets: Uniswap Lands $165M Series B At $1.66B Valuation
Uniswap, which intends to bring Web3 to everyone, announced a $165 million Series G round led by Polychain Capital and with participation from existing investors a16z crypto, Paradigm, SV Angel, and Variant. The round valued the company at around $1.66 billion.
Artificial Intelligence: VW Launches €2.4bn Joint Venture with Chinese AI Chip Specialist Horizon Robotics
Volkswagen AG (ETR: VOW3) announced an investment of €2.4bn in a joint venture between its software company CARIAD and Horizon Robotics, a leading Chinese designer of AI chips and provider of computing solutions for smart vehicles in China. CARIAD will be a majority (60%) shareholder in the JV, expected to be formed in the first half of 2023.
Alternative Investments/ESG: VanEck Australia Launches Global Carbon Credits ETF
VanEck Australia has launched the VanEck Global Carbon Credits ETF (ASX:XCO2), a new global carbon credits based ETF that will allow retail investors in Australia exposure to international carbon credit markets. The ETF is a valuable diversification for these investors because the local bourse is heavily dominated by climate-sensitive sectors and companies in mining, energy and other resources.
Digital Assets: Cumulative Transactions In The Digital Yuan (e-CNY) Exceed 100.04B Yuan ($13.9B)
In statistics unveiled by the People’s Bank of China, the country’s CBDC, known as e-CNY, has amassed a cumulative value of 100 billion yuan ($13.9 billion) as of Aug. 31, 2022. Given the number of transactions during the period was 360 million, the average value of a transaction was 278 yuan.
Venture Capital: TripActions Raises $304M Series G At $9.2B Valuation
TripActions announced a Series G raise comprising $154 million in equity from new and existing financial investors as well as a $150 million structured capital transaction led by Coatue, marking the third financing round for the company in three years.
Alternative Investments/ESG: KraneShares Launches ETF Focused On Metals Required For The Energy Transition
Asset management firm Kranes Funds Advisors LLC launched on Thursday the KraneShares Electrification Metals ETF (NYSE: KMET) on the New York Stock Exchange. The ETF offers exposure to the core metals expected to see strong demand from a range of electrification uses including EVs and their batteries, transmission and distribution grids, electrical wiring, and in solar panels and wind turbines.
FinTech: Apple Card Users Can Now Earn Interest On Their Daily Cash Rewards In A Goldman Sachs Savings Account
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced that users of its Apple Card could open a new high-yield Savings account at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) in the coming months. Apple Card users can automatically deposit, save, and grow their Daily Cash and rewards in this account. The iPhone giant also clarified that the Savings account will have no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements.
Artificial Intelligence: VC Money Follows Startups Into London’s West End, Soon To Be An AI Hub?
London’s West End may soon add ‘high tech’ to its ‘night-spot’ allure. A number of AI startups have located themselves in this district, which may soon gain a reputation as the UK’s AI cluster and industry hub. The trend since the late 2000s for East London to be the go-to address for digital startups seems to be turning. (UKTN)
Digital Assets: Using The Metaverse To Restore Chinook Salmon To A Native American Watershed In California
Pom, a Native American tribe leader in Northern California, will use blockchain to revive the native species of Chinook salmon his community once relied on. Pom and his team have created Salmon Journeys, a video game on Decentraland. A user who snags a Chinook salmon in the game wins an exclusive non-fungible token (NFT) by Sawalmen, a Web3 entity that represents Indigenous spiritual values and raises funds for restoration efforts and the landback movement.
FinTech: Mastercard Invests In Egypt’s Nclude, A Fintech Focused VC Investment Platform
Mastercard (NYSE: MA) has made a strategic investment of an undisclosed amount in Nclude, a fintech-focused VC investment platform launched in Egypt. The investment will go toward supporting early-and-growth-stage fintechs tackling financial inclusion in the country, and the Central Bank of Egypt’s vision to establish Egypt as the Innovation Hub for fintechs across the Middle East and Africa region.
Venture Capital: Soli Organic Lands $125M Round For New, Soil-Based Indoor Farms
Soli Organic has closed a series D funding round of nearly $ 125 million. Led by global investment group CDPQ, the round also saw participation from leading European investment firm Movendo Capital, B.V. and existing investors S2G Ventures, Cascade Asset Management Company and XPV Water Partners.