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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Digital Assets: Celsius Bars Withdrawals; Cryptos Melt; Bitcoin Crashes To $23,662
Controversial crypto lender Celsius blocks all withdrawals, transfers, swaps citing “extreme market conditions.” In a “Memo to the Celsius Community,” issued today, crypto lending platform Celsius, which has lent out more than $8 billion to clients, wrote: “Due to extreme market conditions, today we are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers…
Venture Capital: Indian Startup SolarSquare Raises $4M Including From Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital
SolarSquare, a startup based in Mumbai, India, that aims to make clean energy affordable and accessible to homes across India, has raised a $4 million funding round led by Good Capital, with participation from US-based Lowercarbon Capital, Singapore-based Symphony Asia, and Nithin Kamath’s Rainmatter.
Artificial Intelligence: Google Engineer Claims AI Chatbot Is “Sentient;” Sent On Leave By Company
Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has allegedly placed one of its engineers, Blake Lemoine, on paid leave for breach of confidentiality after he published transcripts of conversations between himself, a Google “collaborator”, and the company’s LaMDA (language model for dialogue applications) chatbot development system. Lemoine has claimed that the system had become “sentient,” meaning it was able to perceive or feel things.
FinTech: Citi Invests In Trade Finance And Working Capital Platform LiquidX
Citi (NYSE: C), one of the largest trade finance banks in the world has made a strategic investment in LiquidX, a global provider of working capital, trade finance and trade credit insurance solutions. The unspecified investment by Citi participated in a funding round led by Broadridge (NYSE: BR), an existing investor in LiquidX.
Alternative Investments/ESG: USCF Launches A Dividend Income Fund With ESG Focus
USCF launched Wednesday the USCF Dividend Income Fund, an actively-managed exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in U.S. exchange-traded dividend-paying and dividend-growth companies meeting the Fund’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.
FinTech: Mastercard Enables NFT Commerce; Ties Up With NFT Marketplaces And Web3 Provider
Mastercard (NYSE: MA) announced June 9 its work-in-progress to expand NFT commerce through collaborations with NFT marketplaces including Immutable X, Candy Digital, The Sandbox, Mintable, Spring, Nifty Gateway, and Web3 infrastructure provider MoonPay.
Digital Assets: Two-Thirds Of About 1,900 Crypto Hedge Funds Will Fail (Mike Novogratz)
Speaking at the Piper Sandler Global Exchanges & Brokerage Conference in New York, Novogratz said the Fed’s removal of stimulus led to a correction in the broader financial market, in turn triggering a collapse in crypto prices. As a result, a large number of crypto hedge funds could fail.
Digital Assets: Terraform Labs Under SEC Lens For Alleged Investor Protection Violations
A Bloomberg report on Thursday said the US SEC was investigating Do Kwon-led Terraform Labs, which backed the TerraUSD stablecoin (UST), for violations of statutory regulations that protected investors. The UST stablecoin crashed after it lost its 1-1 peg to the US dollar due to a shock decline in the related Luna token and a failure of the algorithm that was supposed to maintain the peg.
Venture Capital: Brown Foods, Maker Of Alternative Milk From Cell Culture, Nabs $2.36M Seed Round
Alternative milk creator Brown Foods, which recently graduated from startup accelerator Y Combinator, has raised a $2.36 million seed round backed by AgFunder, SRI Capital, Amino Capital, Collaborative Fund, a group of individual angel investors, and Y Combinator itself.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Pacer ETFs Launches Data And Digital Revolution ETF
Pacer ETFs, which specializes in strategy-driven, rules-based ETFs, announced Thursday its launch of the Pacer Data and Digital Revolution ETF (TRFK), which seeks to capitalize on the emerging trend of data transmission and the digital revolution.
Artificial Intelligence: Shield AI, The Defense Tech Company Creating AI Pilots, Lands $165M
Shield AI is a defense-tech company that is developing autonomous software to enable collaborative teams of unmanned aircraft to operate in GPS- and RF-denied environments. The startup announced Thursday its S165 million Series E fundraising that achieved a valuation of $2.3 billion.
Venture Capital: Andreessen Horowitz Is Lead Investor In SCiFi Foods Series A
SCiFi Foods, a food tech startup is creating beef using both plant-based and real cultivated beef cells, has raised a $22 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The company was founded in 2019 by Joshua March, CEO, and Kasia Gora, CTO
Alternative Investments/ESG: Putnam To Launch Five Transparent Active ESG-Focused ETFs
Putnam Investments announced plans to launch, subject to completion of regulatory processes, three active fixed income and two active quantitative equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs), all with an environmental, social and governance (ESG) focus. These proposed ETFs, along with the existing Putnam Sustainable Leaders ETF and Putnam Sustainable Future ETF, will also serve as underlying investment components within the firm’s ESG-focused target-date series, the Putnam Sustainable Retirement Funds.
Artificial Intelligence: Prism Courage, Hyundai’s Ultra-Large LNG Carrier, Crosses The Pacific Autonomously
Avikus, a Hyundai (KRX: 005380) subsidiary focussed on autonomous navigation solutions, and SK Shipping announced on June 2 that the PRISM COURAGE, a 180,000 square-meter-class ultra-large LNG carrier had completed a roughly a 10,000 kilometer ocean voyage autonomously. The ship was equipped with HiNAS 2.0, Avikus’ Level 2 autonomous navigation solution.
Digital Assets: As SEC’s Spot ETF Decision Looms, Grayscale Brings On The Heavy Legal Artillery
Grayscale has hired Donald B. Verrilli Jr., former U.S. Solicitor General, for the eventuality that the SEC rejects its application to convert its flagship $19.8 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot-based ETF. Grayscale Investments is hunkering down for a possible legal battle with the SEC in the event the regulator rejects its spot…
FinTech: UK Digital Bank Zopa Hops On To The BNPL Bandwagon
Zopa, the digital challenger bank in the UK, has entered the country’s £6 billion buy now pay later market with a differentiated product that is geared towards regulatory compliance and responsible credit. Zopa’s BNPL will ensure that customers do not get into a debt trap by first running credit checks and affordability tests. To be offered in phases, Zopa’s BNPL suite will commence with a BNPL retail finance offering for merchants and be offered via B2BC partnerships.
Venture Capital: Insurtech Branch Lands $147M, Joins Unicorn Club
Home and auto insurance provider Branch uses data and technology to make its products better and more affordable for all. The insurtech announced today its $147 million Series C funding led by Watherford Capital with participation by new and existing investors including Acrew, AmFam Ventures, Anthemis, Gaingels, Greycroft, HSCM Ventures, Narya, SignalFire, and Tower IV.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Newday Impact Launches The Newday Ocean Health ETF (NYSE: AHOY)
San Francisco-based asset manager and fintech, Newday Impact, launched on Tuesday the Newday Ocean Health ETF (NYSE: AHOY) which is dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy marine ecosystems. The fund will invest in companies that are diverting ocean-bound plastic waste, supporting sustainable fisheries, controlling ocean acidification caused by CO2 emissions, and actively using other strategies to combat ocean pollution and other threats to marine health.
Artificial Intelligence: Autonomous Ship Mayflower Crosses The Atlantic
The present-day Mayflower, completely unmanned and driven by artificial intelligence, completed its transatlantic journey, which commenced at England five weeks ago, at Halifax, Nova Scotia, instead of the Massachusetts coast where the Pilgrims landed. Though the AI ran flawlessly there were some mechanical problems, said an engineer from IBM (NYSE: IBM) which helped to build it.
FinTech: Apple Announces New Fintech-Like Features For Its Wallet App Including BNPL
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced new features that will soon be offered in its new iOS16 software, including one that takes the battle right into fintechs’ turf : Apple Pay Later, a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) product. A new payments system will also launch later this month that transfers money by tapping two iPhones.
Venture Capital: Ecuadorian Payments Platform Kushki Raises $100M In Extended Round, Turns Unicorn
Kushki, the Ecuadorian platform facilitating digital payments for LatAm businesses, announced it had raised $100 million in an extended Series B round at a valuation of $1.5 billion. New and existing investors including Kaszek Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, SoftBank Latin America Fund and DILA Capital among others participated in the round.
FinTech: Western Union’s European Digital Banking Platform To Use Marqeta For Offering Remittances Online
Marqeta’s (NASDAQ: MQ) card issuing platform will form the bedrock for Western Union’s (NYSE: WU) transformation of its European remittance services into a fully online mode. Western Union will integrate Marqeta into its “next-generation real-time multi-currency digital wallet and digital banking platform in Europe.”
Alternative Investments/ESG: Amidst Climate Change, An ETF For Exposure To Disaster Recovery
The Procure Disaster Recovery Strategy ETF is debuting Wednesday under the ticker FEMA. ProcureAM, a subsidiary of Procure Holdings LLC, launches the Procure Disaster Recovery Strategy ETF (FEMA) which invests in companies in the businesses of sustainable recovery and risk reduction efforts related to natural disasters. (InsuranceJournal) Disaster recovery companies The ETF tracks the VettaFi…
Artificial Intelligence: AI Is Monitoring Biodiversity Of Vegetation Alongside UK Rail Tracks
AI is proving to be instrumental for UK’s Network Rail to achieve biodiversity net gain on its land by 2035. The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and technology firm Keen AI have been working with Network Rail to develop AI-powered solutions that can identify potential problems such as invasive species and native trees struck by disease.