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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Venture Capital: Brightseed Raises $68M For AI-Researched Health-Benefiting Compounds
San Francisco based Brightseed has raised $68 million in a Series B round led by Singapore sovereign fund Temasek with participation by existing investors Lewis & Clark AgriFood, Seed 2 Growth (now S2G) Ventures, CGC Ventures, Germin8 and AgFunder. Brightseed uses an AI platform dubbed ‘Forager’ to identify the hidden compounds in plants that can impact our health beneficially. The funding brings up the total money raised by Brightseed to $120 million.
Digital Assets: Bitcoin Looking Weak At $32,670; May Test $29K
Bitcoin continued its bearish trajectory today after the last Fed meeting hiked rates by 0.5%, the largest increase since 2000. The crypto, at the time of writing, is trading at $32,189, down nearly 7%, and in tandem with a massive fall in the mainline US indices: Dow (-1.76%); S&P500 (-2.66%); and Nasdaq (-3.55%). Global equity indices had also fallen today, slammed by a sweeping ‘risk-off’ mindset taking hold among investors.
Venture Capital: Healthcare BNPL Provider Walnut Raises $110M
Yash Joshi, CTO, (left) and Roshan Patel, CEO, (right) founded Walnut in 2020 to make healthcare more affordable for patients by breaking up large medical bills into small, monthly payments without fees or interest. The startup fintech announced its $110 million Series A led by Gradient Ventures with strong participation from new and existing investors including Newark Ventures, Afore Capital, 2048 Ventures, CityRock Ventures, AngelList, Weekend Fund, Company Ventures, Banana Capital, Goodwater Capital, and Muse Capital. Founders and executives from Teachable, Clearbit, and Afterpay also participated.
FinTech: UK Households Resort To BNPL To Cover Surging Energy Bills
A survey in April by the Office for National Statistics in Great Britain showed that about four in 10 British households are finding it difficult to pay for gas and electricity and a similar proportion are buying less food. The survey reflected the impact of the change in the energy bill cap set by the UK regulator and the deepening cost of living crisis in the country. Furthermore, consumer groups are warning that households’ finances are stretched enough for them to resort to buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) schemes to pay energy bills.
Alternative Investments/ESG: State Street Global Advisors Introduces Paris Aligned Climate ETFs Supported By Early Investor UCLA
State Street Global Advisors have launched the SPDR MSCI USA Climate Paris Aligned ETF (NZUS) and SPDR MSCI ACWI Climate Paris Aligned ETF (NZAC) that are intended to help investors achieve thier climate ambitions. The ETFs are geared toward the growing number of investors interested in addressing climate change in their portfolios, both to mitigate climate risk and to invest in climate solutions.
Artificial Intelligence: AI-Powered MAGIC Goggles To Assist Field Personnel Perform Medical Procedures
DARPA has picked Raytheon (NYSE: RTX) BBN to develop goggles that are equipped with Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities to serve as a virtual medical assistant to combat medics on the field. The device would provide real-time, hands-free guidance for 50-different medical procedures.
Digital Assets: Gucci To Soon Accept More Than 10 Cryptocurrencies At Five Select US Stores
By the end of this month, Gucci will start to accept cryptocurrency payments in a few US stores, and later extend the pilot to all of its directly operated stores in the US this summer. More than 10 currencies, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Wrapped Bitcoin, Litecoin, Shiba Inu, and five stablecoins pegged to the US dollar, will be accepted by the iconic brand. The Gucci stores at Wooster Street in New York, Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, Miami Design District, Phipps Plaza in Atlanta, and The Shops at Crystals in Las Vegas will be the first to take crypto payments.
Alternative Investments/Fintech: AXS Investments Launches Leveraged Innovation ETF
Alternative investment asset manager AXS Investments launched the AXS 2X Innovation ETF (NASDAQ: TARK), a 2X leveraged product focused on companies involved in transformational industries, such as fintech, autonomous vehicles, genomics and next-gen internet.
Venture Capital: Shopify Agrees To Buy E-Commerce Logistics Startup Deliverr For $2.1B
Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) announced Thursday its agreement to acquire Deliverr, a logistics network and provider of fulfilment technology, for $2.1 billion. The startup, which was founded in 2017, currently delivers over a million orders per month across the US.
FinTech: Fast-Growing Neo Financial Raises $145M , Turns Canadian Unicorn
Canadian fintech Neo Financial has raised US$145 million dollars in its latest funding and attained unicorn status after achieving a valuation of over $1 billion. The new financing round was led by Valar Ventures and saw participation from Tribe Capital, Altos Ventures, Blank Ventures, Gaingels, Maple VC, and Knollwood Advisory.
Artificial Intelligence: FDA Approves The New VideaHealth AI-Powered Cavity Detection System
VideaHealth, which leverages AI, data, and analytics to improve decision-making and diagnosis for dentists and dental insurers, has secured the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new AI-powered cavity detection system. The system serves as a valuable confirmatory tool for dentists.
FinTech: Shipping And Logistics Giant Maersk Turns To Stripe For International Payments
Maersk (CPH: MAERSK-B), the shipping and logistics giant founded in 1905, has a logistics network across 130 countries and moves many billions of dollars worth of shipments around the world annually. The company recognized earlier than peers that it needed to transform its operations to keep up with the rising trade volumes. A critical area was international payments.
Alternative Investments/AI: Pacer Launches Robotics & 3D Printing ETF
Pacer ETFs has announced the launch of its all-new Pacer BlueStar Engineering the Future ETF (BULD) that tracks the BlueStar Global Robotics & 3D Printing Index. Accordingly, the ETF targets manufacturing and engineering developments leading to The Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, which is characterized by disruptive industrial automation, and dependency on 3D printing and robotics.
Alternative Investments/Real Estate: Merk Investments Launches First Stagflation-Themed ETF
Merk Investments announced the Merk Stagflation ETF (NYSEARCA: STGF) which focuses on investments that would benefit from stagflation, or a situation comprising high and persistent inflation amidst weak economic growth. These investments are a dynamic basket of inflation hedges in the sectors of real estate, oil, bullion, and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS).
Digital Assets: Liechtenstein’s LGT Bank Offers Crypto Investing
LGT Bank, the largest private banking and asset management group in the world that is wholly owned by an entrepreneurial family – the Princely House of Liechtenstein – had assets under management of CHF 285.8 billion as of December 31 (US$ 292.75 billion at current exchange rates). The bank announced the launch of crypto investments using US dollars for its select clientele.
Venture Capital: The Home Depot Launches ‘Home Depot Ventures’ To Advance Home Improvement Technologies
The Home Depot (NYSE: HD) announced the launch of Home Depot Ventures, a $150 million venture fund that will accelerate the development of home improvement technologies and enhance the customer experience at the home improvement retail chain.
Artificial Intelligence: Toyota To Deploy The Invisible AI Computer Vision Platform At North American Factories
Toyota Motor North America (TNMA) and Invisible AI have joined hands to improve quality, safety, and productivity at the 14 Toyota factories in the US through the use of AI. The platform works with so-called ‘invisible eyes’ to track real-time human motion to help customers run accurate, reliable and safe operations. The first TNMA plant to implement this technology, Toyota Indiana, will initially deploy 500 of these ‘edge AI’ devices this year.
Alternative Investments/Digital: CI Global Launches Blockchain and Metaverse ETFs
CI Global Asset Management has launched two new ETFs focused on the digital megatrends of blockchain and metaverse. The CI Galaxy Blockchain ETF and CI Galaxy Metaverse ETF commenced trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on May 3 under the tickers CBCX and CMVX, respectively.
Venture Capital: Battery Active Materials Producer Group14 Raises $400M In Porsche-Led Round
Group14 Technologies is a global manufacturer and supplier of advanced silicon-carbon technology for lithium-silicon batteries that would “enable the electrification of everything.” It announced today its successful $400 million Series C round of funding led by Porsche AG (ETR: PAH3) with participation from OMERS Capital Markets, Decarbonization Partners, Riverstone Holdings LLC, Vsquared Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, and other large institutional investors.
FinTech: LatAm Fintech Xepelin Raises $111M Including From PayPal Ventures
Xepelin, a Latin American fintech for B2B payments and financial services focused on SMBs, has closed on a $111 million Series B round led by Avenir and Kaszek with participation from PayPal Ventures, Wellington, DST Global, Battery Ventures, MSA Novo, Endeavor Catalyst, FJ Labs, Picus, Amarena, Gunderson, Carlos Garcia, Cathay-Seaya Latam, Gilgamesh, among others.
Artificial Intelligence: AI-Powered Vehicle Inspections Detect Defects In Seconds
The availability of powerful computing hardware and dramatic advanced in AI and software technologies have made it possible to conduct highly reliable and accurate vehicle inspections that generate reports in real-time.
FinTech: Banking Giant Truist Acquires Gamified Savings App Long Game
Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE: TFC) has acquired Long Game, a mobile savings gamification app that change how users engage with their bank by using prize-linked savings and casual gaming to motivate smart financial behavior, driving account growth and client retention. The result of a 2019 merger between BB&T and SunTrust, Truist is the sixth-largest bank in the US and has $488 billion of assets. Long Game, founded in 2015, is fintech startup with a team of 12 persons.
Digital Assets: VanEck Offers The First Ever NFTs From A Global Asset Manager
VanEck, a global asset manager with about $85.5 billion of assets under management, has launched the VanEck Community NFT via the release of 1,000 VanEck NFTs. The VanEck Community NFTs are being designed in partnership with NUMOMO, a premier global creative NFT agency, and reside on the Ethereum ecosystem, an open source blockchain with smart contract functionality.
Alternative Investments/ESG: RBC iShares Launches Four Megatrend ETFs
RBC iShares has expanded its ETFs suite with the launch of four new Megatrend ETFs focused on the transformational themes of exponential technologies, clean energy, immunology and healthcare, and cybersecurity.