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: Precision Farming Startup Solinftec Raises $60M
Founded in 2007 by a group of automation engineers from Cuba, Solinftec is an agtech focused startup with headquarters in both São Paulo, Brazil and West Lafayette, Indiana. The company raised $60 million in a growth investment round led by Lightsmith Group and joined by existing investors Unbox Capital and Circularis Partners and several undisclosed investors.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Helps Identify An Enzyme That Eats Up Climate-Choking Plastics
Engineers and scientists at the University of Texas, Austin, have used machine learning to create FAST-PETase, an enzyme variant that can break down plastic waste in a matter of hours or days at lower temperatures. Plastic waste is a serious environmental problem because it is generated in quantities of billions of tonnes, piles up in deadly landfills, pollutes land and oceans, and takes centuries to degrade.
Digital Assets: Buffett Wouldn’t Buy All The Bitcoin In The World For $25
Buffett, who once called bitcoin “rat poison squared,” again had the cryptocurrency in his sights at the Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) Annual Shareholder meeting on Saturday. He panned bitcoin for not producing anything tangible and therefore called it a “non-productive asset.”
Venture Capital: Anthropic Raises $580M Series B For Safer AI Systems
Anthropic, a public benefit corporation and AI startup launched in 2020, raised a $124 million Series A in 2021, and has just announced a massive $580 million Series B round led by Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX. The round also included participation from Caroline Ellison, Jim McClave, Nishad Singh, Jaan Tallinn, and the Center for Emerging Risk Research (CERR).
FinTech: Klarna Enables Block For Non-Card Gambling Payments
A gambling block helps customers keep in check their own urge to splurge on gambling sites. Gambling blocks were first launched by challenger bank Monzo in 2018, but applied only to card payments. Klarna announced April 28 that it had now enabled banks to extend voluntary gambling blocks to open banking-driven payments powered by its subsidiary, SOFORT. SOFORT is one of Klarna’s direct bank-to-bank payment methods, used by 75,000 merchants across Europe, including some online gambling and gaming sites.
Alternative Investments/AI: AdvisorShares Offers Drone Technology ETF
The AdvisorShares Drone Technology ETF (NYSEARCA: UAV) has commenced trading from April 27, according to an announcement from AdvisorShares, a sponsor of active ETFs. The ETF offers investment opportunities in the commercial drone economy including drones and autonomous vehicles (AVs).
Artificial Intelligence: Meta (Formerly Facebook) To Develop AI That Processes Text And Speech Like Humans
Meta (formerly Facebook) (NASDAQ: FB) has announced a long-term AI research initiative to better understand how the human brain processes speech and text. This project, being undertaken with neuroimaging center Neurospin (CEA) and Inria, will help the development of AI that processes speech and text as well as human beings.
FinTech: Virgin Money’s Digital Bank Launches ‘Lock Saver’ Savings Feature
After a lot of research, Virgin Money’s (ASX: VUK) digital bank has launched an innovative Lock Saver feature, the first of its kind in Australia, designed to help savers reach their goals sooner. The research found that 70% of Australian households saved towards a medium to long-term goal in the past six months, but disappointingly, less than a third stayed within their budget or spending allowance. Lock Saver is a digital solution to this problem.
Venture Capital: Defense Startup Anduril Industries Eyeing $500M Raise
Costa Mesa-based defense technology startup and U.S. military contractor Anduril Industries is looking to raise as much as $500 million in a Series E round at a valuation of $7 billion, pre-money, according to an exclusive report by The Information.
Digital Assets: Goldman Sachs Makes Its First Loan Against Collateral of Bitcoin
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) has extended its first ever loan backed by a customer’s bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency. According to a spokeswoman of the Wall Street giant, the secured lending facility lent cash collateralized by bitcoin owned by the borrower.
Digital Assets: Dubai’s Damac Properties To Accept Payments In Crypto, Build Metaverse Cities
Leading Dubai developer Damac Properties has announced it will accept the bitcoin and ethereum cryptocurrencies in payment for its properties. The objective, the builder said Wednesday, was to provide cryptos’ convenience and optionality to real estate investors globally. The move would also help revolutionize the future of real estate, specifically, in Dubai.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Global X Launches Metaverse Themed ETF
The metaverse opportunity could exceed $1 trillion according to Global X. Morevoer, the ETF provider categorizes the metaverse as a “long term, paradigm-shifting theme” suitable for inclusion in its Thematic Growth family of funds. Hence its launch of the Global X Metaverse ETF (VR), which will seek opportunities in the metaverse including virtual reality, augmented reality, semiconductors, and creator platforms and economies.
Artificial Intelligence: The Bristal Assisted Living Deploys AI To Protect Seniors
Foresite is a high tech platform that includes wireless sensors, artificial intelligence, deep machine learning, visual monitoring systems, and predictive analysis. The system tracks a resident’s health, helps to predict an elevated risk of falling, and provides immediate alerts should a fall occur.
Venture Capital: Aerones Lands $9M Seed Round For Wind Turbine Inspector Robots
Aerones, the Latvian startup that makes wind turbine inspection a snap with its proprietary robots, has raised $9 million in seed funding to further accelerate the global scaling of its robotic wind turbine maintenance and inspection services.
FinTech: Berlin-Based Taxfix Raises $220M, Enters Unicorn Club
Taxfix, a Berlin-based startup that aims to take the pain out of tax filing, has raised a $220 million Series D round that valued it at over $1 billion. Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), part of the $242B Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’), led the round. Existing investors Index Ventures, Valar Ventures, Creandum, and Redalpine also participated.
Alternative Investments/Digital: BlackRock Launches Thematic ETFs On FoodTech And Blockchain
BlackRock has launched the iShares Emergent Food and AgTech Multisector ETF (IVEG) and the iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF (IBLC) as a part of its Megatrends range of products.
“The expansion of our megatrends line-up today reflects the power of the millennial and rise of the self-directed investor, whose buying habits have reshaped mainstream consumer behaviors, and in turn, the companies in which they invest,” said Rachel Aguirre, Head of U.S. iShares Product at BlackRock. “We believe the moment is now to embrace these forward-looking investment themes before the market recognizes their full potential.”
Artificial Intelligence: Baidu And Pony.AI Licensed To Operate Autonomous Vehicles Without Safety Drivers
For the first time ever, robotaxis will run on Chinese roads without a safety driver. Baidu (HKG: 9888) and Pony.AI received permits from the municipal government to operate their robotaxis within a 60 square kilometre (23 square mile) area in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone. The rides may be offered to the general public without the need for a safety driver to be seated in the driving seat.
FinTech: In India, WhatsApp To Roll Out Cashback Rewards For P2P Payments
WhatsApp, which enjoys a user base of half a billion in India, is planning to offer cashback rewards on its peer-to-peer payments service in a bid to close the gap with rivals such as Google Pay. Insiders privy to information told Reuters that the app will offer up to 33 Indian rupees ($0.40) for transfers users make on its payments service, which allows contacts to send each other funds from within the messenger app.
Venture Capital: Solar Energy Provider Sun King Raises $260M
Sun King, the world’s largest off-grid solar energy company that has powered the homes of over 82 million people across Africa and Asia, announced its $260 million Series D raise led by BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic, along with M&G Investments’ Catalyst team and Arch Emerging Markets Partners.
Digital Assets: USDC.homes Offers DeFi (Crypto) Home Mortgages
A new decentralized finance project, USDC.homes, is inviting holders of digital assets in Texas to buy homes with their crypto wealth. The so-called “crypto mortgage” allows users to leverage their crypto holdings in the home buying process up to 80% of the purchase price, and even earn interest on their down payment.
Alternative Investments/Digital: An ETP That Combines Gold And Bitcoin Now Trades On A Swiss Exchange
The new ETP from ByteTree Asset Management and 21Shares is based on the principle that in inflationary times such as these, “BOLD is the 60/40.” That’s because it balances a risk-on asset (bitcoin) with a risk-off asset (gold). The 21Shares ByteTree Bold Index ETP (BOLD) is the first exchange traded product (ETP) to combine gold and bitcoin in a single fund.
Artificial Intelligence: AI And Analytics Enable Visa To Keep Fraud At Record Lows
Visa’s (NYSE: V) massive investments in AI and advanced analytics enabled the card giant to wrestle payment fraud down to record levels despite the quantum surge in online transactions after the pandemic. Consider this: Since late 2019, the volume of e-commerce traffic has grown by 50%, according to Visa. Peer-to-peer payments on Visa’s network more than doubled, while subscriptions to digital streaming services surpassed 1 billion for the first time. But…cybercriminals got practically nowhere with Visa.
FinTech: Amazon Japan Selects Adyen To Process Payments
Global payments platform Adyen (AMS: ADYEN) provides end-to-end payments capabilities, data-driven insights, and financial products in a single global solution. It announced today that it is now processing payments for Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Japan.
Digital Assets: Fidelity To Allow 401 (k) Investors Access To Bitcoin
Fidelity Investments today announced the launch of its workplace Digital Assets Account, a product designed to help workers to allocate a part of their savings to bitcoin through the core 401(k) plan investment lineup. The move follows a rising demand from employers to offer the bitcoin as an option to 401(k) investors, with MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) planning to be the first employer to use the product.