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: The Pegasus Spyware From Israel’s NSO Group Hacked Phones Of Journalists And Activists
Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based journalism nonprofit, and Amnesty International shared a contact list with The Pegasus Project, a collaborative investigation between the Washington Post and 15 other news organizations to investigate smartphone hackings of reporters, human rights activists, business executives and the fiancee of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Venture Capital: Tennis Superstar Serena Williams Backs Fintech Esusu
Serena Williams has invested an undisclosed amount through her venture capital arm in Esusu, a fintech that automates credit building by reporting a person’s rent payments to credit bureaus, “boosting credit scores one rent payment at a time.”
FinTech: Berkshire Could Romp Home With 60% Gains In Paytm’s IPO
A Reuters report said Paytm, a leading Indian digital payments processor, has filed for a $2.23 billion IPO.
The proposed IPO would value Paytm at about $25 billion, with the pandemic having fuelled a surge in digital payments in the country. It would potentially mark a lucrative payday for Paytm’s investors, which include the Ant Group (HK: 6688), Softbank (TYO: 9984), and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A).
Digital Assets: PayPal Bumps Up Crypto Purchase Limits Five-Fold
Paypal (NASDAQ: PYPL) announced Thursday that it was boosting its weekly crypto spending limit five times from $20,000 to $100,000. It also said it had cancelled its annual spending ceiling of $100,000.
Venture Capital: Cybereason, Which Offers Extended Detection and Response (XDR), Lands $275M
Cybersecurity provider Cybereason, a US-Israeli startup, raised $275 million in a Series F funding that, according to media reports valued it at $3.1 billion. The financing was led by Liberty Strategic Capital, a venture fund launched by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, which put in $200 million, its maiden investment. Irving Investors, certain funds advised by Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers, and Softbank Vision Fund 2 invested the balance of $75 million.
Artificial Intelligence: AI For Deeper Insight Into The Mysterious Narwhals
It has been a challenge to study narwhals, the elusive and mysterious whales in the Arctic seas that sport a long unicorn horn on their snouts. They are known to hunt for food up to a thousand meters below the surface of the sea. However, researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources have deployed artificial intelligence (AI) to unravel the foraging secrets of the narwhals.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Goldman Sachs Launches Active, Climate-Focused ETF
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) has launched its first actively managed, transparent ETF that extends its range of thematic funds. The Goldman Sachs Future Planet Equity ETF will invest in companies that seek to provide solutions to environmental problems aligned with five key themes: clean energy, resource efficiency, sustainable consumption, the circular economy and water sustainability.
FinTech: Thiel-Backed N26 In Funding Talks, Could Value At $10B
Bloomberg reports that German fintech and digital bank N26 is in talks to raise funds, likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars, at a tentative valuation of about $10 billion. Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter; however, N26 declined to comment.
Digital Assets: Nuclear Fission Energy Startup Oklo Signs Up With Compass Mining
Compass Mining, the world’s first online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware and hosting, and Oklo Inc, a startup developing clean energy plants using advanced fission, have struck a 20-year deal. Eyeing the growing demand for emission-free power to use in bitcoin mining, Oklo’s advanced fission power houses will supply 150 MW of energy to Compass bitcoin mining machines commencing in the early 20’s.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Global X Launches ETFs For Blockchain, Agtech, And Hydrogen Exposure
Global X ETFs, of the Mirae Asset Financial Group, has launched the Global X Blockchain ETF (BKCH), the Global X AgTech & Food Innovation ETF (KROP), and the Global X Hydrogen ETF (HYDR). The three new ETFs bring up the number of Global X’s thematic funds to 30. They offer investors a focused exposure to “long-term, paradigm-shifting themes.”
Venture Capital: Revolut Valued At $33B In $800M Funding Round
Revolut, the Uk-based challenger bank and fintech, raised $800 million in a funding round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 and Tiger Global Management, both new investors. The funding came in at a valuation of $33 billion, about six times Revolut’s valuation in a previous round in 2020.
Artificial Intelligence: SleepSound, An AI-Enabled Phone App Can Detect Sleep Disorders
AI technology developed by researchers Professor Guy Brown and Dr. Ning Ma from the Speech and Hearing Research Group at the University of Sheffield, UK, can now monitor snoring levels and detect sleep disorders, including obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).
FinTech: M1 Finance Raises $150M In Its Fourth Funding Round In A Year
M1 Finance, which helps its users to invest, borrow, and spend on one Super App platform, announced today its raise of $150 million in a Series E round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Existing investors also participated in the funding.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Brazil’s Hashdex To Offset Mining Emissions In New Bitcoin ETF
Brazilian asset manager Hashdex said Tuesday it will launch a bitcoin ETF that will be carbon-neutral in respect of its holdings of the cryptocurrency. The fund manager will purchase carbon credits to offset the emission footprint of its bitcoin using a portion of its management fee. The ETF, titled the Hashdex Nasdaq Bitcoin Reference Price Index Fund (BITH11), will commence trading on the Brazilian B3 stock exchange effective August 4.
Digital Assets: REvil, Russia’s Notorious Ramsomware Gang, Has Vanished
Did REvil up-and-leave on its own after the heat simply got too much? Will it reband again with another name? Did Mr. Biden carry through on his threat to Putin that the U.S. will take “any action” to combat the persistent hack attacks on U.S. entities? Or, did Putin have a change of heart and pull the plug on REvil? These questions are all unanswered.
Venture Capital: Mighty Buildings, Which Makes Sustainable 3D-Printed Homes, Scores $22M Raise
Mighty Buildings , which aims for sustainable buildings construction that address the housing shortage, has raised an additional $22 million in its Series B funding round. Taken with the previous raise of $40 million in February this year, Mighty now has $100 million of capital under its belt since its founding in 2017.
Artificial Intelligence: Berkshire Hathaway To Use Zesty’s AI-Driven Climate Risk Analysis
The Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies (BHHC), a group of six insurance carriers that are part of the Berkshire Hathaway insurance group, will use Zesty.ai’s AI-driven models that predict climate risks for specific properties.
Digital Assets: London’s Metropolitan Police Seize $249M In Cryptocurrency
London’s Metropolitan Police, acting on information received about the transfer of criminal assets, seized almost £180 million ($249 million) in cryptocurrency on Saturday. The investigations surrounding the seizure related to international money laundering. The haul follows another amount of £114 million ($158 million) of cryptocurrency confiscated in June, which was itself a UK record. (CNN)
Liquid Alternatives/ESG: CI Global Launches Mutual Funds And ETFs Focusing On Climate Change, Liquid Alt Strategies
CI Global Asset Management announced today the launch of two new equity funds – the CI Global Climate Leaders Fund, which focuses on firms leading the global campaign against climate change, and CI Alternative North American Opportunities Fund, which uses alternative strategies to invest in innovative high-growth companies.
FinTech: Mastercard And Verizon To Collaborate On 5G Contactless Payments
Mastercard (NYSE: MA) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) announced today a partnership to combine their card network and 5G connectivity in innovative solutions such as contactless shopping, autonomous checkouts, Cloud POS and Internet of Things (IoT).
Artificial Intelligence: SpectraLIT, An AI-Powered Test, Detects COVID Instantly
Medicircle Health, a Mumbai-based diagnostic company, launched this week SpectraLIT, a portable device that instantly detects Covid-19 from the patient’s nasal or mouthwash sample.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Guggenheim’s Minerd On Bitcoin – “This Is Probably A Crash”
Minerd has taken his previous, “real bottom” price of bitcoin a notch lower. Based on technical analysis, he said last month that bitcoin would likely find a base at $15K. On Friday, speaking on CNBC, Minerd said he now thought the leading cryptocurrency could plumb $10,000 depths.
FinTech: UK Fintechs Pull Out All The Stops In Fundraising In H1 2021
A report by trade body Innovate Finance says that the UK fintech sector raised more in just the first six months of 2021 than the whole of 2020. Enthusiastic investors pumped $5.7 billion into the sector in H1, 34% higher than the total amount of $4.3 billion received in all of 2020, and more than pre-pandemic levels.
Digital Assets/ESG: A South Korean University Pays 10 Ggool To Students To Recycle Their Poo
Professor Cho is the inventor of the BeeVi toilet, which routes human excrement to a laboratory that converts it to biogas and manure. The eco-friendly toilet disburses 10 Ggool, a cryptocurrency created by Cho, to every person who uses the toilet for defecation. The biogas (methane) is a power source for the university building while the manure is used in gardening.