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Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, aims to secure $1 billion in equity financing to compete with industry leaders such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google. The company, co-founded by Musk, has already garnered $135 million from investors, as revealed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Venture Capital: Online Wholesale Marketplace Faire Nabs $400M At $12.4B Valuation
Faire, a wholesale ecommerce platform that serves as a bridge between independent brands and small business owners looking for affordable merchandise, announced its $400 million Series G raise co-led by investors Durable Capital Partners LP, D1 Capital Partners, and Dragoneer Investment Group.
Digital Assets: The SEC Turns Down VanEck’s Application For A Spot Bitcoin ETF
On Friday, the SEC gave a thumbs-down signal to a spot bitcoin ETF from VanEck. The regulator told the Cboe BZX exchange that its filing for a proposed rule change to list the VanEck ETF did not meet “its burden under the Exchange Act and the Commission’s Rules of Practice to demonstrate that its proposal is consistent with the requirements of Exchange Act Section 6 (b) (5).”
FinTech: MFS Africa Raises $100M To Make Payments As Easy As Calls
MFS Africa announced today its $ 100 million Series C fundraising for a massive expansion across Africa. The funding, a mix of $70 million in equity and $30 million in debt, was co-led by private equity fund and new investor AfricInvest along with existing investors Goodwell Investments and LUN Partners Group.
Digital Assets: Bitcoin, Other Cryptos Hit All Time Highs
Both bitcoin and ether cryptos hit new record highs on Tuesday amid rising appetite for risk assets following a dovish Fed. Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, reached a fresh high of $68,521 on Tuesday, while ether scaled a new peak of $4840. (CNBC) As this is being written, bitcoin is trading at $67,485, up over 2.5%…
Venture Capital: Fusion Energy Startup Helion Raises $500M Including $375M From Sam Altman
Helion Energy, which is building the world’s first fusion power plant that would enable a future with unlimited clean electricity, announced a $500 million Series E round led by Sam Altman. Existing investors, including Dustin Moskovitz, Mithril Capital and Capricorn Investment Group, also participated in the round. Altman, who has been an early supporter of Helion and chairman since 2015, invested $375 million in the latest round and will now play an expanded role as executive chairman.
Artificial Intelligence: IBM’s AI Helps Spot, The Robotic Dog, Keep A Watch On Grid Sites
IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Boston Dynamics have partnered in a drive to deliver data analysis “at the edge” by integrating the latter’s Spot mobile robot with AI and hybrid cloud innovation from IBM. Spot, transformed into an intelligent, roaming edge device, has begun conducting autonomous inspections at National Grid (NYSE: NGG) sites.
Digital Assets: CME Announces Trading In Micro Ether Futures Effective December 6
The CME Group will launch Micro Ether futures on December 6, the exchange announced Tuesday. The Micro Ether future, except for its smaller size, will retain all the features and benefits of the larger Ether futures that currently trade on the CME.
Venture Capital: Low-Profile Digital Currency Group, Which Owns Grayscale, Valued At $10B
Digital Currency Group (DGC), a low-profile, cryptoasset-focused holding company that owns some prize digital businesses, has been valued at $10 billion in a secondary sale of shares. The transaction was led by SoftBank and saw participation by big name investors such as Google’s venture capital arm CapitalG, Ribbit Capital and others.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs Create New Clean Energy Index
Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs asset Management have launched a new clean energy index. The Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Global Clean Energy Index was jointly developed by Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs Asset Management and identifies companies that have a significant business exposure to the clean energy sector.
Alternative Investments/ESG: On The Eve Of COP26, Hedge Funds Ambivalent On ESG (Survey)
The results of a poll of hedge fund managers conducted by Hedge Fund Research showed that 53% of them (687 managers) incorporated ESG factors and sustainability metrics into their investment processes. However, 47% (609 managers) said they did not do so. The results are significant, coming as they do ahead of the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow this weekend.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Invesco Launches Two New Nasdaq-100 ESG ETFs
Global asset management firm Invesco Ltd (NYSE: IVZ) announced today the launch of trading of Invesco ESG NASDAQ 100 ETF (NASDAQ: QQMG) and Invesco ESG NASDAQ Next Gen 100 ETF (NASDAQ: QQJG). The new ESG ETF offerings expand the number of investment structures in the Invesco QQQ Innovation Suite to six.
Venture Capital: Blackrock CEO Larry Fink Expects Climate Tech To Nurture The Next 1,000 Unicorns
Speaking at the Middle East Green Initiative Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Larry Fink, the CEO and Chairman of Blackrock (NYSE: BLK), said he expected the next 1,000 unicorns (startups valued over $1 billion) to emerge from climate tech areas such as green hydrogen, green agriculture, green steel, and green cement.
FinTech: BNPL For Businesses Provider Billie Scores $100M Series C Funding
Billie, a fintech targeting its BNPL offering at the B2B market, announced today its $100 million Series C raise led by Dawn Capital, and joined by Klarna and Tencent, alongside existing investors Creandum, Speedinvest, Picus and GFC. At $640 million, the startup succeeded in quadrupling its valuation over a previous Series B round that raised $35 million in 2019.
Digital Assets: Crypto Exchange FTX Rakes In $420M At $25B Valuation
29-year old billionaire founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is a majority owner of FTX. Just three months after closing a record $900 million Series B round, FTX, the Bahamas-headquartered crypto exchange announced its $420 million Series B-1 raise at a valuation of $25 billion. That valuation is up from $18 billion in July. In Thursday’s…
Artificial Intelligence: Ai-Da, Humanoid And Ultra-Realistic Artist, Detained By Egyptian Security
Ai-Da draws using using cameras in her eyes, her AI algorithms, and her robotic arm. Glamorous-looking Ai-Da, a creation of Oxford-based Aidan Meller, is the world’s first ultra-realistic humanoid AI robot artist. She may also be the first robot artist to be at the center of a diplomatic row. En route this week to the…
FinTech: PayPal Looking To Acquire Pinterest At $70 Per Share
PayPal Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) sounded out Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) recently on a takeover, Bloomberg reported. The two companies are said to have considered a potential price of $70 per listed Class A share.
Venture Capital: Delivery Hero Takes $235M Chunk Of Gorillas’ $1B Funding Round
Delivery Hero now owns about 8% of Gorillas. Delivery Hero (ETR: DHER), which is headquartered in Berlin, Germany and offers its local delivery services in over 50 countries around the globe, announced today its investment of US$235 million in the Berlin-based on-demand delivery start-up Gorillas Technologies via the latter’s series C funding round. Delivery Hero…
Alternative Investments/Digital: Bitcoin Futures ETF From ProShares To Start Trading Tomorrow On The NYSE [Updated]
By a notice on Form 8-A dated October 15 the US SEC has notified registration of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF for trading on the NYSEArca Exchange. The notice referred to a post-effective amendment number 238 filed on the same date by ProShares in Form N-1A that states the approximate date of the proposed public offering as October 18, 2021.
Artificial Intelligence: Criminals AI-Cloned Director’s Voice To Pull Off $35M Heist In The U.A.E.
In an eerily similar replay of a 2019 incident in which the CEO of a UK-based energy company transferred €220,000 (then about US$243,000) based on a telephonic instruction from a person that sounded like his boss, a UAE bank manager in 2020 paid out $35 million based on deep-faked, AI-cloned calls that he believed were from a client’s CEO.
Artificial Intelligence: IBM Launches Environmental Intelligence Suite
IBM (NYSE: IBM) has launched an Environmental Intelligence Suite, software that is a combination of AI, weather data, climate risk analytics, and carbon accounting capabilities. The suite helps organizations assess the climate impact of their own operations, assists in regulatory compliance, and to monitor for severe weather, wildfires, and air quality.
Venture Capital: SpaceX Achieves “Centicorn” Valuation In Secondary Share Sale
Existing investors in Elon Musk’s space start up SpaceX have agreed to sell up to $755 million in stock at $560 a share, according to CNBC, which quoted multiple people familiar with the deal. The secondary share sale, a transaction in which the company does not receive any capital, valued SpaceX at $100.3 billion and capped the amount of saleable shares at $755 million.
Artificial Intelligence: Alphabet-Owned DeepMind Is Finally In The Black
DeepMind, the UK AI unit which Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) acquired in 2014 for £400 million, has reported a maiden pre-tax profit of £46 million in 2020. Commercial revenues at DeepMind emanate from parent Alphabet, and those more than tripled to £826 million. Staffing and other costs surged to £780 million, up from £717 million in 2019.
Digital Assets: Brazil May Soon Vote For Bitcoin As Legal Tender
Brazilians may soon be allowed to buy houses, cars, and fries at McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) using bitcoin, according to Federal Deputy Aureo Ribeiro (pictured above). That’s if Bill 2.303/15, which calls for the regulation of virtual currencies, is approved by the country’s Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies this week.
Artificial Intelligence: China Unveils Guidelines For Ethical AI
China’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has released a document titled “New Generation Artificial Intelligence Ethics Specifications” that specifies six ethical guidelines for the implementation and use of AI, rests all decision-making with humans, and addresses issues such as fairness, security, discrimination, privacy and data leaks.