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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: Sundrive Develops The World’s Most Efficient Solar Cell
Founded in a garage in 2015 by David Hu and Vince Allen, Sundrive, a solar energy startup, has successfully developed the world’s most efficient solar cell. Their cell generates solar-sourced power at an efficiency of 25.54%, breaking the previous world record of 25.26%. More importantly, the startup did it while replacing the silver in solar cells with copper.
Digital Assets: Swiss Regulator FINMA Approves First Swiss Crypto Asset Fund
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA has approved the first crypto fund according to Swiss law. The “Crypto Market Index Fund” by Crypto Finance (Asset Management) AG is restricted to qualified investors and will invest primarily in cryptoassets, or assets based on the blockchain or distributed ledger technology, the FINMA said in a statement.
Artificial Intelligence: According To AI, “Samson And Delilah” In The National Gallery Is Fake
Artificial intelligence firm Art Recognition alleges that Samson and Delilah, the renowned painting by Peter Paul Rubens on display at London’s National Gallery, is a forgery. The antecedents of the work have long been questioned by critics, and now AI technology has debunked its authenticity with an accuracy of over 91%.
FinTech: Mastercard Enters BNPL Fray With ‘Installments’ Product
Credit cards have a new rival in BNPL, and on Tuesday, global card giant Mastercard announced its own instalments product for the U.S., Australian and U.K. markets. BNPL has become a highly competitive fintech sector marked by extensive deal-making between large companies eager to muscle into the space.
Artificial Intelligence: Clearview AI Hits Advocacy Groups With Subpoenas
Clearview AI, the facial recognition company that has earned the ire of privacy, human rights, and civil liberties advocacy groups, has subpoenaed internal documents from some of the organizations that first exposed its activities.
Artificial Intelligence: FDA Clears AI-Powered Tool From Paige To Detect Prostate Cancer
Paige Prostate – “The first and only AI-based pathology product to receive FDA approval for in vitro diagnostic (IVD) use in detecting cancer in prostate biopsies.” Paige, which was founded in 2017 by Thomas Fuchs, Dr.Sc., David Klimstra, M.D. and colleagues from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), has achieved the distinction of receiving the first ever FDA approval for an AI product in digital pathology.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Finds Potential Drug Treatment For Rare Cancer In Children
A team of scientists, doctors, and data analysts at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, used AI to achieve a potential breakthrough in the treatment of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a rare and fast-growing type of brain tumor in children. This cancer is difficult to remove surgically because it does not have well-defined borders (is “diffuse”) and therefore, survival rates have not improved for over 50 years.
Venture Capital: Mexican Used-Car Platform Kavak Scoops $700M At $8.7B
Mexican used-car platform Kavak said it had raised a $700 million Series E round at a valuation of $ 8.7 billion which more than doubled from its previous funding. The round was led by U.S. venture capital firm General Catalyst, while SoftBank Group Corp, billionaire Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Singapore-based gaming and e-commerce company Sea Ltd, Tiger Global, Spruce House, hedge fund D1, and Ribbit Capital also participated.
FinTech: JPMorgan Chase Acquires College Financial Planning Platform Frank
JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) has acquired Frank, a very popular college financial planning platform for undisclosed terms. Frank enables students to locate, apply and obtain financial aid, find scholarships, and enroll in online courses. According to CNBC, JPMorgan bought up the fintech to enhance relationships with students and their parents.
Venture Capital: Gates-Founded Breakthrough Energy Raises Over $1B From Top US Companies
Breakthrough Energy, the non-profit founded in 2015 by Bill Gates to advance the cause of net-zero emissions, has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. firms for its Breakthrough Energy Catalyst project to support innovation in the field.
Artificial Intelligence: Mossad Used AI-Powered Gun To Kill Iranian Nuke Scientist Fakhrizadeh (NYT)
A New York Times article on Saturday said the Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, used an AI-powered, Belgian-made FN MAG machine gun attached to an advanced robotic apparatus to remotely kill Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the scientist leading Iran’s nuke program, on November 27, 2020.
FinTech: JPMorgan Chase To Unveil UK Digital Bank Next Week
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), the largest bank in the US, may disrupt the UK banking market with its launch next week of a digital lender retail arm offering, in the first instance, current accounts with a reward program.
Venture Capital: SpaceX Launches 4-Person Civilian Crew In Historic Orbital Mission
On Wednesday night, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket hoisted into orbit a Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying a 4-person, all-civilian crew on a mission titled Inspiration4. Commanded by billionaire Isaacman, who conceived the flight ten months ago as a means to raise funds and awareness of St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the flight also carried another male and two female civilians.
Artificial Intelligence: A New AI App Could ‘Deepfake’ Your Profile Pic Into A Porn Video
It’s here. The long-feared day when AI technology could advance to the point when anyone’s photo could be swapped, highly realistically, into a porn video for nefarious purposes including revenge and blackmail. MIT Technology Review first reported on a dangerous new website which uses just a picture of the person and a click to turn them into a porn star.
Artificial Intelligence: Now AI Can Estimate A Company’s Emissions
Evaluation of companies’ carbon footprint is essential for countries to be able to meet their 2050 decarbonization targets for 2050 as per the Paris Agreement. For investors, the quantum of greenhouse gases emitted by a company could be an important factor to evaluate its suitability in a portfolio geared towards positive climate actions in the context of ESG. While most companies do not yet formally disclose their emission data, AI can now reasonably estimate this crucial metric.
Digital Assets: MicroStrategy Adds To Bitcoin Hoard With $243M Purchase
Michael Saylor, crypto proponent and CEO of business software and intelligence company MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) tweeted about the company’s fresh purchase of bitcoin today that brought the market value of its stockpile of the leading cryptocurrency to over $5 billion.
Venture Capital: Massive $500M+ Rounds From Snyk And Varo Bank
Lately chartered U.S. neobank Varo Bank announced Thursday its raise of a $510 million Series E at a valuation of $2.5 billion. Today, Israeli cloud security startup Snyk said it collected $530 million comprising $300 million in new money and $230 million in secondary funding. Snyk’s valuation was a solid $8.5 billion – up sharply from $4.7 billion in March when it raised $300 million.
Venture Capital: Bill Gates And Bezos-Backed MIT Startup Edges Closer To Energy’s Holy Grail
CFS and MIT’s PSFC announced Wednesday their successful test of a powerful magnet constructed from high temperature superconductors (HTS); the magnet can later be used in a “tokamak,” a fusion machine that could be scientists’ Holy Grail because it produces more energy than it consumes.
Digital Assets: Bitcoin Makes Bumpy Debut As Legal Tender In El Salvador
Bitcoin’s baptism as a country’s adopted currency was marred by glitches. September 7 marked El Salvador’s date with destiny when the country’s citizens got to legally and freely use bitcoin as a currency alongside the US dollar. The rollout, a pet project of President Nayib Bukele, was marred, however, by technical problems and a citizens’…
Venture Capital: OLIO, Which Enables Food To Be Shared, Raises $43M
OLIO, the food sharing app which encourages community sustainability, announced its Series B raise of $43 million led by Swedish investment firm VNV Global and New York-based hedge fund Lugard Road Capital. Existing investors Accel, Octopus Ventures, Rubio, tech entrepreneur Jason Stockwood, and politician and media businessman Lord Waheed Alli also participated.
Artificial Intelligence: BETSY, An AI Platform, Monitors Livestock Herds
Ranchers have long struggled with the problem of monitoring their herds of livestock across vast expanses of the ranch. Problems such as ill-health, calving, injuries and more could happen anytime and anywhere. Without lots of manpower, avoidable losses of precious bovines are inevitable. An AI platform dubbed BETSY, created by OneCup AI, is an effective solution.
Venture Capital: Proptech Platform HomeLight Scores $100M Round
HomeLight, a real estate technology platform that makes it easy to buy or sell a home by partnering with the right agent, raised a $100 million Series D capital round and $263 million in debt financing. The equity round valued the proptech at $1.6 billion, was led by existing investor Zeev Ventures and included participation from Group 11, Stereo Capital, Menlo Ventures and Lydia Jett of the SoftBank Vision Fund.
Venture Capital: Data Analytics Provider Databricks Snaps Up $1.6B Funding
Data and AI company Databricks announced Tuesday (August 31, 2021) its Series H raise of $1.6 billion in a round led by led by new investor Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley). Databricks previously raised $1 billion in February at a valuation of $28 billion.
FinTech: PayPal Looking To Offer Stock Trading
A CNBC report revealed Monday that fintech giant PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) is considering offering stock trading to individual investors amid a retail trading boom that has drawn millions of new investors into stock markets.