Latest News
Top Story
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.
Get Daily Updates
Subscribe to DailyAlts Today to get Alternative Investment news, insight, and commentary delivered straight to your inbox every day.
More Stories on Latest News
Digital Assets: Shares In Listed Crypto Mining Companies Enjoy Rub-Off Effect From Bitcoin’s ATH
Bitcoin mining companies Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ: RIOT), Marathon Patent Group (NASDAQ: MARA) and Canaan Inc ADR (NASDAQ: CAN) all posted massive gains during the month of November following bitcoin’s rise to a new all-time high (ATH) on Monday.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Solves 50-Year-Old Biology Mystery; Medical Breakthroughs Could Follow
Google-owned (NASDAQ: GOOGL) DeepMind, a London-based AI lab, announced that its AlphaFold program had solved the 50-year-old protein folding issue and is capable of predicting the shape of many proteins.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Here’s FRDM, The ETF With A Conscience
The Life + Liberty Freedom 100 Emerging Markets index and ETF (BATS: FRDM) is an ETF with a conscience. It’s investing proposition is based upon humanitarian factors such as freedom of speech, the battle against human trafficking, and international trade access. The ETF allows investors exposure to the emerging markets with the exclusion of China and Russia.
Venture Capital: Astanor Ventures Launches $325M Fund For Impact Investing in Agtech
Based in Luxembourg, Astanor Ventures combines capital, technology, and sector expertise to invest in businesses that build regenerative, scalable, and nourishing food solutions. Using this philosophy, Astanor has invested in more than 20 startups. It is now raising $325 million to invest in food and agriculture technology companies across Europe and North America.
Alternative Investments/Real Estate: U.S. Home Prices Record Biggest Gain Since 2014
According to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, home prices surged 7% annually in September, up from a 5.8% annual gain in August. For perspective, this gain is the largest seen since September 2014. Moreover, home prices are now ruling 23% higher than their previous peak in 2006.
Artificial Intelligence: Pactum’s AI Negotiates Contracts For Walmart
Pactum helps its customers unlock value by automatically negotiating contracts on a massive scale. Think Walmart (NYSE: WMT). It’s the largest retailer in the world and has many thousands of agreements that should be optimally negotiated for multiple parameters.
Alternative Investments/AI: European Investors Believe AI Is A “Compelling Opportunity”
Exchange traded fund (ETF) sponsor WisdomTree commissioned a survey by Coredata Research of professional investors across Europe on thematic investing. The survey found that a vast majority of these investors considered artificial intelligence as the most compelling long-term thematic investment opportunity.
Venture Capital: Andreessen Horowitz Closes Two New Funds Worth $4.5B
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) collected $4.5 billion in two new funds, bringing its assets under management to a whopping $16.5 billion.
Digital Assets: Corporate Hoard Of Bitcoin Is Now In Excess Of $15B
According to Clark Moody Bitcoin Dashboard, corporate treasuries hold 842,229 bitcoin valued at $15.8 billion and representing 4.54% of the current supply. That quantity is also confirmed by Bitcoin Treasuries.
Artificial Intelligence: An AI-Powered Breathalyzer Test For COVID-19
A sophisticated breathalyzer device that uses artificial intelligence and advanced mass spectrometry technology to detect whether a person is COVID positive has been developed and tested by Worlds Inc, the Texas A&M System, and the U.S. Air Force. Housed inside a kiosk, the Worlds Protect device analyses the exhaled breath from an individual and delivers the test result to a smartphone almost instantly.
FinTech: Financial Fraud Detecting Platform Verafin Sold To Nasdaq
Global technology company Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) announced today its acquisition of Canada-based Verafin for $2.75 billion payable in cash. Verafin’s cloud-based software platform serves customers with fraud detection, money laundering protection, and high-risk customer management. The 2003-founded firm counts more than 2,000 financial organizations as its customers.
Venture Capital: As Marketplace Commerce Booms, HeyDay Raises $175M In Series A Funding
Heyday, the platform which provides e-commerce sellers with technology, tools, and resources to build brands, emerged from stealth and raised $ 175 million. Investors included General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Arbor Ventures, and executives from Amazon, eBay, PayPal, and Magento. Sebastian Rymarz and Adam Gerchen founded Heyday in August.
Digital Assets: Is Crypto Adoption Breaking Out?
Novogratz of Galaxy Digital fame, who is also a noted crypto evangelist, recently said on Twitter that the “network effect” might have caught up with bitcoin. He assigned a target of $65,000 for the cryptocurrency.
Here’s a look at recent, interesting developments surrounding crypto and bitcoin that suggest Novogratz might be on point.
Venture Capital: Relativity Space, Whose Rockets Are 3-D Printed, Is Raising $500M
Relativity Space, a startup building rockets in a “factory of the future” using 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and autonomous robotics, is raising $500 million. The funding round will be led by Tiger Global Management. Existing investors including Social Capital, Playground Global, Y Combinator, Bond Capital, Tribe Capital, Jared Leto, and Mark Cuban, are also expected to join the round. People familiar with the financing told CNBC that the funding would value Relativity at $ 2.3 billion.
Alternative Investments/Digital Assets: Bitcoin Perma-Bull Mike Novogratz Is On A Roll
The Galaxy Digital boss sees bitcoin at $65,000.
The “network effect” has taken bitcoin over, says Novogratz. In a nutshell, the network effect is a rapid improvement in the value of an asset or service because of its adoption by an increasing number of people. As this is being written, bitcoin is hovering around $17,000. The cryptocurrency is in a bull grip, having risen from a March low of $3,966 to today’s (and 52-week) high of $17,092.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Startups AliveCor And Ride Vision Raise Money
AliveCor’s AI-based products provide personal cardiological services. Its FDA-approved KardiaMobile device instantly detects heart conditions such as atrial fibrillation, bradycardia, tachycardia, and normal heart rhythm in an ECG. The company’s Kardia platform is AI-enabled and helps in the early detection of atrial fibrillation, which is very highly likely to cause a stroke.
Digital Assets: Why Citi Sees Bitcoin At $318K By December 2021
Fitzpatrick is also the global head of the award-winning CitiFXTechnicals product within the G10 FX business. In a report addressed to Citi’s (NYSE: C) institutional clients, he dubbed bitcoin as the new gold. He also went on to assign a ‘hold-your-breath’ price target of $318,000 for the cryptocurrency by the end of 2021.
Venture Capital: SpaceX Launches A Full Crew Into Orbit In Historic Milestone
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, “Resilience,” took off from Florida on Sunday on its Crew-1 mission to transport NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi to the International Space Station.
Venture Capital: Another Big Ticket Deal in CyberSecurity – Menlo Raises $100M
Menlo Security, which is based in Mountain View, California, announced its fundraising of $ 100 million led by Vista Equity Partners. Neuberger Berman, General Catalyst, JP Morgan, and other existing investors also participated in the Series E round. The round valued it at $800 million.
FinTech: U.K. Digital Lender Molo Raises £266M As The Pandemic Boosts Demand
Digital lender Molo, which focuses on buy-to-let purchases or remortgages only, raised £ 266 million to cater to a sharp rise in mortgage applications since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Alternative Investments/Real Estate: Homebuilder ETFs In A Bull Grip
The NAHB/Wells Fargo National and Regional Housing Market Index (HMI) for single-family homes for the month of September rose from 78 in August to 83 in September. The reading indicates that homebuilder confidence and sentiment is at a record high – the highest in the survey’s 35-year record. It is a reflection of the strong demand for housing, particularly in the suburbs or exurbs.
Private Equity: Nutanix Gets $750 Million Investment from Bain Capital
Private Equity: Nutanix Gets $750 Million Investment from Bain Capital Nutanix — a leading cloud computing company — announced Bain Capital Private Equity’s $750 million investment in the company. Chairman and CEO of Nutanix Dheeraj Pandey claimed “Bain Capital Private Equity has deep technology investing experience and a strong track record of helping companies scale…Bain…
Real Estate: Commercial Real Estate Landlords Partner with Flex Space
Real Estate: Commercial Real Estate Landlords Partner with Flex Space Demand is rising for flexible and spacious commercial real estate. Consequently, landlords are paying attention to these flex spaces and investing in them. Flexible office spaces are rising in demand mainly due to their dynamic and collaborative environments. Landlords are now partnering with flex-space operators…
Hedge Funds: Hedge Funds Mount Pressure on EU Loophole
Hedge Funds: Hedge Funds Mount Pressure on EU Loophole European regulators are attempting to close a loophole that allows front-running. The London Stock Exchange Group and Euronext NV claim that the EU should instill more restrictions to monitor brokers’ trades on price inquiries from their clients. However, traders will gain knowledge from a security before…