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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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DailyAlts Playbook: Insider Trading in Congress, Stimulus Packages, and the Threat of a Credit Crisis
We start in Washington… but not on the stimulus plan. We’ll get into those details in a moment because the United States people have a new public enemy. This is perhaps one of the most frustrating stories about the recent downturn, and one of the reasons why the STOCK Act had to be passed several years ago.
Private Equity: KKR is Buying Recycling Firm Viridor for £4.2 Billion in Cash
In the largest deal since the coronavirus began crashing markets and economies, KKR (NYSE: KKR) is buying UK recycling company Viridor.
It will acquire the firm from Pennon Group for £4.2 billion in cash. Net proceeds to Pennon Group will be 3.7 billion pounds, with additional consideration of 200 million pounds contingent on future events. The Pennon Board of Directors said it intends to use the net cash proceeds to reduce Pennon’s company borrowings and make a return to shareholders.
The DailyAlts Playbook: Corona Cases Surge, Warnings from 2012, Universa’s Massive Win, and Party Bros
Today, the DailyAlts Playbook talks the Surge in Corona Cases, Warnings from 2012, Universa’s Massive Win, and Party Bros.
Venture Capital: Keros Therapeutics Files With the SEC for an $86M IPO
The stock markets have been hammered by panicked investors fearing the worst from the coronavirus epidemic. Roiled by fear, the CBOE VIX index is currently ruling at a high 75.91, after closing Monday at an all-time high of 82.69. Its previous closing high was 80.86 in 2008 at the time of the global financial crisis. The index is also known as the “fear gauge.” Surely, this is not the best of times to float an IPO, as Keros Therapeutics proposes to do.
The DailyAlts Playbook: Buyback Blowback, Hyperbolic Growth, and the Movement to Stop Short-Selling (for now).
The Dow Jones projected an 821-point decline as the futures market hit limit down yet again Wednesday morning. The volatile opening comes a day after the Trump administration announced plans to inject roughly $1 trillion into the U.S. economy to help consumers manage their finances. The Dow is now off 28% from its record high. Should another 7% drop in the S&P 500 come this morning, it would trigger the first level of three circuit breakers.
Artificial Intelligence: AI-Controlled Robot Tanks Soon
Robot tanks will soon enter the battlefield. Using AI, their operators will command the robots to perform surveillance, acquire targets, even fire weapons.
The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is working on a project to control unmanned robotic vehicles using an AI-powered interface. These “forward operating” vehicles would perform a variety of functions in response to commands from a manned vehicle such as a tank.
Hedge Funds: Ricky Sandler is Buying Stocks Despite Coronavirus
Hedge fund manager Ricky Sandler said Monday that he is buying stocks while markets continue their historic selloff.
In an interview with CNBC, the head of Eminence Capital said that he believes that the market reaction has been too extreme.
Venture Capital: (Coronavirus) How Gig Economy Companies Do NOT Flatten the Curve
According to Edward Ongweso Jr and Jason Koebler, writing in Vice/Motherboard, gig economy companies are a public health risk. The business models of companies such as Uber (NYSE: UBER) and Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) depend upon workers characterized as independent contractors (not employees). This practice flies under the regulatory radar, and as a result, these hapless workers are generally uninsured, or at best underinsured. They work long hours, regardless of the risk from the coronavirus pandemic – to themselves, or their ride-hailers.
The DailyAlts Playbook: March 17, 2020
DAILYALTS PLAYBOOK March 17, 2020 Today, the DailyAlts Playbook talks about Medical Properties Trust, Roof Monsters, and What’s Happening in Washington. PRIME OVERVIEW Good morning: Apologies that Monday’s Playbook didn’t make it out. MailChimp had some issues. We have been following our models and sitting on cash since late February, so we’re riding this out….
Real Estate: Are Home Sellers Complacent? Palm Off Your Property to an iBuyer NOW
Wall Street is wasting no time discounting the economic effect from the deadly coronavirus, as seen from the very sharp cut in stock prices. It appears, however, that the real estate market is still ensconced in a cocoon of complacency, judging from the results of a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Home sellers may do well to dispose of their property to an iBuyer.
Digital Assets: Emerging Trends After the Virus Pushed Real Estate Across the Digital Divide
Foreigners located in Japan, South Korea, China have suddenly discovered the virtues of closing property deals in the US remotely and online, writes Natalia Karayaneva in an article in Forbes. And the coronavirus deserves the blame (or credit).
Venture Capital: Reddit Co-founder Ohanian “@Initializes” Billboards in Times Square
On Saturday, passersby in New York’s Times Square may have been bemused to see a billboard saying “Staying home means saving lives,” with the hashtag “#FlattenTheCurve” at the bottom. Said billboard was purchased by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to slow down the spread of the virus.
Hedge Funds: Carl Icahn Has Been Shorting Commercial Mortgage Bonds
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn told CNBC on Friday that he has been shorting the commercial bond market. The activist investor said that his short was his “biggest position by far” in an interview on Friday. Specifically, he is targeting corporate offices and shopping malls. Based on the recent downturn in the markets, he’s likely doing well for himself.
Icahn said he expects U.S. commercial real estate to pull back sharply as we saw with housing in 2008.
Digital Assets: The Celo Foundation Plans Cryptocurrency for Billions of Smartphone Users
The Celo Foundation announced the Alliance for Prosperity with 50 founding members. They share a common mission to make digital assets available to everyone through Celo’s decentralized, open-source blockchain platform. They will do this by enabling the various use cases of digital currency such as to give, earn, spend, lend, or send, etc.
Liquid Alternatives: What the Proposed New Regulations on Leveraged ETFs Mean for Investors
The SEC’s proposed regulations have triggered widespread opposition, particularly those relating to leveraged (geared) ETFs.
The public has until March 24, 2020, to submit its comments on the proposals.
Venture Capital: New Enterprise Associates (NEA) Raises $3.6 Billion For Its Latest, And Biggest Fund
New Enterprise Associates Inc (NEA) closed on $3.6 billion in its largest fund so far. As in the past, the fund will invest most of the money in early-stage companies at various levels of growth. The 42-year old VC firm said the funding had brought its committed capital to nearly $24 billion.
Liquid Alternatives: The HDIV ETF – Artificial Intelligence Picks High Dividend Stocks With Upside
Qraft Technologies, a South Korean artificial intelligence firm, just launched its third ETF in the US. The Qraft AI Enhanced US High Dividend ETF (HDIV) targets high dividend US stocks selected through a proprietary AI system. Qraft Technologies has brought the ETF to market in collaboration with Exchange Traded Concepts, a white label ETF provider.
Liquid Alts: IMF Warns About ETF Liquidation
Call it the great bust of passive investing?
The IMF warned Wednesday that regulators and authorities need to start watching asset managers and ETFs over the threat that they could start liquidating assets. The IMF wrote this in a blog post on Wednesday.
Artificial Intelligence: Banjo, the Startup That is Utah’s All-Seeing Eye-in-the-Sky
This Small Company Is Turning Utah Into a Surveillance Panopticon
DailyAlts Playbook: NBC News’ Remarkable Debt Coverage, Corona CAPE Shiller, and Why Just Six States Will Decide This Election
Goldman Sachs had a call on Monday that features health and economic experts on the state of the Coronavirus outbreak. The call indicated that China is no longer the driving force behind the spread of the virus. China is getting back to business – that’s evident with solid resumption rates in its National Grain Processing and Railway Cargo Loading. That said, its national logistics are still sitting at just 60%. Auto traffic remains low in major cities, And passengers are still avoiding intra-city transport. Finally, its property transaction market has slowed to a crawl.
Alternative Investments: U.S. Prosecutors Oppose Release of Bernie Madoff
U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday that they oppose the release of Bernie Madoff from prison even if he is dealing with kidney disease. In a statement, prosecutors said that Madoff has failed to show remorse or accept responsibility for his massive Ponzi Scheme. They also said that denying Madoff’s request to return home would uphold victims’ rights and boost confidence in the U.S. justice system.
Digital Assets: BitGo Flags Off Crypto Lending to Institutions
BitGo, one of the oldest and largest custodians of digital assets, is taking the plunge into lending cryptocurrencies to institutions, it announced Thursday. (BusinessWire)
“With our lending service, we are melding the best of Wall Street’s sophisticated understanding of how to work with institutional investors and the best of Silicon Valley’s technology and innovation,” said Mike Belshe, CEO, BitGo.
Artificial Intelligence: Customer Service and AI – Together, a Win-Win
The report “Jobs of Tomorrow: Mapping Opportunity in the New Economy” by the World Economic Forum finds that, as a fallout from the adoption of new technologies, demand for both “digital” and “human” factors is driving growth in the professions of the future. These high-growth professions include artificial intelligence specialists, medical transcriptionists, data scientists, customer success specialists, and full-stack engineers. An article by Brad Birnbaum in Forbes looks at the intersection between two such professions: AI and customer success.
FinTech: Cannabis Cash Spells Opportunity for Fintechs
The regulation-strapped but cash-rich weed industry is fertile ground for fintech innovation.
Legalization of marijuana, for medical or recreational use, has not addressed a very basic need of the industry – access to banking services. Due to the designation of weed under the Controlled Substances Act, the industry is still considered illegal under US federal law. As a result, banks shun the marijuana industry, thus relegating it to a banking desert. Can fintechs step in where banks fear to tread?