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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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Digital Assets: Oracle Red Bull Racing Seeks To Digitize Engagement With Fans On The Sui Blockchain
Oracle Red Bull Racing has announced a multi-year partnership with software company Mysten Labs to collaborate on Sui, which will serve as the team’s Official Blockchain partner. Sui, a Layer 1 blockchain and smart contract platform launched in May, offers innovative on-chain experiences and assets.
Venture Capital: Real Estate ESG Platform Measurabl Scores $93M Series D
Measurabl, a leading ESG (environmental, social, governance) technology platform for real estate, has closed a $93 million Series D funding round to support its global expansion. The funding will be used to enhance Measurabl’s ESG technology solutions, expand into new markets, and establish global partnerships.
Artificial Intelligence: Tech Luminaries Issue Letter Warning Of Extinction Risk From AI
Prominent computer scientists and tech CEOs have issued a warning about the potential “risk of extinction” posed by artificial intelligence (AI). They stress the importance of addressing this risk globally, alongside other major societal risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.
Artificial Intelligence: Generative AI Will Enable Anyone To Program A Computer (Jensen Huang, NVIDIA CEO)
Nvidia’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) CEO, Jensen Huang, believes that the advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI) will enable anyone to become a programmer by simply speaking to a computer. This new computing era, according to Huang, will eliminate the need for traditional coding and instead rely on AI’s ability to understand various forms of input, including speech.
Digital Assets: Employees Of Singapore’s Wealth Fund Temasek Pay A Price For FTX’s Collapse
On Monday, Temasek’s Chairman issued a statement on the fund’s investment in FTX, the bankrupt crypto exchange led by Sam Bankman-Fried, acknowledging that the investment team responsible for the FTX investment as well as senior management had accepted a cut in their compensation.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Helps Researchers Find A Compound To Kill The Drug-Resistant A. baumannii Bacterium
Scientists at MIT and McMaster University have used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify a new antibiotic that can combat drug-resistant infections caused by Acinetobacter baumannii. The bacterium is commonly found in hospitals and is responsible for pneumonia, meningitis, and other severe infections.
Artificial Intelligence: Nvidia Blows Away Analyst Estimates, Market Cap Of $1T In Sight
Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), a leading chipmaker based in Santa Clara, California, stunned analysts and investors with its robust revenue forecast, propelling the company towards a $1 trillion market capitalization and triggering a global surge in stocks related to artificial intelligence (AI). Nvidia’s shares rose by up to 29% in premarket trading after the company announced an expected sales figure of $11 billion for the three months ending in July, surpassing analysts’ estimates of around $7.2 billion.
Venture Capital: QED Investors Wraps Up Two New Fintech Funds Collecting $925M
QED Investors, a prominent fintech venture capital firm, has announced the closure of two new funds, totaling $925 million in capital commitments. The oversubscribed Fund VIII amounts to $650 million and is aimed at early-stage businesses, while Growth II secures $275 million and focuses on later-stage fintechs.
Venture Capital: Anthropic Lands $450M Series C Including From Spark, Google, Salesforce
Anthropic, an AI software company, has announced a successful Series C funding round of $450 million, led by Spark Capital and with participation from Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Salesforce Ventures, Sound Ventures, Zoom Ventures, and others. This latest investment brings the total funding for Anthropic to approximately $1.45 billion. However, the company has not disclosed its current valuation, although estimates suggest it is around $4.1 billion.
FinTech: General Atlantic Pumps Another $100M Into India’s PhonePe
PhonePe is the digital payments company owned by Walmart Inc. Private equity firm General Atlantic has invested an additional $100 million (₹820 crore) in PhonePe, the digital payments company owned by Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT). This funding is part of PhonePe’s ongoing fundraising efforts and maintains the company’s valuation at $12 billion. General Atlantic’s latest…
Venture Capital: Water Treatment Specialist Gradiant Lands $225M
Gradiant, a global water and wastewater treatment solutions provider, has secured $225 million in Series D financing, led by BoltRock Holdings and Centaurus Capital. This funding brings Gradiant’s total funding to over $400 million and its valuation to $1 billion.
FinTech: Revolut Looking To Snag An Australian Banking Licence
London-based fintech firm Revolut has launched its business offering in Australia, expanding its international payments-focused business accounts to clients in the country. Revolut, which is known for its crypto-friendly approach, is currently working towards obtaining a banking license in Australia. The company already serves clients in Europe and Australia, providing a range of fiat payment services as well as crypto services such as buying and selling cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether, and Ripple. With approximately 100,000 business customers across Europe, Revolut aims to provide a comprehensive platform where individuals can manage their entire financial lives in one place, making a banking license essential.
Artificial Intelligence: What Sam Altman Said To The Senate Panel
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed US lawmakers in a Senate panel hearing, discussing various aspects of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on society and democracy. Altman emphasized the need for AI regulation, despite political divisions, and outlined five key points during the hearing.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Deployed To Carry Out Sound Surveys Of The Ocean
A decade-long, US$50 million project had scientists collaborating across numerous international organizations, universities, and even military entities to collect nearly 4,000 recordings across the globe.
Scientists have made a major breakthrough in using algorithms to identify marine life sounds in the ocean. Instead of relying on human interpretation, researchers recorded underwater sounds and used an algorithm to quickly identify species in a matter of minutes.
Digital Assets: Sam Altman Said To Be Homing In On $100M Raise For Worldcoin Cryptocurrency
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is on the verge of securing approximately $100 million in funding for his project, Worldcoin, which aims to create a secure global cryptocurrency using iris-scanning technology. This development comes as a welcome positive turn for the cryptocurrency sector, which has experienced a challenging year.
Artificial Intelligence: Meet CarynAI, The First Influencer Transformed Into AI
The AI-powered digital replica already has 1,000 digital boyfriends who pay $1 per minute. A 23-year-old influencer named Caryn Marjorie created an AI-powered chatbot called CarynAI that mimics her voice, personality and mannerisms, with the intention of offering a “flirty and fun” experience for users. However, following its launch, the chatbot started providing sexually explicit…
Artificial Intelligence: Google Tries To Close The Gap With Microsoft On AI
Google is introducing generative artificial intelligence (AI) to its core search engine in a move to compete with Microsoft’s GPT-4 on Bing. The new feature, called Search Generative Experience, will craft responses to open-ended queries but is still in the experimental phase and only available to a limited number of users. It was announced at the search giant’s annual developer conference.
FinTech: Boss And Founder Nik Storonsky Criticizes Delay In Decision On Revolut’s Banking Application
The decision on whether to grant a banking license to Revolut, a British financial technology company valued at £14 billion and one of the UK’s most valuable start-ups, is still hanging fire but is expected to be made in the coming weeks by regulators. However, Nik Storonsky, founder and CEO, gave vent to his frustrations last week in an outburst that severely criticized the delay considering the application has been pending for over two years.
Artificial Intelligence: Warren Buffett On AI – The Genie Has Been Unleashed
At the Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) annual meeting on Saturday, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger shared their thoughts on artificial intelligence (AI). Buffett acknowledged AI’s “amazing” capabilities but said he was worried about its potential long-term impact on society, citing the example of the atom bomb.
FinTech: Block’s Q1 Numbers, Powered By Cash App, Beat Estimates
Block Inc. (NYSE: SQ), a digital payments company led by Jack Dorsey, has increased its forecast for full-year profit after its Cash App product saw a surge in usage during Q1 2023. Earnings at the company also beat Street estimates.
Uber Expands Its Strategic Payments Partnership With Stripe Across Major Markets
Uber (NYSE: UBER) has signed an expanded global partnership with Stripe, the financial infrastructure platform for businesses, to reduce payments costs and provide more payment options to customers.
Digital Assets: Nasdaq-Listed Bitdeer and Bhutan To Establish A US$500M Fund For Carbon-Free Mining Of Digital Assets
Bitdeer Technologies Group (NASDAQ: BTDR), a Singapore-based technology company for the cryptocurrency mining community, has partnered with Druk Holding & Investments (DHI), the commercial arm of the Royal Government of Bhutan, to develop green digital asset mining operations in the Kingdom of Bhutan.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Pioneer Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google
Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “Godfather of AI,” has left Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), where he worked for over a decade, to freely speak out about the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). Hinton, a lifelong academic whose career was driven by his personal convictions about the development and use of AI, is among a growing number of critics who claim that tech companies are racing toward danger with their aggressive campaign to create products based on generative AI.
Liquid Alternatives: As Rates Rise, Multi-Asset Fund Manager Pendal Recommends Liquid Alternatives
According to Alan Polley, a portfolio manager at Pendal, it is time to consider moving from illiquid alternative investments to liquid alternatives. Polley believes that illiquid assets, which have been benefiting from a falling interest rate environment, are no longer supported by a tailwind, and the rising interest rates are creating headwinds for these assets.