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
FinTech: Stripe Raises $6.5B At A Heavily Truncated Valuation Of $50B
Payment processor Stripe raised $6.5 billion in a non-dilutive Series I financing round, valuing the company at $50 billion, down almost 50% from the record valuation of $95 billion in garnered in a 2021 funding.
Artificial Intelligence: OpenAI Announces GPT-4
OpenAI, backed by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), has announced the release of its latest AI model, GPT-4, which is capable of generating content in response to both text and image prompts, a capability described as “multimodal.”
Artificial Intelligence: Microsoft Reportedly Lays Off Its AI Ethics Team
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has reportedly laid off its entire ethics and society team that was tasked for the ethical and responsible development of its artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The layoffs are part of a recent restructuring that affected almost 10,000 employees, and come as the company makes a determined effort to successfully integrate AI into its market-laggard Bing search engine, according to a report attributed to Platformer.
Venture Capital: Y Combinator Warns Of Catastrophic Implications From SVB Collapse, Itself Lays Off 20% Of Staff
Y Combinator, the storied startup accelerator, has petitioned the US government to intervene on behalf of 10,000 small businesses and startups with accounts at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) who may be unable to pay employees in the next 30 days due to the bank’s insolvency.
Digital Assets: Federal Support Action For Resolving SVB And Signature Bank Crises
The US Government has taken swift action to stem the economic backlash from the failures of Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank. While Silvergate and Signature were both crypto-focused banks, Silicon Valley was the go-to bank for the venture capital industry. Silvergate, however, voluntarily chose to down shutters. A statement from the Department of Treasury detailed a concerted strategy to protect depositors at SVB and Signature.
Venture Capital: Troubles At Silicon Valley Bank Trigger Warnings From Top Drawer VC Firms
Silicon Valley Bank (NASDAQ: SIVB), a major lender to start-ups, has faced a crisis after announcing a $2.25bn share sale following a significant loss on its portfolio. The company’s shares fell by 60% and its bonds posted record declines. The shock development sent tremors through the venture capital world, with many top VC firms advising their portfolio startups to bail out from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
Artificial Intelligence: ChatGPT, OpenAI’s World-Beating AI Chatbot, Now Available On The Apple Watch
Apple Watch users can now access ChatGPT, the AI-powered chatbot that became a runaway hit since its launch in November, through a dedicated app named watchGPT. The app is available on the App Store for $3.99.
Venture Capital: Salesforce Ventures’ Launches $250M Generative AI Fund, Invests In Cohere AI
Salesforce Ventures has announced a $250 million generative AI fund, with Toronto-based start-up Cohere among the first four companies to receive investment. Cohere, which provides access to large language models and natural language processing tools through one API, has previously raised $170m, including a $125m Series B round in 2021. It is understood to be seeking further investment in a current funding round. Cohere will partner with Salesforce to bring its technology to Salesforce’s enterprise customers.
Fintech: Stripe Raising Funds To Buy Employees’ Shares And Cover Their Tax Bill
Stripe, a payments company, plans to use the funds it raises in its latest round of fundraising to cover a $3.5 billion tax bill. The company is aiming to raise $2.3 billion to cover tax withholdings in Q1 and an additional $500 million and $700 million in taxes later this year and next year respectively, according to a Bloomberg report.
Venture Capital: UK Fintech Abound Lands $601M
Abound, a UK-based consumer lending service, has raised £500m ($601m) in equity and debt funding to expand its open banking business. The start-up, which uses open banking data and machine learning algorithms to offer lower interest loans and develop “better credit scores”, will use the funds to finance loans, bring in more customers and invest in its technology.
Artificial Intelligence: Bad Actors Are Using Voice Impersonation To Dupe Victims
Increasingly sophisticated AI allows scammers to replicate someone’s voice with an audio sample that could be as short as just a few sentences. Voice impersonation scams are on the rise in the US. The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has made it easier for bad actors to mimic voices, tricking people into believing that their loved ones are in distress.
Digital Assets: Key Crypto Players Sever Links With Silvergate Capital
On March 2nd, four firms related to cryptocurrency announced that they will no longer be doing business with Silvergate Capital (NYSE: SI). This decision was made after Silvergate revealed in an SEC filing that it was delaying its annual report due to ongoing investigations. (PYMNTS)
FinTech: Zenus Bank Ties With Visa To Issue Debit Cards Across 46 Countries
Zenus Bank and Visa (NYSE: V) have extended their partnership, and Zenus has become the first bank to launch a single Visa Infinite Debit Card to customers across the globe. Zenus offers true US bank accounts remotely to people in over 46 countries and provides a virtual Visa Infinite debit card, and a physical card can be received in under 10 days.
Artificial Intelligence: Bridgewater Post-Dalio – More AI And Machine Learning, Less People
CEO Nir Bar Dea is now at the helm of Bridgewater. Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, is adopting a new strategy under the leadership of CEO Nir Bar Dea, following its founder Ray Dalio’s departure five months ago. Bar Dea’s strategy aims to improve returns, increase profitability, and develop new sources of revenue….
Venture Capital: Bain Capital Ventures Raises $1.9B Across Two Funds
Bain Capital Ventures (BCV) has raised $1.9 billion in two oversubscribed funds, furthering its support for technology startups from seed to growth. The funds will be used to discover and grow the most innovative and promising companies within fintech, infrastructure, apps, and commerce.
Artificial Intelligence: Robin AI Raises $10.5M For Legal Services Powered By Generative AI
Robin AI, a legal tech startup, has announced that it has secured $10.5 million in Series A funding led by Plural with participation by Episode 1 and a cohort of angel investors. Robin AI will use the funding to scale its mission of changing the way the legal industry operates by using AI and generative models with “lawyers-in-the-loop” to cut legal costs and make simple legal tasks even easier. The company offers access to legal services, including a first-in-class AI-driven contract editor, to individuals, startups, and beyond, to process legal contracts at little to no cost.
Venture Capital: Skydio, Maker Of Autonomous Drones, Lands $230M Series E
Drone manufacturer Skydio has raised $230m in a Series E funding round, led by Linse Capital, which values the company at $2.2 billion, more than double its valuation two years ago. Andreessen Horowitz, Next47, IVP, DoCoMo, Nvidia, the Walton Family Foundation, UP Partners, Hercules Capital, and Axon also participated in the round.
Artificial Intelligence: Raphael Painted A Mystery Painting, According To AI
New facial recognition technology has been used to examine a painting known as the de Brécy Tondo, leading researchers to conclude that it is highly likely to be a masterpiece by Raphael. The technology was developed by Professor Hassan Ugail, of the University of Bradford, and uses a deep neural network to identify patterns in images with greater accuracy than the human eye.
Alternative Investments/ESG: The Energy And Remediation ETF From Horizon Kinetics Rides Two Boats
Horizon Kinetics has unveiled the Horizon Kinetics Energy and Remediation ETF (NYSEARCA: NVIR), a fund listed on the New York Stock Exchange that aims to strike a balance between meeting global energy needs and investing in existing remediation technology. The actively managed fund will hold both attractive, carbon-based energy companies and remediation companies that use existing technology to generate carbon-based energy in a more environmentally sensitive manner.
Venture Capital: South African, Cars-On-Subscription Startup Planet42 Raises $100M
Planet42, a South African startup that offers car subscriptions to those who cannot access traditional bank credit, has raised US$100 million in combined equity and debt funding to support its expansion.
Artificial Intelligence: AI To Transcribe, Live, Hearings At The Supreme Court Of India
Using AI tools and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology, the Supreme Court of India implemented a live transcription system for oral arguments for the first time in its history on Tuesday.
Venture Capital: Chinese EV Maker Geely Nabs $750M Series ‘A’ For Its Zeekr Brand
On February 13th, 2023, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding), the largest private-owned automotive group in China, announced a successful fundraising of USD 750 million for its premium pure play electric mobility brand, ZEEKR Intelligent Technology (Zeekr), based in Hangzhou, China.
Venture Capital/Real Estate: Dreamscape Lands $850M For Gaming And Entertainment Platforms, Revamp Of Rio
Dreamscape Companies, a real estate development and investment firm founded by Eric Birnbaum, has completed an $850 million capital raise. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and Raymond James led the debt syndicate and equity private placement, respectively.
Artificial Intelligence: After Users Flag Creepy Interactions With The New Bing, Microsoft Mulling Tweaks
Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) release of a new version of Bing search engine that includes the artificial intelligence (AI) of a chatbot has led to the company considering tweaks and guardrails. The tech giant is looking at adding tools for users to restart conversations and limit conversation lengths before they veer into strange territory.