FinTech Weekly | issue 90

UK digital health technology company Huma raises $80 million in funding

UK based medical technology company Huma announced that it has secured over $80 million in Series D funding, with a total financing amount exceeding $300 million. New and old investors participated in this round of financing, including AstraZeneca, Bayer's Leaps, HAT SGR's Hat Technology Fund 4, and Hitachi Venture Capital's HV Fund. The company has created an application that integrates hospital databases, mobile devices, and wearable devices for patient data, and has also announced the launch of a new product, Huma Cloud Platform.

 

Information link:

https://www.huma.com/press-release-series-d...

Comment: Huma Cloud is a no code platform that allows developers to create disease management tools using pre built module libraries and device connectivity features. The cloud agnostic framework also provides APIs and integration capabilities for hosting and deploying predictive and diagnostic AI algorithms.

 

California semiconductor startup DreamBig raises $75 million in equity financing

This week, DreamBig, headquartered in San Jose, California, announced a $75 million equity financing. Samsung Catalyst Fund and Sehat Sutardja jointly lead the investment. DreamBig was founded in 2019 and has currently raised nearly $93 million in financing. The company mainly develops small chip platforms and specializes in application fields such as large-scale language models and generative artificial intelligence. Overall, the current market for venture capital in semiconductor chip startups remains strong.

 

Information link:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dreambig...

Comment: According to Crunchbase data, venture backed chip startups have raised nearly $5.7 billion in just 210 transactions so far in 2024. Last year, startups raised less than $10.4 billion in 498 related industry financing transactions.

 

Swedish 'buy before pay' giant Klarna plans to go public in 2025

According to the Financial Times, Swedish "buy now pay later" company Klarna is looking for potential financial advisors for its US IPO plan next year, and Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley seem to be considering it. In 2021, Klarna won the title of Europe's Most Valuable Startup with a net worth of $46 billion.

 

Information link:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/buy-now-pay...

Comment: However, under the impact of the overall low financing situation in the science and technology innovation industry in 2022, Klarna's valuation has been declining all the way to $6.7 billion. In February 2024, Klarna saw a turning point with impressive financial performance and significantly reduced losses, making the United States the company's largest revenue market.

 

Anthropic, an AI startup, launches AI fund to accelerate the wave of technological innovation

On Wednesday (July 17th) local time, American AI startup Anthropic announced on its official website that it will collaborate with Menlo Ventures to establish a new $100 million fund, the Anthropology Fund.

 

Information link:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/17/anthropic-menlo...

Comment: The press release states that $100 million from the Anthology Fund is funded by Menlo, while Anthropic is responsible for providing technical support. Approved startups can receive a $100000 investment and a $25000 "quota" to access Anthropic's most advanced models.

The New York Department of Financial Services adopts new artificial intelligence guidance to curb underwriting bias

According to a circular released by the New York Department of Financial Services, the department has adopted guidelines aimed at preventing unintended discrimination caused by the use of artificial intelligence in underwriting and pricing processes. According to AM Best, the new regulations apply to all insurance companies authorized to issue policies in New York. The New York Department of Financial Services pointed out that while artificial intelligence and external consumer data sources can simplify underwriting and pricing, implementing safeguard measures to protect consumers from potential harm is crucial.

 

Information link:

zh.dfs.ny.gov/reports_and_publications/press_releases/pr20240711241

Comment: This guide provides definitions for artificial intelligence systems and external consumer data sources, and clarifies that terms such as "illegal" and "unfair" are consistent with state and federal laws. The department also intentionally excluded the definition of "traditional underwriting" to ensure that it does not cover the artificial intelligence systems or external consumer data specified in the guidelines.

 

Qover Embedded Insurance Platform

Qover recently launched an AI driven embedded insurance platform. This platform aims to establish a global safety net through innovative insurance solutions.

 

Information link:

https://www.qover.com

Comment: The application of embedded insurance technology enables insurance products to be seamlessly integrated into consumers' purchasing and usage processes, providing more personalized and timely insurance services.

 

The Application of Artificial Intelligence in Insurance: Innovations from CoverGo and McKenzie Intelligence Services

CoverGo has recently launched an AI based distribution platform. This platform is called CoverGo Distribution and aims to provide multi-channel insurance distribution services through a codeless SaaS solution. At the same time, McKenzie Intelligence Services has developed an AI driven damage classifier to enhance its capabilities in post disaster assessment.

 

Information link:

https://covergo.com/blog/insurance-ai-applications

Comment: This classifier can evaluate damages faster and more accurately, thereby accelerating the claims process.

 

BCIC launches the first omni channel insurance ecosystem in the Caribbean region

British Caribbean Insurance Company (BCIC) recently launched its first omni channel insurance ecosystem in the Caribbean region. This ecosystem based on EIS SaaS platform aims to provide comprehensive insurance services, covering the entire process from online purchase to claims processing.

 

Information link:

https://www.the-digital-insurer.com/zh-CN/rise-of-digital-ecosystems

Comment: BCIC states that the launch of this ecosystem will greatly enhance customer experience and service efficiency.

The New York Department of Financial Services adopts new artificial intelligence guidance to curb underwriting bias

According to a circular released by the New York Department of Financial Services, the department has adopted guidelines aimed at preventing unintended discrimination caused by the use of artificial intelligence in underwriting and pricing processes. According to AM Best, the new regulations apply to all insurance companies authorized to issue policies in New York. The New York Department of Financial Services pointed out that while artificial intelligence and external consumer data sources can simplify underwriting and pricing, implementing safeguard measures to protect consumers from potential harm is crucial.

 

Information link:

zh.dfs.ny.gov/reports_and_publications/press_releases/pr20240711241

Comment: This guide provides definitions for artificial intelligence systems and external consumer data sources, and clarifies that terms such as "illegal" and "unfair" are consistent with state and federal laws. The department also intentionally excluded the definition of "traditional underwriting" to ensure that it does not cover the artificial intelligence systems or external consumer data specified in the guidelines.

 

Qover Embedded Insurance Platform

Qover recently launched an AI driven embedded insurance platform. This platform aims to establish a global safety net through innovative insurance solutions.

 

Information link:

https://www.qover.com

Comment: The application of embedded insurance technology enables insurance products to be seamlessly integrated into consumers' purchasing and usage processes, providing more personalized and timely insurance services.

 

The Application of Artificial Intelligence in Insurance: Innovations from CoverGo and McKenzie Intelligence Services

CoverGo has recently launched an AI based distribution platform. This platform is called CoverGo Distribution and aims to provide multi-channel insurance distribution services through a codeless SaaS solution. At the same time, McKenzie Intelligence Services has developed an AI driven damage classifier to enhance its capabilities in post disaster assessment.

 

Information link:

https://covergo.com/blog/insurance-ai-applications

Comment: This classifier can evaluate damages faster and more accurately, thereby accelerating the claims process.

 

BCIC launches the first omni channel insurance ecosystem in the Caribbean region

British Caribbean Insurance Company (BCIC) recently launched its first omni channel insurance ecosystem in the Caribbean region. This ecosystem based on EIS SaaS platform aims to provide comprehensive insurance services, covering the entire process from online purchase to claims processing.

 

Information link:

https://www.the-digital-insurer.com/zh-CN/rise-of-digital-ecosystems

Comment: BCIC states that the launch of this ecosystem will greatly enhance customer experience and service efficiency.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund focuses on new energy, further advancing cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia

On July 16th, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund PIF and energy company Vision Industries partnered with China's Far East Technology Group, JinkoSolar Energy, and TCL Zhonghuan to establish a new energy joint venture in Saudi Arabia, focusing on the local production of wind turbines and photovoltaic equipment. The joint venture aims to achieve localized production of 75% of Saudi Arabia's wind power value chain and support the transition to clean energy in the Middle East. On the same day, JinkoSolar and TCL announced heavy investment plans. The former plans to build a 10GW high-efficiency battery and module project in Saudi Arabia, while the latter plans to build a 20GW photovoltaic crystal chip project in Saudi Arabia with an estimated investment of $1 billion and $2.08 billion, respectively.

 

Information link:

http://fund.eastmoney.com/a/202407173133453695.html

 

The International Energy Agency establishes a people-centered Global Committee for Clean Energy Transition

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has established a people-centered Global Committee for the Clean Energy Transition to design and implement policies and establish fair and affordable energy systems. This initiative aims to support global decision-makers in prioritizing a fair energy transition. The committee is co chaired by Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Theresa Ribera and Brazilian Minister of Mines and Energy Alexander Silveira de Oliveira. The committee members include energy, climate, and labor leaders from governments around the world, as well as senior representatives from international organizations, labor, indigenous, youth, and civil society groups.

 

Information link:

esgnews.com/zh-CN/iea-launches-global-commission-on-people-centred-clean-energy-tran

 

UN Trade and Development Organization: The increasing impact of the digital economy on the environment

Recently, the United Nations Organization for Trade and Development released the "2024 Digital Economy Report". The report emphasizes that although digitization has driven global economic growth and provided unique opportunities for developing countries, its impact on the environment is also becoming increasingly severe. The report points out that the impact of the information and communication technology industry on the environment is enormous, including the entire lifecycle of digital devices and infrastructure - from raw material extraction and processing to manufacturing, distribution, use, and disposal. This process consumes a large amount of transition minerals, energy, and water, greatly exacerbating greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

 

Information link:

news.un.org/zh/story/2024/07/1129851

 

OECD: Green Economy Transition Will Affect One Quarter of Jobs

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released its "2024 Employment Outlook" report on July 9th, stating that by 2050, although there will not be significant changes in overall employment levels during the transition to a green economy, it is expected that more than a quarter of jobs will be greatly affected. Jobs in industries with high carbon emissions will significantly decrease, while jobs in low emission industries will increase. Low skilled workers in existing industries may face issues such as unemployment or reduced wages. The report emphasizes that governments around the world should improve the wages of green jobs and ensure the wage income of workers who have lost their jobs in high emission industries. It is recommended to temporarily introduce a wage insurance system.

 

Information link:

kr.mofcom.gov.cn/article/jmxw/202407/20240703523041.shtml

South Korea launches AI startup upgrade strategy

On July 10, 2024, the South Korean Ministry of Small and Medium Risk Enterprises held the "AI Startup Link Upgrade Agreement Conference" in Seoul, announcing the "Super Leading AI Startup Upgrade Strategy". Five high growth areas, including Lightweight Language Modeling (sLLM), were selected to strategically support startups in related fields. The plan is to cultivate three AI unicorn companies by 2027, and the scale of domestic official and private investment will also increase from 400 billion Korean won to 1 trillion Korean won. The Small and Medium Risk Enterprise Department also plans to match small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises that hope to introduce AI technology through regional characteristic AI manufacturing centers. In order to promote the global expansion of AI startups, we will support related companies in obtaining global certifications and establish overseas venture capital funds to invest in AI startups.

 

Information link:

finance.sina.com.cn/money/forex/datafx/2024-07-16/doc-incehyna1480200.shtml

 

The EU is divided on whether to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles

According to Reuters, informed sources revealed on the 16th that in a non binding but still influential vote, EU governments had differing opinions on the pros and cons of imposing tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China. Reuters reported that the large number of abstentions reflects the wavering attitude of many EU member states. According to reports, the European Commission has imposed temporary tariffs of up to 37.6% on electric vehicles imported from China and solicited opinions from EU member states through a so-called "consultative" vote. According to sources, 12 EU member states voted in favor of imposing tariffs, 4 voted against, and 11 abstained. Reuters reported that sources indicated that France, Italy, and Spain voted in favor of imposing tariffs, while Germany, Finland, and Sweden abstained from the vote.

 

Information link:

cl.mofcom.gov.cn/article/jmxw/202407/20240703523623.shtml

 

UK regulatory authorities investigate the role of tech giants in the digital wallet market

On July 15, 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Regulation Authority (PSR) announced an investigation into the impact of digital wallet services by large technology companies on market competition, consumer protection, and market integrity, with the aim of understanding and ensuring the balance and security of the financial ecosystem. Statistics show that over half of British adults use digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal in their daily lives, and these platforms have become important interfaces between consumers and large technology companies. Looking at the world, the expanding influence of technology giants in the financial services sector has also attracted the attention of regulatory agencies in many countries and regions. For example, in the United States, consumer oversight agencies proposed regulating payments and smartphone wallets last year.

 

Information link:

https://finance.eastmoney.com/a/202407153131476193.html

 

Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi sign memorandum of understanding on investment promotion cooperation

On July 16, 2024, Invest Hong Kong announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The memorandum was signed by the Director General of Invest Hong Kong, Liu Kaixuan, and the CEO of Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, Ahmed Khalifa Al Qubaisi, via video conference. The memorandum encourages the sharing of information on the business environment and investment opportunities between the two regions, with the aim of promoting mutual investment, sharing experiences in attracting foreign investment, and promoting excellent investment practices. The memorandum also encourages local companies interested in expanding their overseas business to establish or expand their operations in the other party's territory, and provides support for promoting foreign investment between the two regions.

 

Information link:

https://www.investhk.gov.hk/zh-cn/news/hong-kong...

The United States plans to extend its jurisdiction over Japanese and Dutch companies, and the localization of semiconductor equipment is expected to continue accelerating

The United States plans to extend its jurisdiction over Japanese and Dutch companies, restricting their provision of advanced semiconductor technology to China. Japan and the Netherlands hold leading or advantageous positions in equipment fields such as photolithography, coating and development, etching, thin film deposition, furnace tubes, and quantity detection. ASML released its 24Q2 quarterly report. Chinese Mainland has become the largest revenue source of ASML for four consecutive quarters. The continuous procurement of lithography machines is expected to maintain stable demand for domestic expansion in the future. At the same time, under external constraints, the localization rate of semiconductor equipment is expected to rapidly increase. We continue to be optimistic about the high-speed growth of orders for domestic semiconductor equipment companies in recent years.

 

Information link:

finance.eastmoney.com/a/202407193134957516.html

 

ASML: It is expected that the semiconductor industry will continue to recover in the second half of the year

ASML President and CEO Fu Keli said, "As a result, the overall inventory level of the semiconductor industry has continued to improve in the past few quarters. At the same time, we also see that the utilization rate of lithography equipment by both logic chip and storage chip customers is further increasing. Despite the uncertainty mainly caused by the macro environment, we expect the semiconductor industry to continue to recover in the second half of the year.

 

Information link:

http://www.eeo.com.cn/2024/0717/673434.shtml

 

IMF maintains global economic growth forecast at 3.2% this year unchanged

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released its latest World Economic Outlook report. In the report, from a global perspective, the IMF expects the global economic growth rate to be 3.2% this year, which is consistent with the forecast in April this year; It is expected that the global economic growth rate will be 3.3% in 2025, which is 0.1 percentage points higher than the forecast in April this year. The report points out that global economic activity has become more active in the first half of this year, especially in the field of technology. The report also raised the economic growth rate of emerging markets and developing economies this year to 4.3%. However, among developed economies, Japan and the United States have lowered their economic growth expectations for this year, with the United States' economic growth rate being lowered to 2.6%, reflecting its slower than expected economic growth and slowing domestic consumption. In addition, the report also predicts that the global average inflation rate will be 5.9% this year and will drop to 4.4% in 2025.

 

Information link:

https://www.imf.org/zh/Publications/WEO/Issues/...

 

Samsung Electronics: CXL market is booming in the second half of the year and will become mainstream by 2028

According to the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, Choi Jang seok, Managing Director of the New Business Planning Team at Samsung Electronics' storage division, stated that the CXL market is expected to flourish in the second half of this year and achieve comprehensive growth in four years. By 2028, CXL will become the mainstream of the storage industry. CXL is an interconnect standard that supports high-speed data transfer between various computing resources such as CPUs, accelerators, memory, and storage devices in high-performance computing environments.

 

Information link:

https://www.huxiu.com/moment/1011595.html

EU antitrust agency asks industry participants about whether Google and Samsung's chatbot agreement hinders competition

According to an EU document seen by the media, EU antitrust regulators are asking industry participants whether the multi-year agreement between Google and Samsung on generative artificial intelligence (AI) will hinder the use of competitors' chatbots on Samsung smartphones. Samsung will embed Google's Gemini Nano into its Galaxy S24 series smartphones. The European Commission stated last month that it will request information to better understand the impact of the agreement. This will help EU antitrust enforcement agencies to initiate investigations into companies involved in any anti competitive behavior they discover.

 

Information link:

https://finance.sina.com.cn/world/2024-07-18/doc-incenrnp2493609.shtml

 

Microsoft blue screen incident may bring huge claims to the insurance industry

Last week, due to software updates from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, Microsoft Windows operating system users were affected, causing large-scale paralysis in multiple industries worldwide and causing inconvenience to consumers. The market expects the economic losses from this accident to be as high as tens of billions of dollars. Nir Perry, CEO of CyberWrite, a network insurance risk platform, stated that this service interruption should be considered as an event that could potentially lead to insurance disasters. However, he also stated that not all time and money lost by businesses will be covered by insurance.

 

Information link:

https://www.yicai.com/news/102198965.html

 

Democratic chairpersons from various states in the United States say they support Harris as the presidential candidate

On July 21st local time, sources familiar with the matter said that after US President Biden announced his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential election, Democratic Party chairpersons from all 50 states held a conference call and expressed their full support for Vice President Harris to become the Democratic Party's presidential candidate. According to ABC News, the Democratic National Committee of the United States submitted an amendment on the 21st to rename its Joint Fundraising Committee as the Harris Victory Fund and Harris Action Fund. According to reports, these two funds only modified "Biden" to "Harris" and inherited the previous cash. The "Harris Victory Fund" has nearly $40 million in cash, while the "Harris Action Fund" has $23 million in cash.

 

Information link:

https://news.sina.com.cn/w/2024-07-22/doc-inceyhue2360436.shtml

 

BYD gained nearly 3% market share in the Japanese electric vehicle market in the first half of the year

BYD sold 1084 cars in Japan in the first half of this year and currently holds a 2.7% market share in the Japanese electric vehicle market. According to the Japan Association of Automobile Importers (JAIA), the total number of imported cars in Japan in the first half of this year was 113887, a year-on-year decrease of 7%. However, the import volume of electric vehicles is increasing. Data shows that in the first half of this year, Japan's imports of electric vehicles increased by 17% year-on-year to 10785 units, accounting for nearly 10% of the total automobile imports.

 

Information link:

https://m.gasgoo.com/news/70399410.html

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: The content is from the Internet, WeChat official account and other public channels. We are neutral about the points in the article. This article is only for reference and exchange.