investments – Impact Lab

The world’s first AI exchange-traded fund is set to run in Canada

November 6, 2017

Today’s artificial intelligence (AI), most experts will agree, is still far from what’s called a general AI — one that can perform any task human beings are capable of. Yet, despite limitations, AIs have become rather powerful — at least enough to beat human beings in their own games, or even to take over performing certain tasks in a number of industries. In Canada, AI is gearing up for a new role: Horizons ETFs Management, Inc. is preparing to launch the Horizons Active A.I. Global Equity ETF on November 1.

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Banking, Bitcoin, Blockchain

5 cryptocurrencies you should know about besides bitcoin

October 4, 2017

Bitcoin may grab most of the headlines, but it’s far from the only cryptocurrency or cryptoasset. These others may even be more useful in the long run.

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Analysis, Business, Future, Latest Trend, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Fintech’s future is hotter than ever

August 7, 2015

Fintech’s investment has tripled to $12.21 billion in the past year, according to Accenture’s 2015 report. Recent Jobs Act legislation is fueling this trend, with deregulation of crowdfunding leading the surge of investments from retail and institutional participants.

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Bitcoin, Business, Economy, Science & Technology News

Can Bitcoin be better than gold?

June 5, 2015

Bitcoin and gold are similar in many ways. They are both rare, gold is rare in nature and Bitcoin rarity is coded into its protocol. Continue reading… “Can Bitcoin be better than gold?”

Business, Economy, Venture Capital

B V M – Keys to Funding

May 7, 2015

Karl Dakin: I sat through a number of entrepreneur pitches recently and was frustrated by the fact that none of the pitches addressed any of the keys to funding:

Benefits
Value
Management

Without this trifecta, there is no basis for any funding, regardless if the funding is a charitable gift, an impact investment or a classical return on investment (ROI). Continue reading… “B V M – Keys to Funding”

Business, Economy, Latest News, Latest Trend, Money Talk

Bitcoin is now Tax Deductible

January 10, 2015

Bitcoin was a terrible investment this year, but that hasn’t stopped non-profits from asking for them anyway. Wikipedia, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Khan Academy and now even Burning Man will take those bitcoins off your hands in the form of a tax-deductible donation.

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Analysis, Business, Economy, Globalism, Latest Trend

The state of investments around the world: Charts

October 21, 2014

In terms of balanced growth, the US is the strongest economy in the world right now.

Here are a few charts that show the state of investment around the world. The data, taken from FRED, shows the percentage change in trailing twelve month real gross fixed capital formation from 1Q 2000 levels.

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Analysis, Business, Energy, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, Solar Power, Wind Power

$100B invested in wind or solar will produce more energy than oil

September 18, 2014

By the late 2020s or early 2030s renewables could be competing much more aggressively with the oil market.

Kepler Chevreux, a French investment bank, has produced a fascinating analysis that has dramatic implications for the global oil industry. The investment bank estimates that $100 billion invested in either wind energy or solar energy – and deployed as energy for light and commercial vehicles – will produce significantly more energy than that same $100 billion invested in oil.

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Alternative Transportation, Analysis, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

China to invest $16.3 B in electric cars

August 29, 2014

Electric vehicles will yield big environmental improvements in China.

China is supposedly about to invest a hundred billion yuan (equivalent to about 16.3 billion US dollars at today’s exchange rate) into electric vehicles and the infrastructure to support them, like public charging stations, according to “two people familiar with the matter”, says Bloomberg.

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Analysis, Business, Energy, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Investments in power lines says a lot about how the US electricity system is changing

August 29, 2014

Private investment in electric transmission has quintupled from $2.7 billion in 1997 to $14.1 billion in 2012.

Private electric utilities in America have been doing something surprising over the past ten years – they have been investing a lot of money in power lines and other electric-transmission infrastructure. (Chart)

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Analysis, Latest Trend, Money Talk

The average savings rates by income in the U.S.

June 13, 2014

Savings rates vary by income.

Americans as a whole don’t save a lot of money. The latest 2014 savings statistics shows that the average American only saves ~4% of their income a year. In other words, it takes the average American 25 years to save just one year’s worth of living expenses.

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend, Money Talk

It’s time to disrupt the venture capital world

June 11, 2014

We are set to disrupt the way startup investments are made.

Billions of dollars are flowing through Venture Capital Companies into startups. And that is an incredibly important development to bring more innovation, disruptive thinking and many more businesses to life. However, the Kauffman Foundation, a pretty influential force in the VC world, has expressed their frustration in a recent report:

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