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Blockchain Still Waiting to Break Out
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By Yuliya Chernova, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Bitcoin reached records earlier this year, breaking through the $70,000 price barrier a few times.
Yet the potential of blockchain as a technology that transforms financial and technological systems, giving more power to individual users while bypassing central authorities, still appears a far-off promise.
Blockchain “is at about the same place the internet was in 1995,” Brad Burnham, a partner at Union Square Ventures, said last week at an event organized by venture firm M13 in New York. While most people are unaware of it, he added, we are just about to see blockchain apps that would appeal to lay users.
Sound familiar?
Marc Andreessen, for example, in an article titled “Why Bitcoin Matters” in the New York Times—penned a decade ago—wrote about revolutionary technologies that establishment elites frown upon at first and that eventually become mainstream, with profound effects. “What technology am I talking about? Personal computers in 1975, the Internet in 1993, and—I believe—Bitcoin in 2014,” Andreessen wrote.
It’s true that tens of millions of Americans currently hold crypto and we now have publicly traded companies whose main business is crypto. Yet the primary use of blockchain remains speculation.
Perhaps 2024 is the year when blockchain breaks out. We are waiting.
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And now on to the news...
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Fathom uses a variety of 3-D printing techniques to quickly make prototypes and complex manufacturing parts for its customers. PHOTO: FATHOM
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U.S. applies private-equity model to national security. Stifel Financial’s North Atlantic Capital will channel financing to help small companies invest in 3-D printing through a government-supported program aimed at tackling supply-chain challenges and accelerating military production, WSJ Pro reports.
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Stifel North Atlantic and the Applied Science and Technology Research Organization of America, a nonprofit research institute known as Astro America, got approval to raise a private-equity fund under the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies initiative. The Department of Defense and the Small Business Administration launched the initiative to attract private capital to technologies, such as additive manufacturing or 3-D printing, deemed critical to defense needs.
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The Stifel-Astro America fund is the first among a number that are expected to be launched through the program, which allows licensed participants to borrow up to $2 of government-supported loans for every $1 of equity raised for their funds, up to a $175 million cap.
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175,000
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U.S. employers added a seasonally adjusted 175,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department reported on Friday. That was far less than in March, when gains exceeded 300,000.
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IT Unemployment Rate Falls Slightly Amid Broader Hiring Slowdown
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The unemployment rate for U.S. information-technology workers ticked down to 2.8% in April from 3% in March, according to the trade group CompTIA, a sign that some companies might be hiring to support their artificial intelligence-related projects, The Wall Street Journal reports. Tech companies, such as Microsoft and Salesforce, added about 4,280 workers in April, according to CompTIA’s analysis, which is based on Labor Department data. The growth was led by hiring for technology services and software development positions, followed by cloud infrastructure, data processing and data hosting jobs, the trade group said.
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Geopolitics Takes a Central Role in Supply Chains
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Of all the decisions Markus Group is making about its new mechanized lift to help Americans more easily access their attics, none may be more complicated than where to build the product, WSJ reports.
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“Ten years ago I would have just immediately said China,” said Mark Boone, owner of the Raleigh, N.C., contract manufacturer.
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Boone’s quandary is playing out across thousands of companies as growing geopolitical hurdles are complicating supply chains, from expanding Western tariffs and import restrictions on raw materials and products from China and other countries to the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping that have effectively closed off the Suez Canal.
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Funds
Belgium-based Imec.xpand launched a new €300 million fund to focus on semiconductor and nanotechnology investments.
Scout Ventures closed its fourth fund at $94 million. The Austin, Texas-based firm focuses on sectors including AI, data science, robotics, autonomous mobility, quantum computing and space.
People
Datavant, a provider of data technology for healthcare, appointed Kyle Armbrester to the post of chief executive officer. He was previously CEO of Signify Health.
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Delphia Therapeutics, a startup developing targeted cancer medicines, launched with a $67 million Series A round from GV, Nextech Invest and others.
Traceable AI, a San Francisco-based API security startup, picked up a $30 million investment. IVP led the round, which included participation from Citi Ventures and others.
Invent Analytics, a Philadelphia-based provider of supply chain AI to retailers, secured $17 million in Series B financing led by LFX Venture Partners.
Backflip, a Dallas-based real estate and financial technology platform, landed $15 million in Series A funding led by FirstMark Capital.
Baselayer, a New York-based startup using artificial intelligence technology to reduce fraud and automate business onboarding for small and midsize businesses, emerged from stealth with $6.5 million in seed funding from investors including Gilgamesh Ventures.
Seam, a San Francisco-based startup helping business teams use data through artificial intelligence, was seeded with a $5 million investment led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
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HEY SIRI The person who sets up a smart device might be blind to the issues it causes for anyone else in their home. ILLUSTRATION: BEN KIRCHNER
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Your smart home is driving your partner bonkers. Here’s how to fix it.
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AI could breathe life back into Apple’s iPhone sales
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Qualcomm’s smartphone future looks brighter with AI
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Warren Buffett fears AI has ‘enormous potential for harm’
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EV makers get two-year reprieve on tax-credit restrictions
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IPO investing is risky. Here’s how to find the likeliest winners.
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The thingification of AI (The Atlantic)
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After private equity firms gobbled up wheelchair makers, users pay the price in long repair times (STAT)
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