We have another full week of AI & Finance headlines to report, as it was a hectic week in general with wildfires and an inauguration and a couple of snowstorms, not to mention some pretty good football and basketball if you’re into those sort of things.
We have to talk about some of the national headline news this week, and that would be AI-related news that came right on the heels of Donald Trump’s second inauguration: Stargate, an up-to $500 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure project formed by a partnership of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank.
Stargate’s infrastructure projects will first and foremost be data centers. In fact, AP reporting on the announcement suggests that the project is part of a wave of data center investment already underway in places like Texas, and that it has been in the works for some time.
Now, I don’t know if you caught the wave of executive orders that happened post-inauguration—I do know some of us tried to avoid the news like the plague on inauguration day, so let me fill in the pertinent blank: President Trump also announced a national energy emergency in hopes of opening the door to more energy development.
It seems like if we wanted to create an actual national energy emergency, $500 billion worth of AI data centers coming online might do the trick. Thankfully, as it turns out, Stargate’s areas of focus will include the electricity generation needed to power all those new data centers.
Of course, that begs the question, where does the energy come from? It’s not difficult to envision a future where AI’s demand far outpaces our proven hydrocarbon reserves and our abilities to access those reserves, and it’s not difficult to envision in the same future that renewables will not be able to be built fast enough or with enough coverage to fulfil the power needs of all those data centers. Solving the coming energy shortage will not be as simple as “drill, baby, drill” or building another wind farm.
Leaving politics aside, if the U.S. is going to be technologically competitive through the end of this decade and in the decade to come, a significant investment must be made to develop as much of the world’s artificial intelligence capabilities in the U.S. as possible, and that has to start with data and energy, and any administration with an economy-forward policy platform, from either side of the aisle, would see the need to support initiatives like Stargate.
Subsequent to the announcement, comments from Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk have cast some doubt into whether Stargate is a realistic project. So maybe it’s just another political marketing ploy, a flashy big project announcement that goes nowhere.
But let’s not gloss over just how big Stargate would be if it blossoms to its full $500 billion potential (the initial investment is reportedly expected to be around $100 million, per the Associated Press). There are too many gaudy numbers to report when it comes to data center growth, energy use forecasts and demand over time, but the AP cited Blackstone’s recent projection that $1 trillion of data centers would be built in the U.S. within the next five years. Stargate could account for half of that growth.
If even the initial investment comes to fruition, it’s likely that Stargate helps accelerate the proliferation of AI into our lives.
1. Advisor360
Advisor360°, a leading provider of integrated technology for enterprise wealth management firms, has acquired Parrot AI, a Boston-based generative AI technology firm. The acquisition builds on Advisor360°’s existing AI capabilities with the addition of Parrot AI’s premium software—enabling advisors to record, transcribe, and summarize meetings to produce shareable notes and files that securely and seamlessly integrate with all major meeting and conferencing platforms.
Along with integrating premium generative AI capabilities into its configurable platform, Advisor360° also plans to introduce Parrot AI’s software as a stand-alone version specifically for advisors.
Advisor360° acquired Parrot AI’s core technology and intellectual property as part of the transaction and welcomed 12 full-time employees, including Parrot AI CEO and Co-founder Paul Morville. The team has deep experience across software and product development, large-scale SaaS, information security and privacy for enterprise companies.
2. Broadridge
To better streamline multi-asset post-trade processing and operational reporting, Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. (NYSE: BR), a global Fintech leader, today announced it added an GenAI-powered advanced analytics feature to its platform. A key component of the Broadridge’s OpsGPT ® application, this new GenAI-powered functionality enables users to generate insights and visualizations directly from their trade data using natural language, eliminating the need for data migration.
This new feature, part of Broadridge’s OpsGPT, leverages generative AI and natural language interactions to supply instant reports, data visualization and quickly generated summaries in an intuitive and user-friendly interface. A key benefit of the new feature is its ability to reduce reliance on manual reporting, replacing it with an AI-driven analytics tool that supports multiple languages, including English and Japanese, with plans for Chinese capability in the near future.
The advanced analytics feature is instrumental to international firms navigating evolving regulatory and market dynamics. By streamlining reporting tasks, the tool enables current and prospective post-trade platform users across EMEA and APAC to better manage their operations and maintain compliance, while addressing the challenges posed by faster settlement cycles and compressed margins.
3. Cainam Ventures
Cainam Ventures, a financial technology startup, is launching a groundbreaking platform that redefines autonomous digital asset trading. Guided by its mission to pioneer the onramp to agentic financial portfolio construction for digital capital investors, Cainam leverages artificial intelligence (AI), large language models (LLMs), and advanced data analytics to accelerate and optimize portfolio management strategies.
Addressing a key challenge in digital asset management, Cainam recognizes that human energy alone cannot consistently pick digital asset winners at the speed and scale AI offers. The company’s solution is a user-friendly agentic trading platform that empowers investors to capitalize on market opportunities with unprecedented precision and efficiency.
Cainam’s innovative agentic trading technology has already delivered impressive results. It seamlessly integrates with leading Web3 infrastructures, digital exchanges, and social media ecosystems to provide real-time market insights and actionable trade execution. Recent platform testing showcased its capability to transform financial technology, capturing significant attention and expediting investor timelines.
4. Concentric AI
Concentric AI today announced the availability of the new Private Scan Manager functionality in its Semantic Intelligence™ data security governance platform, which enables data scans to be processed within organizations’ own environments.
Highly regulated organizations, such as those in financial services, healthcare, and government, often require all data processing to remain on site for data security reasons, to better protect intellectual property, and to comply with industry or government regulations. With today’s launch, organizations now for the first time have the flexibility to leverage AI-driven data security governance with data processing onsite for greater control, or in the Concentric AI cloud for speed and scalability.
Now supporting NetApp ONTAP and MongoDB, Concentric AI continues to build out integrations to give customers more comprehensive visibility into what sort of data they have, where it is located, and who has access to it without agents, complex rules, or regex requirements. Customers can then apply classifications and policies to ensure access is granted only to those with a legitimate business need, greatly reducing the risk of sensitive data falling into the wrong hands.
5. FinQuery
FinQuery, a leading provider of AI-powered accounting automation and contract management solutions, today announced the promotion of Joe Schab to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Schab, who currently serves as President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), will assume the CEO role effective immediately.
George Azih, formerly founder and CEO, will transition to the role of founder and Executive Chairman, where he will continue to provide strategic guidance and support the company’s growth.
In addition to Schab’s promotion, FinQuery also announced the promotion of Justin Smith from Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to CFO and COO. Smith will assume responsibility for overseeing the company’s financial and operational performance.
6. FP Alpha
FP Alpha, the innovative AI-powered advanced planning platform, is excited to announce the launch of FP Alpha TAX, the platform’s popular tax offering, that is now available as a standalone product. This unbundling aligns with FP Alpha’s mission to provide financial advisors with cutting-edge tools to enhance their value proposition and offer advanced planning services (such as tax and estate planning services) to their entire client base. Similar to their Estate Planning offering, this change allows advisors to tailor their FP Alpha experience to their specific needs, focusing solely on tax planning, if desired. As an added incentive for advisors to do this, FP Alpha TAX is priced lower than other competitive tax planning solutions.
FP Alpha TAX is designed to simplify tax planning, increase efficiency, and deliver value to clients through actionable insights. With the ability to project, compare, and optimize tax strategies, FP Alpha TAX transforms the often complex and time-consuming process of tax planning into a streamlined, impactful advisory service.
7. FutureVault
Portfolio Aid Inc. (“PortfolioAid”) and FutureVault Inc. (“FutureVault”) announce today a partnership to deliver unparalleled value to wealth management enterprises, wealth advisors, and clients, signaling a new era for the WealthTech and Wealth Management industries.
With heightened regulatory demands and evolving client-advisor expectations, this partnership leverages PortfolioAid’s award-winning wealth compliance technology and FutureVault’s award-winning Client Life Management Vault™ and Digital Vault construct to set a new benchmark for digital document management, compliance transparency and an enhanced client value proposition, ultimately delivering massive value to the wealth management industry and advisor-client experience.
Together, FutureVault and PortfolioAid have partnered to support leading wealth management enterprises in redefining the standards for compliance, security, efficiency, trust and delivering unparalleled value to investors and clients. This partnership offers wealth advisors an opportunity to engage with clients and their next generation while at the same time affording their clients the ability to securely interact with their network of trusted professionals (estate attorneys, accountants, insurance brokers).
8. iCapital
iCapital1, the global fintech platform driving the world’s alternative investment marketplace for the wealth and asset management industries, and Parallel Markets, a leader in reusable financial identity, providing a scalable, end-to-end solution for investor onboarding, verification and monitoring, today announced they have entered a definitive agreement under which iCapital is expected to acquire Parallel Markets.
Integrating Parallel Markets’ advanced technology with iCapital’s onboarding and compliance monitoring processes will provide fund managers and wealth advisors with a more seamless user journey within the iCapital ecosystem while ensuring compliance in a constantly evolving regulatory landscape. The new iCapital Investor Passport will offer a turnkey onboarding solution for all fund investors, both institutional and wealth management, creating a universal reusable investor identity that can be used across iCapital Marketplace and the suite of offerings on iCapital’s platform for global alternative asset managers. This digital identity will function as a data locker for storing, managing, and sharing personal information needed for fund subscription and compliance verification in private markets. It will make it easier for investors from around the world to manage and share their KYB (Know Your Business) / KYC (Know Your Customer) data while helping fund managers scale more efficiently and ensure consistency in compliance, including AML (Anti-Money Laundering).
It is estimated that $2.5 billion is spent globally on identity verification services and compliance across the financial services industry2. With universal passport identity technology, fund managers have the potential to realize significant reductions in onboarding time and overhead costs. Investors typically upload sensitive information repeatedly for different opportunities, and iCapital, fund managers, and issuers bear the burden of reviewing and verifying this information.
9. Innovaccer
Innovaccer, a leading healthcare AI company, today announced its acquisition of Humbi AI (Actuarial Intelligence), a specialized healthcare actuarial software, services and analytics company. This marks Innovaccer’s third acquisition, following Cured and Pharmacy Quality Solutions (PQS) in 2024, solidifying the company’s commitment to drive advanced healthcare transformation.
Humbi AI’s Actuarial Intelligence will be an integral component of Innovaccer’s Healthcare Intelligence Cloud, unlocking new opportunities for providers, payers, and life sciences organizations. The acquisition combines Humbi AI’s expertise in Medicare and Medicaid data, spanning over 200 million lives, with Innovaccer’s Intelligence Cloud. This integration will enhance Innovaccer’s ability to help healthcare organizations improve health outcomes and manage risk and performance more effectively. It also sets the stage for Innovaccer’s Actuarial Copilots, which will help actuaries complete work faster and more efficiently.
Humbi AI’s solutions will allow Innovaccer to address critical challenges across the healthcare ecosystem by touching all points of care. For providers and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), it will enable more intelligent, data-driven value-based contracts and financial performance. For payers, Humbi AI’s actuarial expertise and analytics will improve contract performance, payer benchmarking, and optimize provider network management. In the life sciences sector, Humbi AI’s Actuarial Intelligence will help companies optimize drug commercialization through data-driven insights, clinical effectiveness analysis and utilization metrics.
10. Scienaptic AI
Scienaptic AI, a New York-based leader in AI-powered credit underwriting, announces that its Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) has secured strategic equity investments from four new partners.
The coalition now includes three more credit unions clients—Alliance Catholic Credit Union, Partner Colorado Credit Union, and Advantage One Credit Union—and the Michigan Credit Union League.
Earlier investors in Scienaptic CUSO include ELGA Credit Union, Wildfire Credit Union, 4Front Credit Union, CoVantage Credit Union, Credit Union of Colorado, and People Driven Credit Union, who continue to play a key role in shaping the platform’s growth and impact.
11. TIFIN
Cetera Financial Group (Cetera), the premier financial advisor Wealth Hub, has partnered with TIFIN AG Inc. (TIFIN AG) to provide Cetera advisors and financial institutions access to artificial intelligence (AI) tools designed to identify new growth opportunities and deliver actionable insights. The collaboration with TIFIN AG, a leading provider of AI-powered solutions that aim to drive organic growth, expands Cetera’s share-of-wallet tools and resources for Cetera advisors and financial institutions.
Through the partnership with TIFIN AG, Cetera advisors and financial institutions will have personalized AI-driven insights and support tailored to their specific growth goals, as well as the ability to unlock new opportunities for client portfolios.
TIFIN AG’s technology drives retention and organic growth for advisors and financial institutions by identifying growth opportunities, flagging at-risk clients and improving client conversion. These insights help financial professionals retain their existing client base and expand their share of investable assets, allowing them to better serve their clients, while driving net new assets.
12. TRUE
TRUE, the leader in lending intelligence, announced today calendar 2024 Growth of 66% in Annual Recurring Revenue over 2023, despite a challenging mortgage lending market. TRUE saw strong performance in all its mortgage segments – including origination, mortgage insurance, servicing, and secondary markets – driven by its industry-leading solutions for extracting document and loan intelligence with little to no human review required.
In 2024, TRUE also added generative AI technology to its industry leading solutions to achieve unprecedented levels of automation and introduced its Mortgage Operations Service (MOS), a set of interoperable, AI powered services that together provide lenders instant borrower intelligence for fast lending.
To continue building on its success in 2024, TRUE has strengthened its management team through the addition of multiple hires with deep enterprise level technology experience. Rob Brooks, formerly CTO, Mineraltree and VP Engineering and Operations at Global Payments, has joined TRUE as Chief Technology Officer. At Mineraltree and Global Payments (which acquired Mineraltree), Rob led the global development of the leading mid-market AP automation platform that provided high availability, full Cloud SaaS, and processed more than $50B in payables per year. Rob will be responsible for driving continued innovation for the MOS to enhance its capabilities, delivery options, and security profile, while achieving world class quality assurance.
13. Upstart
Pelican State Credit Union (Pelican), the largest state-chartered credit union in Louisiana serving over 50,000 members nationwide, has announced its partnership with Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST), the leading artificial intelligence (AI) lending marketplace, to offer personal loans to more consumers.
Pelican State Credit Union became an Upstart Referral Network lending partner in August 2024. With the Upstart Referral Network, qualified personal loan applicants on Upstart.com who meet Pelican’s credit policies will receive tailored offers as they seamlessly transition into a Pelican-branded experience to complete the online member application and closing process.
