News

Tesla unveils 15.4 kW home solar system

Electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla has unveiled a 15.4 kW solar system suitable for 4,000 plus sqft and above homes as part of its attempt to revamp the solar business.

It's suitable for homes that were paying $340-460 per month for electricity, the MSPower User reported on Friday.

Earlier in September, the EV maker had launched simplified solar power offerings that were easier to install at homes.

More recently, Tesla launched a solar rental service under which homeowners can get a solar panel system for just $50 per month, according to the Electrek.

The company has been making pricing simpler, more transparent, and have been pushing the energy products more actively.

/Source: Energyworld.com/

World losing climate race, warns UN chief Guterres, calls for shift to low carbon economy

The world is losing the race against climate change, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned here on Thursday, demanding bolder action from the governments and a shift to a low-carbon economy which he said represented a whopping USD 26 trillion growth opportunity and could create 65 million new jobs by 2030. Speaking at the annual UN climate meeting in Madrid, Guterres cautioned the 197 nations attending the event that by the end of the century, temperature may rise by 3 to 4 degrees celsius.

He cited a study showing that shifting to a low-carbon economy could create 65 million new jobs worldwide by 2030 and boost growth by USD 26 trillion dollars.

"We are losing the climate race. On our current trajectory, we are looking at a 3 to 4-degree temperature rise by the end of the century. But we can choose another path. This path is about people's jobs, health, education, opportunities, ...

Volkswagen Parent Acquires Stake in Self-Driving Startup

Porsche Automobil Holding SE has acquired a minority stake in Silicon Valley self-driving sensor startup Aeva Inc., the latest in a flurry of moves by the auto manufacturing holding company in the autonomous driving sector this year.

As part of the equity deal, Porsche SE, which houses auto makers such as Volkswagen AG, Porsche AG and Audi AG, will partner with Aeva in hopes of putting its lidar sensors on Volkswagen ID Buzz buses to create autonomous taxis, according to Aeva co-founder and Chief Executive Soroush Salehian.

/Source: USF/

Zerion raises $2M from investors including Placeholder to build 'Coinbase for DeFi'

DeFi startup Zerion has secured $2 million in seed funding from Placeholder, Blockchain.com Ventures, and Gnosis.

Founded in 2018, Zerion has created a platform for non-technical crypto users to easily access and manage assets on popular decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols including MakerDao, Compound, Uniswap, Set, and Fulcrum. Users can connect as many crypto wallets as they want to the company’s platform, Zerion CEO and co-founder Evgeny Yurtaev told The Block. Non-custodial in nature, the platform mitigates centralization risks and allows users to control their own funds.

According to a company statement, DeFi has begun to cover all areas of the financial sector, from credit creation to insurance to asset management, presenting superior investment options for users.

Zerion hopes to build a future of permissionless finance where users do not have to rely on any platform. The company is not looking to build its own DeFi protocols, according to Yurtaev, but aims to integrate ...

SK Group, Hillhouse Capital to form $850 mn fund to invest in Chinese start-ups

K Group will set up a 1 trillion won ($850 million) fund with China’s private equity firm Hillhouse Capital Group to invest in Chinese start-ups which are expected to create synergy effects for the energy-to-telecom giant’s new and existing businesses.

Hillhouse Capital will ante up 900 billion won for the fund while the South Korean conglomerate’s Chinese holding company, SK China, will contribute the remaining 100 billion won, according to sources with knowledge of the matter on Dec. 1.

“The partnership with Hillhouse, which owns China’s largest private equity firm and venture capital firm, will give SK Group a strong foothold in China’s investment market,” said one of the sources.

/Source: Korean Investors/

Tray.io startup automating business processes raised $ 50 million

Tray.io — a company that built a General Automation Platform which enables citizen automators in any business role to build enterprise-class integrations and automation in a low-code environment — announced that it raised $50 million in Series C funding. This funding round was led by Meritech Capital. Spark Capital, GGV Capital, and True Ventures also participated in the round over their pro rata amounts.

“This is a clear confirmation that the automated organization is the future of work for the enterprise. Over time, we’re seeing successful firms drive impressive growth by shifting from a scattershot, ad hoc technology mindset to building an automated central nervous system,” said Tray.io CEO and co-founder Rich Waldron. 

In the past year, Tray.io saw record-breaking revenue growth as its bookings grew by over 500% — which beat quarterly sales targets two years straight. 

There are over 300 new connectors , connector updates, and product enhancements, including to SAP ...

Charles Schwab To Buy TD Ameritrade, Creating Brokerage Behemoth

Two of the country's largest brokerage firms will become one, with Charles Schwab Corp.'s announcement that it is acquiring rival TD Ameritrade. Together, the firms will hold more than $5 trillion in client assets and 24 million brokerage accounts.

The deal is an all-stock transaction valued at $26 billion, and it marks a major indication of the changes rippling through the financial services market as fees drop to zero. Schwab announced last month that it would eliminate commissions on online trades of U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds, leading other major brokerages to do the same.

The merger of the two companies, which are among NPR's financial supporters, may herald further consolidation in the industry and will likely attract antitrust scrutiny. Schwab already is thought to control nearly half the market for money managed by registered investment advisers, and TD Ameritrade holds a further 15% to 20%, according to analyst Kyle Voigt at ...

Exxon to Sell USD 25 Billion of Assets to Focus on Mega-Projects

ExxonMobil is set to sell up to USD 25 billion of oil and gas fields in Europe, Asia and Africa. The move, Exxon’s biggest asset sales for decades, is aimed at collecting sufficient investment to focus entirely on a few mega-projects.

The sell-off would be a marked acceleration of the U.S. oil major’s previous divestment plans. It would represent an ambitious attempt by Chief Executive Darren Woods. Many of its competitors have already sold billions of dollars-worth of assets following the market crash back in 2014.

Exxon’s shares have underperformed its major rivals’ in recent years. The disposals would help the company increase spending on new developments and appease investors unhappy with weak cash generation and oil output, which flatlined under Woods’ predecessor Rex Tillerson.

In recent months, the Texas-based company has drawn up an extensive list of assets that it wants to divest, spanning at least 11 countries, the sources said.

The list, ...

Electric-Car Maker Xpeng Raises $400 Million From Xiaomi

Chinese electric-car maker Xpeng Motors Technology Ltd. has raised $400 million from investors including technology company Xiaomi Corp., as it seeks a spot among China’s more serious contenders in the market.

Private-equity firms and individual investors including founder He Xiaopeng also took part in the funding round, the company said Wednesday in a statement.

The startup said in June it has produced 10,000 units of its G3 sport utility vehicle, putting it in competition with local rivals such as NIO Inc. and global competitors including Tesla Inc. in the world’s biggest EV market.

Yet demand in China is sputtering, with EV sales falling for months since the government cut subsidies earlier this year. The slump has raised speculation among investors that only a small fraction of China’s aspiring electric-car makers will survive.

Xpeng is working with Xiaomi in developing technologies connecting smartphones with vehicles. Xpeng’s backers also include ecommerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

The ...

GOLDMAN SACHS buys shares of insurance group AXA

French insurance group AXA announced it sells 144 million shares in its US subsidiary AXA Equitable Holdings (EQH) to the investment company GOLDMAN SACHS which acted as the sole underwriter of a registered public offering of the AXA Group.

Under the deal, EQN will buy from GOLDMAN SACHS 24 million shares from the proposed 144 million shares. The purchase price of one share will be equal to the value per share which the underwriter paid AXA. The deal is 13 November 2019 after all the registration procedures.

"AXA S.A. the pricing of the sale of 144,000,000 shares of common stock of AXA Equitable Holdings, to Goldman Sachs, as the sole underwriter in a registered public offering of those shares. AXA sold the shares of common stock of EQH at a net price of USD 21.80 per share. The Offering is expected to close on November 13, 2019. As part of the Offering, ...