According to the annual VC Diversity Survey from Chicago:Blend, 2021 did see growth in both minorities and women working in venture capital, but the city is still behind national averages. The Chicago tech scene is one of the biggest contributors to Chicago’s economy and has helped develop tech startups scale and through the first three quarters of 2021 alone, Chicago tech raised over $5.5 billion, up from $2.8 billion in 2020. 2021 saw the most venture funding since they started tracking such statistics 15 years ago. And while they can be applauded
Rapper Nas has joined US private equity firm Andreessen Horowitz and Alphabet Inc.’s Google in an investment round for Africa-focused mobile gaming platform – Carry1st. Carry1st, a South African publisher of social games and interactive content across Africa, has raised $20 million Series A from the investors. The startup, launched by Cordel Robbin-Coker, Lucy Hoffman and Tinotenda Mundangepfupfu in 2018, also received investments from Avenir and the founders of Chipper Cash, Sky Mavis and Yield Guild Games, took part. It wants to use this additional capital to scale interactive content across Africa, build the workforce and acquire new users. The
QED Investors announced today that they have hired Gbenga Ajayi, who will focus on Africa investments as part of QED’s international team. Gbenga, who joins as a partner, is the company’s first hire focused on fintech investments in Africa. He spent his career working across fintech and Africa in a variety of roles from product development and growth to marketing and partnerships. Before joining QED, he was co-founder of Kanza Ventures, a boutique seed investment, and advisory firm focused on fintech in Africa. Before that, he was product director for
PAPS, a Senegal-based logistics, and delivery company fills this gap in its region by offering customers various logistics services. First launched by Bamba Lo in 2016 to provide end-to-end logistics solutions for businesses with offline and online operations – the company has gone from strength to strength in the last few years. On Wednesday – it announced a $4.5 million pre-Series A round to expand its tech-enabled logistics solution across the Francophone region. The round was co-led by pan-African venture capital firm 4DX Ventures and regional telecom operator Orange. Also participating in
Youtube is going back to its core roots. The video-streaming giant has announced that it will return to the real reason it was created in the first place — to serve as a home to creatives with a focus on user-generated content. While the platform has spent the past six or more years building a hub for original programming with the likes of Patricia Bright hosting their own ‘Youtube Original’ shows – this news reveals that they will scale back and put the funds back into programs that were built with
Speaking during his keynote speech at the Urban League of Hampton Roads’annual Martin Luther King, Jr. awards program on Monday singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams issued a call-to-action for businesses to pledge a more firm commitment to Black entrepreneurs. Although Williams applauded the “smart” companies that have already taken a stand and implanted different ways they can help founders of color, he didn’t hesitate to explain what more needs to be done. He said: “There’s much more work to be done to achieve anything that resembles equality, business — thank God businesses
Black Girls Breathing and BlackFem are among the dozens of Black-led startups receiving a new set of philanthropic grants from Goldman Sachs’ ‘One Million Black Women Initiative. Black Girls Breathing is focused on addressing systemic issues impacting Black women and girls’ access to health care by providing free and accessible mental health care resources. While BlackFem is set on transforming school-based learning so that girls of color have the skills, habits, and resources to build and sustain personal wealth. The news was revealed via a press release where Goldman Sachs’ ‘One Million
Black professionals in North America are set to get new opportunities to network and level up their careers this year after Black professionals in Tech Network (BPTN), the largest Black community of tech and business professionals, announced its new partnership with Ten Thousand Coffees. The collaboration is focused on enhancing mentoring, and executive networking opportunities for Black professionals to develop their careers. Each year, BPTN hosts the CULTIVATE Mentoring Program, which pairs 350 Black professionals, under 29 years old, with executives in the tech and business industries. This Program also allows for more
According to data from Crunchbase, just under 3% of venture capital funding in 2020 went to Black and Latino tech start-ups. That unequal playing field led to the creation of TechRise, a Chicago initiative to support and fund Black and Latino-owned tech companies. It was started by P33, a Chicago nonprofit supporting its city’s tech community. Through weekly pitch competitions, TechRise has awarded more than $900,000 to more than 40 Black and Latino-founded startups since launching in April 2021. In December, the organization held a finale event where some of the best of Chicago’s
Cynthia is an innovative scientist, an advocate for Black girls and women. Through her organization, Black Girls Do STEM, she has been able to help dozens of middle and high school students by exposing them to career pathways and empowering them to become STEM professionals. Black Girls Do STEM has impacted over 60 girls locally and worked across seven school districts, 13 community partners and secured three grant funders in two years. Unfortunately, being a Black woman in a majority white male industry comes with challenges. Speaking to Megha Mohan
