Google is taking applications for its seventh ‘Google for Startups’ accelerator program. Applications for the three-month virtual accelerator program are now open to technology startups located in Algeria, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The accelerator program launched in 2017 is designed to help Startups scale their solutions across the continent. Successful applicants from Seeds to Series A will gain access to free support alongside Google’s networks, advanced technology, experts, and mentors through virtual boot camps every
Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Opal Tometi has urged the tech sector to take robust action against perpetuating racism in systems such as facial recognition. “A lot of the algorithms, a lot of the data is racist,” U.S. activist Tometi, who co-founded BLM in 2013, told Reuters on the sidelines of Lisbon’s Web Summit. “We need tech to truly understand every way it (racism) shows up in the technologies they are developing,” she said. Her comments come just a day after Facebook announced it was shutting down its facial recognition
Inspired by cinema, music video experiences, and interactive gaming, Cycmode is a boutique fitness studio offering multiple fitness offerings under one roof — indoor cycling, strength training, and yoga. The VR and in-studio space was launched in January by Tasha White. The first-floor indoor cycling studio features 35 bikes and a wall-to-wall massive 60-foot-wide curved video screen set in a cycling theatre. Workouts such as THE TRIP™ give riders the sensation of climbing and sprinting through digitally-created worlds paired with indoor cycling bikes that mimic an actual cycle, allowing riders to lean, turn
The technology industry’s academic and professional spaces have a long reputation of exclusivity and discrimination that has led to an industry that is predominantly all white and male – but some people are working hard to change this picture. POCIT sat down with Rose Robinson, Executive Director of Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT), for an in-depth conversation on the barriers facing people of color with disabilities in tech. Robinson has more than 25 years under her belt. Her role at CMD-IT means she can use
Black-Owned Chicago AI Startup Lands $100K In Latest ‘Northwestern Mutual Black Founder’ Accelerator
A Chicago startup that uses AI to help people better leverage their professional network is part of the newest cohort of startups selected as part of the Northwestern Mutual’s Black Founder Accelerator program. 4Degrees, led by CEO Ablorde Ashigbi and CTO David Vandegrift, will receive a $100,000 investment as part of the 12-week program. It will also work alongside Northwestern Mutual and its accelerator partner gener8tor to help grow its business. The company, launched by Ashigbi and Vandegrift, two former investors at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, back in 2017 was
Electric vehicle startup BasiGo has today announced the launch of its operations in Nairobi, and the buses will come in 25 and 36-seater capacities, with a range of about 250 kilometers. The startup plans to sell locally assembled electric buses using parts from China’s EV maker BYD Automotive; the company said while announcing it had raised $1 million in pre-seed funding. It is also planning to enter other markets within the East Africa region after establishing ground in Kenya. BasiGo is backed by several investors, including Climate Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital
Facebook is planning to shut down its face-recognition system and delete faceprints of more than 1 billion people. At the present moment – more than a third of Facebook’s daily active users have opted to have their faces recognized by the social network’s system. That’s about 640 million people. But according to AP – it recently began scaling back its use of facial recognition after introducing it more than a decade ago. The move comes years after organizations and people of color complained about how problematic AI and facial recognition
An African cross-border payments company has raised $150 million in a Series C extension round led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX. Chipper Cash, founded in 2018 by Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled, is a no-fee peer-to-peer cross-border payment service in Africa. Users can accept payments in Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, and Kenya through their app. Chipper Cash‘s investment comes barely six months after it closed its first Series C round of $100 million, led by SVB Capital, the corporate venture capital arm of SVB Financial Group. Deciens Capital, Ribbit Capital, Bezos
The banking institution has pledged $10 million to one of the leading private liberal arts Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the South. According to a press release, the funds are a part of Bank of America’s Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative in the Charlotte, NC region. It includes a $1.25 billion five-year commitment to create more economic opportunities and push racial equality within local communities. In an official statement, Kieth Cockrell, President of Bank of America Charlotte, said: “Our long-term relationship with JCSU has set the foundation for this critical moment – a
Twiga Foods has raised $50M in its Series C round to take its mission to expand food and retail distribution across the African continent. The firm, which launched in 2014, uses technology to build supply chains in food and retail distribution. It claims to simplify the supply chain between fresh food producers, FMCG manufacturers, and retailers through a B2B e-commerce platform and it currently has over 100,000 registered customers and delivers to 10,000 every day. Twiga now plans to use the funding to test out a model they’re developing “to reduce the
