The Digital Law Company has applied to hold Meta Platforms in contempt of court after it did not provide data on individuals who posted harmful content about South African school children on WhatsApp. If Meta does not comply with the order to release the alleged perpetrators’ data, the law firm wants the judge to jail Thabo Makenete, Meta’s public policy head for Southern Africa. This came after the Digital Law Company received an urgent court order, urging Meta to remove explicit content and share identifying details, such as names, emails,
Recognize Partners, a New York-based investor in new digital companies, has closed its second fund, Recognize II, with over $1.7 billion in total commitments. The second fund was oversubscribed and closed less than five months after its launch. It included support from existing and new investors. The LP base includes leading global institutions such as endowments, foundations, pensions, insurers, family offices, outsourced CIOs, and fund-of-funds across the US., Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Who are Recognize Partners? The New York-based investor supports innovative founders and management teams utilizing AI, software, and
Velveteen Ventures, a Midwest-based firm founded by Native American entrepreneur Betsy Fore, is one of the few US venture firms led by a Native American woman. As reported by TechCrunch, its institutionally backed first fund plans to invest $500,000 to $4 million in 15 to 20 seed and Series A startups focused on e-healthcare, climate, consumer, and community. Lack of Native American female founders The number of native American founders in the US is extremely low. TechCrunch attempted to find funding statistics for Native American founders, but the figures were
Fantasy sports and gaming platform, Fantasy Life, has secured $7 million in a new round, which included investors like LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Gerry Cardinale, John Legend, and Fortnite co-creator and former Epic Games C-suiter Donald Mustard, as reported by Variety. The investment will help expand Fantasy Life’s platform to a more customizable app and mobile experiences for players. It will also help the platform complete its acquisition of a rival company, Guillotine Leagues. The venture was created in 2024 by veteran fantasy sports entrepreneur Paul Charchian through his Heavy Blade
Marc Andreessen, founder of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), said universities will “pay the price” for promoting diversity and allegedly discriminating against supporters of President Donald Trump. The comments come from leaked messages to a WhatsApp group used by White House officials and technology leaders, according to screenshots of the chatfrom May and June reviewed by The Washington Post. Andreessen criticizes universities The investor criticized Stanford and MIT, sending out a rapid-fire series of messages, according to screenshots and two members of the chat, who spoke to
Nigerian open banking startup Okra will return three years of runway to investors, as reported by Techpoint. The company was founded in 2019 to build APIs helping people securely access their bank accounts from third-party apps. However, the company shut down following the departure of its CEO, Fara Ashiru. Okra still had three years of runway before it would return to its investors. Ashiru did not disclose the amount that would be returned, and Okra has not provided the exact amount that would be returned to investors; however, Techpoint estimated
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved two T-Mobile deals after the company rolled back its DEI efforts following pressure from the Trump administration. T-Mobile was permitted to purchase nearly all of regional carrier United States Cellular’s wireless operations, including customers, stores, and 30% of its spectrum assets, in a deal valued at $4.4 billion, according to Reuters. T-Mobile was also granted permission to acquire internet service provider Metronet, which serves over 2 million homes and businesses in 17 states. The FCC approves two T-Mobile deals In a letter
Don Lemon’s lawsuit against Elon Musk and his social network X over the cancellation of their partnership can proceed to trial, a San Francisco judge ruled this week. CNBC reported that Musk’s team had attempted to transfer the case to a Texas court and sought to persuade the judge to dismiss the complaint altogether. Judge Harold Kahn said in an order on Tuesday that Lemon and his attorneys plausibly alleged, along with other claims, that X and Musk had committed “fraud by false promise” and that there was “an implied contract” between the two. Don
The Defense Department has announced that it will be deploying Grok in its operations, a week after it sent out antisemitic tweets. The xAI announcement was accompanied by the launch of Grok for Government, a suite that enables agencies and federal offices to utilize its chatbots for their specific purposes. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has pushed for faster adoption of artificial intelligence tools. The Defense Department using Grok On Monday, xAI shared that its products will be “available to purchase via the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule,” meaning
The British Business Bank (BBB), the UK Government’s economic development bank, has announced a new £500 million ($674 million) economic package to back diverse and emerging fund managers. The initiative aims to address the significant gap in venture capital investment for underrepresented founders and investors, which is often attributed to industry biases, closed networks, and limited diversity among investors. Investing in women-led funds Investing in female and ethnic minority-led businesses could add 13% to the value of the UK equity market, according to the 2025 The Investing in Women Code report. Additionally,
