Tech company Yango Group has launched Yango Venture, a corporate venture intended to support hopeful startups across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, as stated by Gulf Business. The fund will target Series B investments in the online-to-offline (O2O), B2B software-as-a-service, and financial technology industries. Yango Group also hopes to grow its capital base as entrepreneurial environments expand in these promising markets. “With Yango Ventures, we are leveraging our expertise and network to support startups in scaling, thriving, and creating meaningful impact in their
Adeniyi Abiodun, co-founder and CPO at Mysten Labs, announced that he and his wife, Gloria, are launching a $1.3 million endowment fund to help upskill aspiring tech talent in Nigeria. “It’s a milestone we’ve dreamed of, and now it’s real,” he wrote on X. “By 2040, Africa is set to have half the world’s working-age population. To really unleash that power, young people need access to quality training and opportunities, especially in fast-growing fields like AI and blockchain,” he adds. Helping young Nigerians upskill Nigeria is currently experiencing a shortage
Over 400 Hollywood creatives, including actors and directors, have signed an open letter calling for the government not to scale back on copyright laws related to artificial intelligence. Variety reported that the list included names such as Ava Duvernay, Janelle Monáe, Michaela Coel, Ben Stiller, Mark Ruffalo, and hundreds of others. “We firmly believe that America’s global AI leadership must not come at the expense of our essential creative industries,” they said in the letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy last week. Why are Hollywood
The Nigerian parliament recently passed a resolution banning pornographic websites with immediate effect. The decision follows a motion presented by lawmaker Dalhatu Tafoki, who raised concerns about the accessibility of explicit content and its perceived impact on societal values, particularly among youth. Concerns over moral decline According to Peoples Gazette, Tafoki highlighted the psychological and social risks he believes are linked to exposure to pornography, citing global research by psychologists and sociologists. “Renowned psychologists and sociologists worldwide have issued strong warnings about the psychological, sociological, and mental consequences of consuming pornographic content,”
Elon Musk’s Starlink is facing significant backlash in Lesotho over local equity. A rights group called Section 2 wants Starlink to give 30% of its ownership to Basotho citizens before obtaining a license to operate, according to TechPoint. The group voiced its concerns to the Lesotho Communications Authority, stating that the licensing deal is unfair since there is no local ownership. They also highlighted that other telecom providers in Lesotho, like Econet and Vodacom, have local shareholders, so why should Starlink receive special treatment? Starlink faces similar issues in South
Create Labs Ventures is collaborating with TONL, a Black-owned stock photography company, to launch the first-ever AI-powered image-generator exclusively trained to create a Black-owned stock photo library, Femi Magazine reports. This partnership aims to tackle biases in AI image generation, where models trained on white-dominated datasets often produce inaccurate or offensive depictions of Black, Brown, and other marginalized communities. communities. By leveraging TONL’s diverse collection, it aims to create more authentic, representative images. Black Representation in Stock Photography TONL was founded by Nigerian-American social entrepreneur Karen Okonkwo and Ghanaian-American Joshua
Cheersy, a digital platform connecting engaged couples with quality day-of wedding coordinators, secured $550,000 in a pre-seed financing round led by Kerry Washington. Other angel investors and advisors include Jennifer Gilbert, Founder of Save the Date®, Elizabeth Cutler, Co-Founder of SoulCycle and Peoplehood, and Christina Tosi, Chef and founder of Milk Bar. A digital wedding marketplace for couples Cheersy Founder and CEO Amy Shack Egan founded Modern Rebel, a NYC-based full-service wedding planning business. After it received strong demand, she wanted to build a digital marketplace where couples could experience the unique wedding
Latine workers in California are at high risk of losing their jobs due to growing automation, the use of technology to perform repetitive tasks without human involvement. According to a new report by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Latine workers are overrepresented in occupations most vulnerable to automation, such as agricultural laborers, construction laborers, landscaping workers and cooks. “Latino workers face significant challenges as their job responsibilities become more technical and analytical,” the report states. “Digital literacy and skills are low among Latino workers, and many
In 2024, US startups with Black founders received just 0.4% of total funding, the lowest share in recent years and down more than two-thirds from just three years ago. According to Crunchbase data, overall startup funding increased to $314 billion last year, but only $730 million went to Black founders. Which Black startups received the most funding last year? Twelve picked up a $200 million Series C in September, led by Capricorn Investment Group, Pulse Fund, and TPG. The startup converts carbon dioxide into jet fuel and other practical products. The company also
Rocket scientist Aisha Bowe will bring plant samples from Winston-Salem State University to the first Blue Origin all-female mission to space in the spring. Odyssey, WSSU’s space science and operations firm, will launch an innovative suborbital space experiment aboard Blue Origin’s All-Female Mission, NS-31, according to a press release. This is the HBCU’s first suborbital spaceflight experiment for the WSSU’s Astrobotany research program, which is part of the Department of Biological Sciences. Experiment for the Future of Space Agriculture and Food Security Students will analyze crop plants’ early molecular stress
