Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Tampa Bay Wave have come together to launch the city’s first-ever tech accelerator for Latin Americans. What is the LatinTech accelerator program? Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Tampa Bay Wave has secured funding to launch the city’s first-ever tech accelerator for Latin Americans. The program aims to provide minority-owned companies with the support they need to scale successfully and remove the barriers against them. “Since the launch of the new Chamber [in 2019], it was our goal to produce a Latin tech accelerator. We thank Congresswoman Kathy Castor for
Black founder-turned-investor Monique Woodard has announced the launch of Cake Ventures‘ new $17 million fund to help pre-seed and seed investments. Cake Ventures’ first fund After closing her first fund in March 2021, Woodard shifted her focus to create a fund that would help underrepresented founders often overlooked by Silicon Valley. The $17 million fund will focus on pre-seed and seed investments. Woodard’s focus is to help businesses drive demographic change within three main areas: aging and longevity-minded population, increased earning power of women in society, and the shift to
Another day, another AI revelation. DoNotPay, also known as the “world’s first robot lawyer,” will appear in court for the first time to help a defendant fight a speeding ticket. The robot’s AI system will represent a defendant by instructing them to respond to a criminal judge. According to reports, the lawyer is set to take on two speeding ticket cases in court next month – one in person and another via Zoom. “The law is almost like code and language combined, so it’s the perfect use case for AI,”
Content moderation on social media has taken a turn for the worse. Meta has announced that their leading subcontractor for content moderation in Africa, Sama, has officially closed. The third-party contractor, contracted by the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, has decided to move away from policing harmful content, resulting in several employees without work permits. Following the announcement, 200 employees from the moderation hub in Kenya – representing approximately 3% of the team – will be let go. The news announced on Tuesday, comes months after Meta was sued in East
Who said braids weren’t professional? Fionnghuala “Fig” O’Reilly is committed to redefining what is deemed “acceptable” in the workplace. The pioneering engineer sparked the attention of hundreds of Twitter users after a photo of herself rocking feed-in braids in the lab went viral. After becoming the first Black woman to represent Ireland in the Miss Universe competition and becoming the only Black woman in her class to graduate with a systems engineering, O’Reilly is used to beating the odds. The engineer, who has spent her whole life navigating her dual
Governor Kathy Hochul has announced a $30 million pre-seed and seed matching fund program to help early-stage startup companies. The funding for the program will come from the State Small Business Credit Initiative to provide extra support to small businesses owned by historically marginalized individuals, including Black and brown entrepreneurs and traditionally disadvantaged individuals. The initiative, part of New York’s $500 million federal investment, aims to help small businesses recover from the pandemic and rebuild local economies. As a part of the program, Governor Hochul will offer early-stage startup companies
New data has revealed that there has been an uptick in the amount of capital funding Black founders in the U.S. raised in Q4 of 2022. Although this shows that the tide may finally be turning, founders have yet to receive adequate funding to scale their businesses successfully. According to Crunchbase, Black startup founders raised around $264 million out of the $33.6 billion allocated in Q4 of 2022. This may seem small, but a slight increase from the $178 million raised from July to September 2022. What did last year
The Hispanic Technology Executive Council (HITEC) and the Illinois Institute of Technology have come together to support the growth of Hispanic tech talent by opening the door to educational opportunities and scholarships within technology and business. HITEC Foundation scholars and HITEC corporate Emerging Executive Program graduates looking to pursue an MBA or Master of Science degree from the Illinois Tech Stuart School of Business will be considered for scholarships worth up to $2 million. Everything you need to know about HITEC and the Illinois Tech HTEC is a global executive
Now more than ever, Black VCs deserve to be celebrated – which is why RISE InVC couldn’t have come at a better time. Hosted by Included VC, RISE InVC will take place from January 17 to 19 and will be the first-ever global gathering designed to spotlight and celebrate the work Black VCs have been doing over the years. Venture capitalists from South Africa, Singapore, Australia, France, and the UK will come for three days to meet, connect, and inspire one another. Across the days, Rise InVC will hold a
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is the biggest federal climate deal in history and is great news for Black-owned carbon transformation startup Twelve. According to reports, the IRA contains $500 billion in funding to boost clean energy, reduce healthcare costs, and increase tax revenues. The Act follows negotiations on President Biden’s Build Back Better Act and is welcome news for climate startups like Twelve. “The Inflation Reduction Act, that’s been really amazing. We’re so excited about that,” said Twelve co-founder Ethosa Cave in an interview. “There’s so many provisions in there:
