Google has announced that 60 new startups would join their Black Founders Fund, specifically designed to help support Black founders in Africa. Since launching the program in 2021, Google has invested in 50 startups from nine African countries, creating over 500 jobs and raising over $87 million to help support underrepresented founders. The Black Founders Fund has invested $20 million in funding to help founders across the US, Europe, Africa, and Brazil. The latest cohort will receive up to $100,000 in capital, including access to the best of Google, people, products,
VC firm, Kapor Capital, announced that it officially raised $125 million in a pre-seed funding round. The new fund, the platform’s largest to date, has been backed by partners including Cambridge Associates, Align Impact, Ford Foundation, Bank of America, PayPal, and Twilio. The new funding, which has been ongoing since last year, was raised by the company’s managing partners, Uriridiakoghene “Ulili” Onovakpuri and Brian Dixon, as part of Kapor Capital’s new leadership. The Oakland-based venture capital firm founded in 2011 by Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor has actively worked to bridge
Yesterday, JusticeText announced they had closed a $2.2 million seed funding round. The funding round led by Bloomberg Beta, True Ventures, and Reid Hoffman included investors John Legend and Michael Tubbs. JusticeText, co-founded by Devshi Mehrotra and Leslie Jones-Dove in 2019, is a software platform that aims to help build more transparency around criminal proceedings. The idea to develop JusticeText stemmed from a class project both Jones-Dove and Mehrotra worked on during their time at university. After witnessing the death of Trayvon Martin, both founders felt their system would be a more proactive solution to solving
Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) is the first HBCU to embark on new research programs in partnership with NASA. WSSU’s Astrobotany Lab has signed a four-year agreement with NASA to research food development with a team of aspiring scientists. The lab which is filled with all the materials needed to grow plants, fruits, and vegetables, uses synthetic dirt to figure out how to grow food in Mars. The program is led by Professor Dr. Rafael Loueiro leads and aims to allow students to see the fascinating world of plants as well as the study
Black-owned tech platform, Colorintech, has officially announced that one of Europe’s biggest festivals is back for the third time. Colorintech, co-founded in 2016 by Dion McKenzie, Ashleigh Ainsley, and Vladimira Mesko Briestenska, was launched to help close the racial wealth gap by making the tech industry more inclusive. The platform’s overall mission is to make Europe the most inclusive tech hub in the world – which is why the launch of its new festival couldn’t have come at a better time. This year’s Black Tech Fest, which is the third event hosted by Colorintech,
According to Forbes, Tech accelerator program, Y Combinator, has chosen venture capitalist Garry Tan as its fourth leader in its 17-year history. In January, the Y Combinator alum is set to replace the current president, Geoff Ralston, who served in this position since 2011. As a part of his new role, Tan is expected to step down from his role at Initalized Capital, an early stage venture capital firm he founded alongside Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian in 2012. “This is a community where people’s dreams, more or less, are fulfilled
“My success as a Community Manager requires a certain level of autonomy, and that can be scary for brands,” says Mercedes in an interview with Forbes. Streaming service Tidal was founded by Jay-Z in 2014 who has managed to build an online audience and platform that profoundly resonates with its target audience. Melanie Mercedes has been one of the most significant forces behind developing TIDAL’s social strategy and building a solid worldwide online audience. Over the past two years, Mercedes has been actively growing the streaming services’ online presence. TIDAL has raised
Two years ago, Kautilya Katariya broke records by becoming the world’s youngest qualified computer programmer. Now the eight-year-old has added another accomplishment to his growing list, after achieving the highest grade possible on his national math exam. The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exam is the main qualification taken by 14- to 16-year-olds across the UK. However, after teachers at Wootton Park School in the UK assessed his ability in the subject, Kautilya was allowed to study for and sit the exam almost eight years early. Kautilya achieved a
Clark Atlanta University has received nearly $10 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help more underrepresented people get data science credentials. The extra funding, which aims to help diversify the data science sector, is the first time any HBCU has received nearly $10 million from an NSF initiative. NSF’s donation marks a new era for HBCUs and equally marks their commitment to providing more Black people with the chance to succeed. A recent NSF report has revealed only 5.56% of computer/information scientists in 2019 were Black or African American. Additionally,
Guetto Institute, a Rio de Janeiro-based non-profit organization is enabling access to cutting-edge technology and a brighter future for Black Brazilians while tackling systemic racism. It’s focused on equipping its target audiences with skills for the new economy and fostering black entrepreneurship. How did the organization begin? It started from a Facebook group created in 2016 by sociologist Vítor Del Rey. At the time, Del Rey was studying at the prestigious business school Fundação Getúlio Vargas with a scholarship provided by Educafro, an organization focused on education inclusion for black
