Commercial real estate business owner and broker Dustin Sutton is creating a technology to benefit golfers. Sutton’s vision is to create augmented reality (AR) — enhanced smart glasses — designed and tailored for golfers through his company, RangEZ, Inc. According to the San Diego Business Journal, Sutton said the company, which is less than a year old, aims to launch its first product by the end of 2024. “Over the past seven months, this journey has transformed from a mere idea into a tangible pursuit,” he said. RangEZ Smart Glasses RangEZ smart glasses
Alinea Invest has received $3.4 million in seed funding just in time for the launch of their virtual AI assistant to help users with their investing needs. Alinea Invest After interning at Goldman Sachs, Eve Halimi and Anam Lakhani, co-founders of Alinea, realized the need for a female-focused investing app to guide women in making investments and managing their wealth. “The pain point we saw is that people like us who are young women, Gen Zs, children of immigrants, they have no idea where to start,” Lakhani told TechCrunch. “Financial literacy is a massive pain
Echo360 has announced its annual grants program that now features new award opportunities for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Echo360 is the most comprehensive, global, SaaS-based video platform for creating, delivering, and measuring learning engagement outcomes in any learning environment. The 2024 Echo360 e3 Tech Grants Program The 2024 program will award 20 recipients cash or software grants ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 in two grant categories: EchoImpact Grants and EchoInnovation Grants. EchoImpact Grants support instructors and researchers using Echo360 solutions to improve learner outcomes empirically. Conversely, the EchoInnovation Grants
Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times laid off more than 115 journalists, more than 20% of its newsroom. Several journalists of color have been affected by the cuts, which the Los Angeles Times Guild says the company could have prevented. LA Times Layoffs “The company has reneged on its promises to diversify its ranks since young journalists of color have been disproportionately affected,” said the Los Angeles Times Guild in a statement. “The Black, AAPI, and Latino Caucuses have suffered devastating losses. Voluntary buyouts could have helped prevent this, but that’s not
Tech Nation has revealed the startups selected for the 2024 cohort of their Libra program, which aims to champion underrepresented founders. Based in the UK, Tech Nation is the leading growth platform for tech insights, connections, collaboration, and talent. It empowers ambitious founders and their teams with the access and knowledge they need from their seed stage to their end goal. Over the past decade, Tech Nation has engaged with over 5,000 businesses and accelerated 1,250 through 48 growth programs. The Libra Program Libra is the growth program for underrepresented tech founders
Sage, The BOSS Network, and Swoop have unveiled a new training and mentorship program to support Black women entrepreneurs in Atlanta. Sage is a small and medium-sized business accounting, financial, HR, and payroll technology leader. The BOSS Network, founded by Dr. Cameka Smith, is an online community of professional and entrepreneurial women who support each other through conversations or online and event-based networking. Swoop is a global fintech company specializing in funding solutions for businesses, and together, the three have created the Pathways to Success program. Challenges Black Women Founders Face The program was
Uber has hired Snaps Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Oona King as their new Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. Meet Oona King Oona King is a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) executive with over twenty years of experience. King has made her mark in several companies, including the Chief Diversity Officer at Channel 4 for over seven years, Global Director of Diverse Marketing at YouTube, and Director of Diversity Strategy at Google. She also became the second Black woman elected to the British Parliament in 1997 and was an advisor
Heex Technologies has completed a seed round of €6 million ($6.5M) to support those in tech to exploit AI’s formidable capabilities while reducing its carbon footprint. Heex Technologies Heex Technologies is a startup that accelerates AI development by enabling engineering teams to extract the most value from their data. Heex provides customers with a platform that allows them to target relevant data and share it with the right users for purposes such as supervision, system monitoring, or continuous software improvement. Founded in 2019, the startup initially focused on autonomous vehicles. However, new
Latimer Ventures has announced plans for a mini-accelerator, Latimer House, for Black and Latinx founders to strengthen businesses, attract investment, and build a network. In honor of Lewis Latimer, Luke Cooper founded Latimer Ventures in 2022. The venture capital firm is focused on helping the next generation of Black and Hispanic enterprise SaaS unicorns. Latimer House Latimer House is an 8-week intensive program for Black and Latinx founders, aiming to help them get to their next growth stage, whether that’s funding or their first enterprise customer. The program also aims to help founders gain
The ALIVE Podcast Network has partnered with Barometer to revolutionize monetization opportunities for Black creators and media owners. The ALIVE Podcast Network is the first Black woman-owned podcast network to develop proprietary technology to amplify Black voices while ensuring creators retain ownership of their content. Barometer is an AI-powered platform for contextual targeting and brand suitability in audio advertising. Stereotypes About Black Content Brand suitability and safety technologies have been known to play an essential role in safeguarding advertisers. However, they have long been associated with disproportionately impacting creators from diverse backgrounds. For example,












