There’s a billboard in Detroit promoting The Lip Bar, a business Melissa Butler launched 10 years ago: “Shark Tank told me to quit. 10 years and 2 million units sold. Thanks, Mr. Wonderful.” That moment on the show when “Mr. Wonderful,” whose real name is Kevin O’Leary, and other investors harshly rejected Butler’s products didn’t stop her because she knew the investors were not the customers she was targeting. She has previously told media that she knew her customer base and she was determined to press forward. The Lip Bar celebrated its 10th year of operation with
First National Bank has announced that it’s making a $2.5 million equity commitment to Black Tech Nation Ventures, a majority Black-owned VC fund based in Pittsburgh, which provides funding and resources for Black-led technology startups and firms with diverse founders. The investment is part of FNB’s broader commitment to promoting economic equality. Launched in 2021, the BTN venture fund is more than halfway to its initial $50 million fundraising goal. The VC intends to build a portfolio of 20 to 30 early-stage tech companies that have diverse founding teams and focus on
Labor leader and fired Amazon worker Chris Smalls, who recently revealed that workers at dozens of Amazon facilities have contacted him because they need support, said he was disheartened by Jeff Bezos’s inaction. On The Breakfast Club this morning, Smalls, who has garnered widespread support from celebrities and workers after he was let go by the firm, spoke about the conditions Amazon workers worked in during the Covid pandemic. He claimed that when he worked as a supervisor for the firm – his team didn’t have any PPE or cleaning
Timnit Gebru, a widely respected leader in AI ethics research, is known for co-authoring a groundbreaking paper that showed facial recognition to be less accurate at identifying women and people of color, which means its use can end up discriminating against them. Gebru, who recently founded her own firm, an independent artificial intelligence research institute, was awarded $3.7 million in funding after she was fired by Google. And now she’s been cited as a case study by Harvard Business School’s research team in a new paper that details her experiences being ‘silenced’ by
Nzambi Matee, a 30-year-old who quit her job in oil and gas to work on her passion full-time, has created a lightweight and low-cost building material that is made of recycled plastic with sand to make bricks that are stronger than concrete material. Every day her enterprise, Gjenge Makers, churns out 1,500 bricks made from industrial and household plastic that otherwise would be dumped in the city’s overflowing garbage heaps. In 2021, the team recycled 50 tonnes of plastic but Matee has ambitions to double that amount this year as
Back in April 2021, João Gualberto, the district mayor of Mata de São João, held an in-person auction letting Brazilian technology companies bid for a contract to supply facial recognition technology for the public school system. The $162,000 tender was won by PontoiD, and in July that year, two public schools — João Pereira Vasconcelos and Celia Goulart de Freitas — began secretly rolling out the facial recognition system, without informing parents or students in advance, according to research by Rest Of World. Students were registered on the system, which
It seems Meek Mill isn’t the only one that wants to tag team with Elon Musk in buying Twitter – Snoop Dogg has jumped on the scene and expressed his interest. Elon Musk is set to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share, which equates to approximately $44 billion, and last week we reported Meek Mill wanted a slice of the pie after the rapper tweeted: “Elon musk let us invest in Twitter with you “big homie” It doesn’t seem like Elon has responded to Meek yet but Snoop Dogg was
CarePoint, a Black-owned technology-driven healthcare startup that seeks to make healthcare accessible, has just raised a $10 million bridge round to accelerate its growth across Africa. How does it work? Patients are able to access care virtually through CarePoint’s MyCareMobile app, which links them to diverse services through teleconferencing, including consultations with their doctors, test results, and 24-hour emergency response. The funding round was led by TRB Advisors and brings the total funding raised by CarePoint to $30 million. It follows an $18 million Series A round announced in November last year.
Colourintech, working with Meta, found that Black students and professionals face many barriers when advancing in the tech industry. To try to understand the scope of the matter, the research team looked at 2,000 individuals in tech – asking questions about finding a job, getting hired, advancing, and being supported in their careers. More than 60% of Black professionals encounter barriers to entering the tech profession, the new figures unveiled as it shone a light on the hurdles still being faced in the industry. Saloni Shah, a student at Imperial
After opening a pop-up in Westfield London last year, Black Pound Day is now set to open a permanent store in the shopping center. Black Pound Day founder, Swiss of So Solid Crew, announced the opening of the permanent store on social media. “This is an absolute special one for us because we are proud to officially say, we have signed a permanent lease to trade at Westfield London, the biggest shopping center in Europe, and we couldn’t have done it without You!!!!” Swiss wrote. The launch of the pop-up
