Global Tech Advocates Black Women In Tech has launched their first ever Voices In The Shadows festival, which will take place in London, UK this October. The festival has been sponsored by industry giants including Google, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, Discovery+, and more. Inspired by The Voices in The Shadow books, which was first published last year, the program will showcase the journeys of 51 Black women in the UK who have impacted the tech industry. The event aims to provide all attendees with an intimate setting to help them connect
Timbaland and Swizz Beatz’ relationship with short-form music video app Triller has taken a turn for the worst. According to reports, the pair have decided to sue Triller after alleging they refused to pay them $28 million after acquiring Verzuz, a rap-battle show they founded during the first peak of the pandemic. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Timbaland and Swizz Beats entered a settlement and signed a payment agreement with the platform. The deal meant Triller was supposed to pay the pair $9 million each and $500,000 on the first of
Incredible Health, an award-winning job-matching platform for nurses, has closed an $80 million Series B funding round. The latest funding round was led by Base10 Partners, including investors Andreessen Horowitz and Obvious Ventures. To date, the digital marketplace has hit a staggering $1.65 billion valuation, making its founder, Dr Iman Abuzeid, one of the very few Black female founders spearheading a unicorn company. Abuzeid founded the nurse-hiring startup in 2017 to act as the bridge between healthcare workers and industry hires, matching “the right nurse with the right role at
Is there anything the Grammy-award-winning musician can’t do? After releasing his fifth studio album, Kendrick Lamar is moving into new territory with billionaire investor Ray Dalio and comedian ExavierTV to discuss all things money as a part of Cash App’s ongoing “That’s Money” campaign. Popular finance app, CashApp, announced the launch of its new commercial on its YouTube channel. According to the clip, EXavier saved up money to open his franchise but lost it all due to gambling. Kendrick asks for Dalio’s opinion on the situation, and he explains exactly where he
SoLa Impact and Riot Games have partnered to launch the Tech & Entrepreneurship Center, which aims to help “inspire and develop the next generation of Black and Brown game developers.” The new center will be located in the heart of South Los Angeles and will provide accessible technology education to the South Los Angeles community. The initiative was made possible after the popular game developer app, Riot Games, donated $2.25 million to the SoLa I CAN Foundation. The additional funding went towards the design of the center, which will be free for all
Recording Academy co-president, Valeisha Butterfield Jones, has moved on from her role to join Google’s diversity team, where previously worked as the global head of inclusion. Butterfield Jones has been a part of the Academy for over two years and played a vital role in the organization’s leadership team as a chief diversity officer. She oversaw and managed the business culture, membership, awards, and people. After working alongside Google’s inclusion team, Butterfield Jones is expected to re-join the tech giant in October as VP of partnerships on the diversity team, according
Tech startup ImIn has further closed $1 million in seed funding to expand its employee scheduling app. Black-led venture capital firm Collab Capital led the funding round. ImIn, founded by Chime Solutions exec Lauren Wilson, is a staffing software platform aimed at helping the call center industry. After seven years of working at her father’s high-volume call center business, Wilson came up with the idea to launch her app after identifying the missed opportunities both companies faced because of a familiar yet widely accepted industry challenge: absenteeism. According to a 2017 US Department
Kimberly Bryant, the co-founder and former CEO of Black Girls CODE, has spoken up after officially being removed from her leadership position. Bryant founded Black Girls CODE in 2011 to introduce young girls of color to computer science and increase the number of women of color in the digital technology space. Today, the nonprofit is a household name with chapters across the US and other countries. However, Bryant reported waking up last December to discover that she could no longer access her work email. She soon received a letter informing
Black-owned digital app, ShearShare, has raised $2.3M in a seed funding round led by Fearless Fund. The round also included Level Up Ventures, New York Ventures, Gaingels, Chloe Capital, Portfolia, Pipline Angels, Bacon Family Trust, and ACV Auctions co-founder Jack Greco. The additional funding brings ShearShare’s total funding amount to $6.2M. Known to many as the “HairBnB,” ShearShare has created an easily accessible mobile app that provides licensed beauty and barbering professionals with flexible and affordable spaces to rent. In addition, entrepreneurs can use these spaces with no-term leases or commission fees.
The pre-seed fund, Visible Hands, has officially launched the second cohort of its “Visionaries Accelerator” program. The initiative, which aims to support overlooked and underrepresented founders, welcomed 51 new founders to its flagship program. The program, which will take place from September to December, will see each company work full-time towards building their business, with financial support from the Visible Hands team. Each founder will receive a starting investment of $25,000. Throughout the program, they will have the chance to earn additional assets of up to $150,000 as they progress.
