Equator, an Africa-focused venture capital firm, secured $55 million for its first fund to support climate tech startups, particularly in their early stages, as reported by TechCrunch. Africa has less than 3% of global energy-related CO2 emissions but suffers from some of the worst climate impacts. Equator seeks to address that, saying it invests in deals “addressing economic and sustainability challenges emerging from these impacts.” Funding African climate tech startups In African countries, climate tech startups have to navigate a difficult funding landscape compared to their peers in more developed
LOréal USA has announced the sale of Carol’s Daughter to its founder and new President Lisa Price and finance veteran Joe Wong, initially only referred to by L’Oréal as an unnamed independent beauty entrepreneuer. Wong has several former L’Oréal brands under his belt, including Ambi Skincare, AcneFree, Baxter of California, and Dermablend. L’Oréal USA selling Carol’s Daughter This new move highlights L’Oréal’s belief in Price’s leadership and the new partner’s ability to honor the brand’s heritage, values, and commitment to its loyal customers. “At the heart of this legacy is
FanUp, a hub for Gen Z and female sports fans, has announced an exclusive strategic financing round with Tru Skye Ventures and 9.58 Ventures. Tru Skye Ventures, the $100 million sports tech fund co-founded by NBA Champion Metta World Peace and former Boost Mobile CEO Stephen Stokols, teamed up with 9.58 Ventures, a high-grade set of investors and trendsetters promoting groundbreaking technological innovation across society. Traditional sports betting currently only serves less than 9% of American fans. FanUp engages a more expansive and expanding audience through a creative, free-to-play model that provides users
Dr. Bernard Harris, the first African American to walk in space, will be inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame on May 31 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Astronaut Hall of Fame The Mercury 7 astronauts (the first astronauts selected by NASA) created the Hall of Fame to celebrate and highlight astronauts’ accomplishments. Harris is one of two 2025 inductees, the other being Peggy Whitson. “What a tremendous honor to induct them into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame at Kennedy Space Center
Anthropic has deleted commitments made during the Biden administration in 2023 to encourage safe and “trustworthy” AI, from its website according to The Midas Project. However, Jack Clark, co-founder of Anthropic, has since stated that the company still intends to honor its voluntary commitments. Biden-Era AI Policy Commitments In July of 2023, Anthropic and other companies like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Meta agreed to comply with specific voluntary AI safety commitments suggested by the Biden administration. The initiatives included internal and external security tests of AI systems before release, investing
Over 100,000 people have pledged to boycott Target for 40 days in protest of the company’s rollback of DEI initiatives. The boycott, which began on Wednesday, March 4, was organized by Pastor Jamal Bryant. According to The Washington Post, the movement spans cities including Atlanta, Houston, Jacksonville, Florida, and Alexandria, Virginia. The “Target Fast” occurs simultaneously as Lent, when some Christians commit to fasting and will be the latest boycott against one of the biggest retail companies in the US. Why are people boycotting Target? In January, Target announced that
Zeal Capital Partners has announced that Stefanie Thomas-Martin has been promoted to Partner. Since joining the company in 2023, Thomas-Martin has led the Barclays Black Formation Investment (BBFI) vehicle, a $50 million pre-seed investment platform that supports Zeal Capital’s Inclusive Investing™ strategy. She also pioneered the firm’s inaugural scout program. On the Zeal Capital website, Thomas-Martin says she joined the team to “continue backing exceptional teams with a mission orientation towards delivering value for underserved communities.” Stefanie Thomas-Martin makes partner “Stefanie has consistently demonstrated a commitment to our mission and
TikTok is profiting from young women and teenagers as young as 15 performing sexual livestreams, the BBC has been told. Three women in Kenya shared they started these activities as teenagers, using TikTok to publicize their business and negotiate payment for more risqué content sent on other messaging platforms. The app takes a cut of roughly 70% from all livestream transactions, according to a previous report by the BBC. Though TikTok forbids solicitation, moderators stated they are aware that it occurs on the platform. Sexual livestreams on TikTok Livestreams in
SymbyAI has raised $2.1 million in seed funding with participation from Drive Capital and CharacterVC, among others, as reported by TechCrunch. The AI-driven platform accelerates the research lifecycle from hypothesis to published paper, making scientific research faster and easier. “It’s also important to note that SymbyAI is built on a proprietary AI solution, so users don’t have to worry about accidentally sending confidential information to OpenAI, Anthropic, or any other company,” co-founder Ashia Livaudais told TechCrunch. SymbyAI is making science research easier Ashia Livaudais and Michael House launched SymbyAI last year
LoftyInc Capital Management has announced the first close of its third fund at $43 million. The LoftyInc Alpha Fund focuses on investments that will expand Africa’s most talented startups across key areas like Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and Francophone Africa. It has previously invested in notable startups such as Flutterwave, Andela, Wave Mobile, and RelianceHealth. This comes at a pivotal time, as investors were less active in Africa last year. In 2022, 28 were involved in over ten $100,000 deals, but this number dropped to 8 in 2024. LoftyInc has over
