Angela Muhwezi-Hall and Deborah Gladney’s dating app style platform matching job seekers with employers have raised $1.41 million. According to Project Diane, the pair, who launched the QuickHire app last fall, became the first Black women in Kansas to raise at least a million dollars in capital, which tracks minority women-led startups. Its users are encouraged to upload intro videos to demonstrate their soft skills. Muhwezi-Hall told Kansas news that almost 70 paying companies and 12,000 job-seekers already use the app. Users enter their ZIP code and are instantly shown
Europe is “solidifying its place as a global tech power”, according to Atomico’s annual State of European Tech 2021 report. However, research still shows women and minorities are not being given enough investment. European tech is projected to cross the $100B milestones of capital invested in a single year, close to 3 times the level in 2020, reported Dealroom. The total number of tech companies that have scaled to $1B+ in Europe has jumped from 223 last year to 321. Large rounds ($250M+) are now the norm in Europe —
Spelman senior Inglish Hills has won the grand prize at BearWay Capital’s HBCU New Venture Challenge for her recycling system startup, Save Cycle. The start-up will undercut waste management services and pick up recyclables for businesses at a lower price. Businesses can use the Save Cycle app to schedule pick-ups and rent dumpsters. They can also track their environmental impact, making them eligible for tax advantages. Individuals will use the Save Cycle app to locate deposit boxes. Then, after disposing of their recyclables, they can scan a QR code and
Amazon has partnered with Pharrell Williams’ education equity nonprofit YELLOW and the Georgia Institute of Technology to launch the 2022 “Your Voice is Power” music remix competition. Now in its second year, the “Your Voice is Power” educational collaboration underscores the partners’ continued commitment to encourage K-12 students to share their perspectives on equity while learning to code new music remixes. Students will use EarSketch, Georgia Tech’s learn-to-code-through-music platform, to remix beats and create their own magic. The song selection features Pharrell’s “Entrepreneur,” Alicia Keys’ “Underdog” and Khalid’s “New Normal.” To further prepare the young competitors, the initiative
The Parent Company — a publicly traded U.S. cannabis organization backed by Jay-Z — has named Tiffany Mcbride the managing director of its social equity ventures. She will oversee The Parent Company’s Social Equity Ventures program and help identify more minority entrepreneurs working in the cannabis sector to offer them capital and mentorship. “This is an exciting time to join The Parent Company as the Managing Director of Social Equity Ventures to continue to ensure that minority communities have a seat at the table in the cannabis industry,” McBride said in a press
Hospitality and Outreach for Latin Americans, or HOLA, is donating $5,000 to create the “Dream Big Scholarship Fund” for Latino Students at the tech academy. Some of the students have financial needs but may not have access to state and federal aid. The funds for the donation came from the proceeds from the annual HOLA Festival last August. HOLA’s mission is to enhance cultural diversity and ensure the success of Latinos in the areas of education, health, safety, workforce, economic strength, and leadership ”Well we feel it’s important to grow
According to Inc, Black founders reportedly raised nearly $1.8 billion in the first half of 2021, more than four times the capital raised the same time last year. And stats released by Crunbase showed that Black startup owners raised $400 million in the first six months of 2020 and are already exceeding full-year funding totals for 2020 and 2019 when they raised $1 billion and $1.4 billion. Founders from the community are said to have raised “record amounts of venture capital” in 2021. Still, if we dig a bit deeper, the
In June last year, in the midst of violence and a pandemic ravaging the streets of US cities – Justin Shaw built Black Money Builder, a fundraising platform to “empower your community and empower yourself.” Its ultimate goal is to help Black communities rebound from the virus by providing financial relief and bring awareness to current issues that affect the communities worldwide and provide a sense of urgency with potential solutions. The crowdfunding platform also provides Black entrepreneurs a space to build capital and help seed Black visionaries from artists,
Dominican American YouTube star Krystal Lora, with her 323,000 subscribers, is among the most popular technology reviewers, and she’s going from strength to strength as she uses her platform to break down the latest Apple and Google products for growing Latino YouTube audiences. It’s clear that Latinos across the US are shaking things up – whether as founders, investors, tech reviewers, or engineers. Although there’s still a long way to improve diversity in the industry and ensure the community is getting enough support and investment – this Friday POCIT is celebrating
A Black-owned music NFT platform, powered by Trapchain, Inc, has collaborated with indie music artist and native Chicagoan Willie Taylor, to drop his first NFT for his music project, “Write My Wrongs.” Taylor first gained notoriety as a contestant from MTV’s “Making the Band 4”, where Sean Combs chose him (P-Diddy) to be a member and one of the main vocalists for the band Day26 on August 26. 360NFT’s launch and debut NFT release commemorate the band’s popularity and success. Its streamlined ecosystem reportedly makes it easy for users to thrive on the blockchain without
