MFS Africa, an inter-operability hub connecting mobile network operators across the continent through a single API, has raised $100 million in a Series C round. That’s a pretty significant number for a Series C funding round, and it’s split between $70 million equity and $30 million debt. Private equity fund AfricInvest FIVE co-led the round with existing investors Goodwell Investments and LUN Partners Group. New investors CommerzVentures, Allan Gray Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, and Endeavor Harvest joined in while ShoreCap III returned as an existing investor with other funds. For someone who spent more than
A new initiative from the Greater Augusta Black Chamber of Commerce Foundation hopes to help Black start-up owners navigate starting a small firm, with a new program providing training and grants of $3,000 for 25 Augusta area entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurship training program already has several business owners hoping to participate. The 25 initial participants will go through four weeks of training and six weeks of coaching, learning everything from record-keeping and insurance to marketing and risk management. According to Yahoo, it’s funded with $125,000 from Bank of America, partnering with the Greater Augusta
Less than half of Britain’s Black business owners – 43 percent – trust banks to support their interests, a new survey has revealed. The report, entitled ‘Black British In Business and Proud’, highlights the issue of structural racism in terms of accessing capital, and its impact on Black business owners. The research, which was sponsored by Lloyds Bank and undertaken by Savanta, surveyed 808 participants from Black communities in Britain – 345 of whom were Black business owners. It revealed that Black business owners are 21% more likely to be self-financed than
Like many industries, the tech sector still has some way to go in addressing diversity and bias issues and although there has been some progress with big companies like Google creating initatives specifically for minority communities – the work shouldn’t and doesn’t stop there. After diverse intake in companies – what roles are they being given, the salary disparity once in the role, the treatment among colleagues and the handling of racism allegations. We’ve heard countless of stories of Black employees and their allies being sidelined for speaking out against
A 17-year-old student at Iowa City West High School has invented color-changing sutures to detect infection and is now set on getting it patented. Working with an eye on equity in global health, Daisy Taylor hopes that the color-changing sutures will someday help patients detect surgical site infections as early as possible so that they can seek medical care when it has the most impact. Daisy began working on the project back in October 2019, after her chemistry teacher shared information about state-wide science fairs including the Science Talent Search
Software developer Charlene Hunter is on a mission to close the diversity gap in the tech industry and is set on helping other Black women get their foot in the door. East Londoner Charlene founded Coding Black Females back in 2017 after feeling fed up with being the only Black woman in her role at her company. Her non-profit network is a community that uplifts Black female developers and helps them find opportunities. Coding Black Females, which Charlene runs alongside co-CTOs Tanya Powell and Efua Akumanyi and their team, has become a
The Black-owned Nourish + Bloom Market is about to disrupt traditional grocery stores as it becomes the first minority-owned autonomous grocery store in the US. It’s set to open on December 17th in Fayetteville, Georgia, featuring “frictionless shopping.” This means that customers will be able to walk in, grab what they need, and leave without waiting in line or stopping to scan and pay, especially helpful in this “new normal” post-pandemic world. They will simply have to scan a QR Code from Nourish + Bloom’s app that connects to their digital wallet
Google is taking applications for its seventh ‘Google for Startups’ accelerator program. Applications for the three-month virtual accelerator program are now open to technology startups located in Algeria, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The accelerator program launched in 2017 is designed to help Startups scale their solutions across the continent. Successful applicants from Seeds to Series A will gain access to free support alongside Google’s networks, advanced technology, experts, and mentors through virtual boot camps every
Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Opal Tometi has urged the tech sector to take robust action against perpetuating racism in systems such as facial recognition. “A lot of the algorithms, a lot of the data is racist,” U.S. activist Tometi, who co-founded BLM in 2013, told Reuters on the sidelines of Lisbon’s Web Summit. “We need tech to truly understand every way it (racism) shows up in the technologies they are developing,” she said. Her comments come just a day after Facebook announced it was shutting down its facial recognition
Black-Owned Chicago AI Startup Lands $100K In Latest ‘Northwestern Mutual Black Founder’ Accelerator
A Chicago startup that uses AI to help people better leverage their professional network is part of the newest cohort of startups selected as part of the Northwestern Mutual’s Black Founder Accelerator program. 4Degrees, led by CEO Ablorde Ashigbi and CTO David Vandegrift, will receive a $100,000 investment as part of the 12-week program. It will also work alongside Northwestern Mutual and its accelerator partner gener8tor to help grow its business. The company, launched by Ashigbi and Vandegrift, two former investors at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, back in 2017 was
