Tennis legend Serena Williams has been announced as the keynote speaker for the Black Tech Week Conference, scheduled to take place in Cincinnati, OH, July 18-22. Black Tech Week, founded by Felecia Hatcher and Derick Pearson in 2016, is a minority-centered ecosystem-building festival that partners with founders, corporations, and the community to create a valuable experience for all investors, entrepreneurs, and techies of all kinds to enjoy. The event is committed to bringing Black tech founders, influencers, and innovators together to create memorable experiences centered around Black culture and inclusive
Joelle Mbatchou, one of a few dozen people of color to make MIT’s Innovators Under 35 list this year, has done what some may describe as exceptional work over the years in the AI space. The 32-year-old has developed a machine-learning model called Regenie that makes analyzing the data quicker and cheaper while reducing the amount of computing power required. The method could allow researchers to identify genetic variants associated with specific diseases more easily. “With the increasing number of collaborations being established across large biobanks, many of them involving individuals
Sexual harassment, bullying, and racist stereotyping are common in the technology industry, creating a culture that drives underrepresented employees out of their jobs. This is something we’ve known for a while due to the extensive studies and investigations. A 2017 survey of more than 2,000 people who left tech jobs in the last three years found that 1 in 10 women in tech experience unwanted sexual attention, and nearly 1 in 4 people of color face stereotyping. The same year the study was published, Qichen Zhang quit her job at
Black-founded startups recently saw record amounts of investment, with quarterly funding commitments nearing or even topping $1 billion. But according to new data from Crunchbase, venture capital funding has dropped significantly in the second quarter of 2022, down to just $324 million. So far in 2022, only 100 U.S. startups with a Black founder have received funding, with $100 million invested in seed rounds, $591 million in early-stage rounds, and approximately $876 million in later-stage rounds. Startups with at least one Black founder received 1.9% of deal counts and 1.2% of
South African fintech startup Sava has raised $2 million to develop a spend management platform that will help African businesses manage their expenses, helping them reduce the time spent on recordkeeping and reconciliations. Sava CEO Yoeal Haile mentioned that the platform, which is yet to launch, will help African businesses run their financial operating systems. It will also allow them to capture data that will enable them to stay knowledgeable about their financial health business. Sava highlights two specific pain points businesses confront around spend management and reconciliations. One, businesses don’t have
The chief operating officer of Next PR reveals the journey from publicly and privately hiding her true identity to becoming the kind of leader who fosters inclusive workplaces. Geri Johnson is a technology and operations expert with over 25 years of experience – some call her the Olivia Pope of Next PR. Despite her many accolades – her journey was far from smooth sailing. She told Fast Company that although she no longer hides herself at work – it wasn’t always this way. She revealed that the once-confident intern with
The hashtag VCTok is slowly but steadily growing along with founderstiktok. TikTok has more than 1 billion users — the majority of whom are under the age of 30. So it’s the perfect place for firms looking to tap into the younger market or for business owners who want to attract more customers. Back in January, Redpoint Ventures gave Rashad Assir just one task: Make TikToks about venture capital. The request, which some could argue was a bit strange coming from a VC firm, came after Assir amassed more than 56,000 followers
Black-owned beauty and tech company Mayvenn has announced that it raised $40 million in a Series C funding round. Leading investments came from Chicago-based venture fund Cleveland Avenue, with participation from the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management and a16z. Mayvenn allows consumers to search for and book hair stylists in their local area. In addition, stylists are able to operate their businesses on the platform, including selling products and marketing their salon-based services. The company says it is now home to over 50,000 hair stylists across the
Here is our latest roundup of tech headlines from across the African continent. Kune, a Kenyan food-tech startup that delivered ready-to-eat meals at affordable prices, has closed its doors, the company’s founder and CEO Robin Reecht announced. In a statement posted to his LinkedIn page, Reecht cited a stifled economy and inflated food prices as circumstances that contributed to Kune’s closure. “With the current economic downturn and investment markets tightening up, we were unable to raise our next round. Coupled with rising food costs deteriorating our margins, we just couldn’t keep going,” he said.
The online technology platform, Kibo School, known for providing online degrees for students across Africa, has raised $2 million in seed funding. The funding round, which venture capital firm Neo led, included African investment company Future Africa, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, and Transcends Ventures. In addition, a range of different angel investors also participated in the seed funding round. Kibo School, co-founded by Ope Bukola in 2021, aims to provide affordable and high-quality programs for anyone interested in building a career in tech. The curriculum, based on the Human Skills Matrix,
