London-based venture capital firm, Octopus Ventures, has launched its first £10 million ($12 million) pre-seed fund to support fresh startups in the fintech and health sectors. The firm, founded in 2007, works to fill the growing gap in early pre-seed funding for European founders. Kirsten Connell and Maria Rotilu, veterans of Seedcamp and Uber, will lead the company’s first-ever investment fund. They will bring their extensive experience and knowledge of growing firms from the beginning to the job, enabling them to work closely with start-ups in their early years. Octopus
TikTok user Natasha (@tashathecaptain) worked as a tech lead at a drink distribution company. She helped create new systems to help support drivers who may have experienced technical issues traveling across the country. After three years, she decided to resign after feeling overworked, underpaid, and a lack of recognition for some of the new initiatives she had implemented and created to help build the company. After attending her first-ever tech conference in Colorado, Natasha was taken aback by the lack of diversity. After realizing she was the only Black woman
Black entrepreneurs saw a dramatic decrease in funding this year as investors continue to pull back. So far, new Crunchbase data shows Black startups received $324 million in VC funds in the second quarter, a steep decrease from the $1.2 billion received in Q1 this year and substantially below the $866 million the founder cohort raised in Q2 last year. Overall, Black founders have received more than $1.5 billion in capital this year, compared to the over $2 billion received last year. Funding at all levels is tracking below 2021.
Co-founded by Calvin Foster, a software engineer from Murfreesboro, The Black Codes help provide resources to increase representation in the Black tech community. According to the McKinsey Study for Black economic mobility analysis, as of 2021, only 4.5% of software developers in America are Black. It also reported that by 2030, about 6.7 million Black workers – 42% percent of the Black labor force – will be out of work due to automation. People in those roles will need to return to school to develop more marketable skills. While STEM degrees are required for many
Nana Ghartey’s voice assistant software may have started out in his grandmother’s house, but it’s now being used by the thousands of older and visually-impaired people all over Ghana excluded by Western voice technology. How did he get into tech? Ghartey taught himself mobile app development and built desktop applications, websites, and eventually mobile games, none of which were part of his school curriculum, by reading the programming textbooks that an uncle visiting from the US had left behind. Here’s his story. In 2010, the wealthiest American tech companies had
Justin Samuels, the CEO of Render Atlanta and qualified engineer, is on a mission to build on that influence by making Atlanta a true power player in the world of technology, essentially blending software engineering with culture. What does his company Render Atlanta do? It’s a software engineering experience; where tech meets culture, inclusion, and accessibility. RenderATL is a four-day software engineering conference & music festival featuring your next career opportunity with 50+ expert speakers in tech covering upcoming and current best software engineering practices, web3, engineering leadership, accessibility practices, and more.
Over in Los Angeles, Jonathan Moore, 25, left his Wall Street career to work as an analyst at TCG Capital Management. He pitched the idea for the firm to launch a crypto fund, believing the intersection of web3 and the creator economy could tap a generation of untapped talent. Since launching the fund in September 2021, he has closed over 20 deals and says the outlook for this year is equally promising. He’s not the only young person getting into the VC scene. Gen Zs are getting into the space
LifeTagger, a business with the aim of transforming an organization’s information, service, and experience delivery, has announced its partnership for the third consecutive year with NOLAvate Black’s 5th annual Black Tech NOLA conference, to provide attendees with exclusive content. Black Tech NOLA is the largest convening of tech creatives in the south celebrating the intersection of tech, art, and culture. It was first launched in 2018 but in 2020, Black Tech NOLA received over 1100 registrants and participants from around the globe for its first-ever virtual event with talks, panel discussions, virtual
Last year Google for Startups launched a $2 million grant fund to help tackle the racial inequality in the European tech industry. That Google for Startups Black Founders Fund ended up doubling to $4 million (£3 million), and now 40 Black-led tech startups across Europe will receive grants from the fund. Prior to the fund’s launch in 2021, less than 0.25% of venture capital (VC) funding went to Black-led startups in the UK. How does the fund work? Each startup will be given $100,000 in non-dilutive cash awards, up to
FoodLama has just announced it has been selected for Google’s second-ever Black Founders Fund cohort. But how does the startup work? FoodLama is a free-to-install-and-use browser extension that makes online grocery shopping with preferences simple. By taking into account your household’s individual allergies, preferences, and needs, FoodLama provides a personalized shopping experience as you scroll through your favorite grocer. So, you see the products to avoid as you shop and easily discover the best alternative recommendations. Following its launch in 2021, Google’s Black Founders Fund will provide its 2022 cohort
