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
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
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
An African cross-border payments company has raised $150 million in a Series C extension round led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX. Chipper Cash, founded in 2018 by Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled, is a no-fee peer-to-peer cross-border payment service in Africa. Users can accept payments in Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, and Kenya through their app. Chipper Cash‘s investment comes barely six months after it closed its first Series C round of $100 million, led by SVB Capital, the corporate venture capital arm of SVB Financial Group. Deciens Capital, Ribbit Capital, Bezos
A sequel on the piece of Black founders profitable without Venture capital. Not all startups reach the promised land of VC funding. Not all startups require VC funding to be successful. With the odds stacked against Black and Brown entrepreneurs, they typically need to find other ways to innovate and grow. Money isn’t always easy to come by. Bootstrapping means launching and growing your startup using your personal financial resources. See how these Black women founders left behind the “scale no matter what” mentality. Instead, they built their startups into successful, profitable
UnitedMasters, the “record label in your pocket” for independent artists, has closed a $50M Series C at a $550M valuation to support and empower independent artists. The company is a full-service technology platform for independent artists seeking creative and commercial success while maintaining complete control of their music and financial future. It gives creators access to premium music distribution services, a suite of tools to help directly connect with their fans, and opportunities to connect with the world’s biggest brands through partnerships with the NBA, ESPN, TikTok, Twitch, and more. The startup record label
Marcy Venture Partners, the venture firm co-founded in 2018 by Jay-Z, has just closed its second fund with $325 million in capital commitments. The firm describes itself as having a “consumer, culture and positive impact” investment strategy. The team has so far written checks to at least 21 companies, including Rihanna’s lingerie company Savage X Fenty. Earlier this year, they also began investing in crypto projects, supporting Bitski, a San Francisco-based startup NFT marketplace, and investing more recently in spatial LABS (sLABS). This tech incubator focuses on metaverse and blockchain-based
Florida A&M University has received a $100,000 grant from Wells Fargo to launch a small business incubator to assist women and minority-owned businesses. The grant will advance hiring initiatives for a program manager to oversee operations of the incubator and modernize an existing location for entrepreneurs to call home. Funding will also enable the incubator’s staff to support program participants in exploring the feasibility of their business concepts, launching, expanding, and scaling their businesses. The remaining funds will support future marketing and promotions throughout the development of the project. The
A recent study conducted by LendingTree revealed that North Carolina is the best state to start a business in, but California is considered the worst. It’s important for founders – particularly those of color – to pick the right place to start their business as it can potentially make or break their startup. The Lending Tree study scored the 100 largest US metro areas by population based on factors like the proportion of residents who hold a bachelor’s degree, state corporate tax rates, and local housing costs. Of course –
Nyla Hayes, the creator of the Long Neckie Collection, a non-fungible token (NFT) collection worth about $3.4 million in digital currency — has just been announced as TimePieces’ first artist in residence. This is a pretty big deal for someone who is just 12 years old. Nyla is breaking down boundaries and leading the way for young Black people in tech. POCIT has simplified what her role actually means and a bit more about the young creator. Who is Nyla? Nyla Hayes is the 12-year-old creator of the Long Neckie Collection, which features diverse
