Working in venture capital after business school, Kelly Ifill has seen how difficult it can be for Black entrepreneurs to raise money through the earliest rounds of fundraising, known as the friends and family round, designed to help fledgling startups get off the ground. As the cozy term suggests, founders are expected to secure investments ranging from $10,000 to $150,000 from trusted, well-heeled contacts to serve as seed money before moving on to more significant investments from angel and institutional investors. But it’s not always easy for some groups to
Rusty and River Fields, two brothers born and raised in Brooklyn, have started the first hacker house for young Black tech entrepreneurs. The house, nicknamed “R-House,” brings tech enthusiasts together to live and work alongside each other for four weeks as they build their own Web-3.0 startups. Speaking to Bronx.news, Rusty Fields, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a neuroscience degree, said: “Black builders, they face unique challenges when they go to launch companies.” “We really wanted to create the space and experience for them to build deep and authentic
Billionaire philanthropist Robert F. Smith recently announced the launch of the Student Freedom Initiative, a program designed to provide paid internships to HBCU students. Robert F. Smith will launch the Student Freedom Initiative’s HELPS Program in partnership with financial regulation company Prudential Finance. The partnership will address Black students’ disproportionate financial loan burden, which often hinders their career progression. The program aims to provide science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) HBCU students with $1.8 million in microgrants, which will act as a contingent fund alongside their traditional college loans. Robert F. Smith, famously known
“I got my job through Twitter 🎉” I never thought that I’d be the one saying those words. I’ve always seen posts of people from tech Twitter who have shared that they got a job on Twitter or that online presence helped them secure a job. Little did I know that I would be a witness to this too. Welcome to all, and thank you for taking your time to read about my journey of how I got into tech, the challenges I’ve faced, the resources I’ve used, how I
If you feel lost and overwhelmed and have been looking for a guide or a little pick me up, this post is for you, and I hope it gives you the clarity and answers you need. Before you continue reading this, I want you to close your eyes and take a slow, deep breath. You have come too far to give up now. I recently started talking to newbies for 30 minutes on weekends and doing design reviews, sharing my knowledge and tricks. It’s my way of giving back and
Financial giant, Mastercard, has officially announced the class of this year’s Start Path program, an award-winning engagement program aimed at providing global support and mentorship to the brightest late-stage startups. According to a press release, Mastercard selected three early-stage startups led by underrepresented founders and four late-stage fintech innovators looking to scale their businesses for this year’s program. “As we continue our eight-year legacy of successful collaboration with startups around the world through Start Path,” said Blake Rosenthal, executive vice president, Fintech & Segment Solutions at Mastercard. “The companies we selected are on
There is an ever-growing list of schemes and networks which support diverse and underrepresented founders in Europe’s tech ecosystem. From Czechitas, a non-profit aiming to increase diversity in the tech sector through education and workshop initiatives, to Diverse and Equal — UK, a two-day conference on diversity and inclusion held in Manchester – there’s an increase in communities working on upskilling those from diverse backgrounds, empowering migrants and refugees, and engaging young people in tech. Here’s a list of other initiatives Diversidays — France This organization promotes social, cultural, and
Ingressive Capital, a $10 million venture capital fund launched by Maya Horgan Famodu with its headquarters in Nigeria, celebrated a five-year-mark last week. Horgan Famodu launched Ingressive when she was just 25. Today, at the age of 31, her fund is focused on leveling the playing field for female entrepreneurs: about 40% of its portfolio companies are founded or co-founded by women. In 2020, Ingressive doubled its fund to $10 million, with backers that include Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund, Michael Seibel of Y Combinator, Techstars, and others. The fund that invests
“Try not to use the word minority, say underprivileged or underserved; otherwise, if you say minority, investors will make certain assumptions.” “What assumptions?” “Oh, you know…” That was an interaction between a first-time Black founder and a white venture capital (VC) investor who was supposed to be advising her. Speaking to POCIT, she said she felt several investors she had spoken to had an unconscious bias towards her as a founder and the audience she was targeting. While she understood POC markets were ‘small’ in her native country – on
Black-owned tech startup, Readyhubb, has launched a new website booking service to empower appointment-based professionals across the U.S. Readyhubb, founded in 2022 by Chidi Ashley, is a booking platform that caters to many industries. The app streamlines all aspects of the booking process by designing a system that minimizes the number of daily tools professionals need to manage. Businesses that have a presence on social media and may not have a proper booking and client management system will benefit hugely from this platform. Not only does it provide an easily
