Marketplace website MinorityBiz has a 51-page directory to find, compare, and hire minority- and Black-owned businesses across the U.S. to service your company’s needs. It’s not the only directory out there that’s trying to shine a light on Black professionals and their ventures. Here is a list of online directories to help you find the right Black-owned business partners for your needs. We will continue to update this list as we find more resources. Official Black Wall Street Official Black Wall Street hosts a variety of local and online consumer products as well as business
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
Banking platform BMO recently announced its partnership with the Black Professionals in Tech Network (BPTN), North America’s largest community of Black tech and business professionals. The partnership will focus on supporting and providing opportunities for Black professionals in the financial services industry. It will also help the banking platform increase representation of Black colleagues by bridging the network gap. BMO’s recent announcement with BPTN falls under their Zero Barriers to Inclusion Strategy, highlighting its critical goals for the year. The Inclusion Strategy includes reaching new hiring targets and providing access
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
The National Football League has announced its partnership with Ice Cube’s Contract With Black America Institute (CWBA) to support Black-owned businesses and increase diversity amongst NFL vendors. In addition, the partnership aims to boost the economic equity within Black communities by tackling the wealth gap and offering various opportunities in the financial, tech, and production sectors. The CWBA was launched in 2020 by rapper, actor, and filmmaker Ice Cube, alongside his business partner and entertainment lawyer, Jeff Kwatinetz, and works to address the systemic racism in the sports industry. In
Tech giant Apple has celebrated the inauguration of the first class to graduate from their US Developer Academy program. The program was launched as part of Apple’s $100 million Racial Equity and Justice scheme and is the first of its kind to take place in North America. The scheme has provided students with the necessary skills and knowledge to land some of the most prestigious jobs in the tech industry. The Detroit-based academy offers members of the community a free program to teach them the fundamentals of coding, design, marketing, and
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
For many Black entrepreneurs, getting funding for their business is a daunting and disproportionately difficult task, especially because only about 1% of all venture dollars goes to Black founders, according to Crunchbase, despite Black and African Americans making up 13% of the U.S. population. But a trio of Black Techstars alumni — who each raised at least a million dollars in seed capital for their business — met at Startup Hall at the University of Washington to share their experience of raising capital. They also offered advice for Black founders looking to
Edlyft is taking the $100 million diversity and inclusion tech market by storm. The edtech startup, founded by longtime friends Erika Hairston and Arnelle Ansong in 2020, provides support for college students and adult learners in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) courses. Their mission is to provide the right environment and tools for the next generation of engineers to succeed and, hopefully, get one step closer to closing the gender gap in STEM. Their digital platform connects learners to inclusive mentorship, online group tutoring, live and recorded sessions, and personalized study
