VC firm, Kapor Capital, announced that it officially raised $125 million in a pre-seed funding round. The new fund, the platform’s largest to date, has been backed by partners including Cambridge Associates, Align Impact, Ford Foundation, Bank of America, PayPal, and Twilio. The new funding, which has been ongoing since last year, was raised by the company’s managing partners, Uriridiakoghene “Ulili” Onovakpuri and Brian Dixon, as part of Kapor Capital’s new leadership. The Oakland-based venture capital firm founded in 2011 by Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor has actively worked to bridge
Yesterday, JusticeText announced they had closed a $2.2 million seed funding round. The funding round led by Bloomberg Beta, True Ventures, and Reid Hoffman included investors John Legend and Michael Tubbs. JusticeText, co-founded by Devshi Mehrotra and Leslie Jones-Dove in 2019, is a software platform that aims to help build more transparency around criminal proceedings. The idea to develop JusticeText stemmed from a class project both Jones-Dove and Mehrotra worked on during their time at university. After witnessing the death of Trayvon Martin, both founders felt their system would be a more proactive solution to solving
Black-owned tech platform, Colorintech, has officially announced that one of Europe’s biggest festivals is back for the third time. Colorintech, co-founded in 2016 by Dion McKenzie, Ashleigh Ainsley, and Vladimira Mesko Briestenska, was launched to help close the racial wealth gap by making the tech industry more inclusive. The platform’s overall mission is to make Europe the most inclusive tech hub in the world – which is why the launch of its new festival couldn’t have come at a better time. This year’s Black Tech Fest, which is the third event hosted by Colorintech,
According to Forbes, Tech accelerator program, Y Combinator, has chosen venture capitalist Garry Tan as its fourth leader in its 17-year history. In January, the Y Combinator alum is set to replace the current president, Geoff Ralston, who served in this position since 2011. As a part of his new role, Tan is expected to step down from his role at Initalized Capital, an early stage venture capital firm he founded alongside Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian in 2012. “This is a community where people’s dreams, more or less, are fulfilled
“My success as a Community Manager requires a certain level of autonomy, and that can be scary for brands,” says Mercedes in an interview with Forbes. Streaming service Tidal was founded by Jay-Z in 2014 who has managed to build an online audience and platform that profoundly resonates with its target audience. Melanie Mercedes has been one of the most significant forces behind developing TIDAL’s social strategy and building a solid worldwide online audience. Over the past two years, Mercedes has been actively growing the streaming services’ online presence. TIDAL has raised
Clark Atlanta University has received nearly $10 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help more underrepresented people get data science credentials. The extra funding, which aims to help diversify the data science sector, is the first time any HBCU has received nearly $10 million from an NSF initiative. NSF’s donation marks a new era for HBCUs and equally marks their commitment to providing more Black people with the chance to succeed. A recent NSF report has revealed only 5.56% of computer/information scientists in 2019 were Black or African American. Additionally,
Christian Smalls, primarily recognized as the brains behind the movement to unionize Amazon warehouse workers, was threatened by police in New York. Smalls, who Amazon infamously fired, led one of the first labor actions of the pandemic in 2020. After being fed up with the company’s unsafe practices, he decided to fight back, which put many workers’ lives at risk. So what happened? Earlier this week, workers at the warehouse in New York attempted to join the Amazon Labour Union. While organizing the rally at a fulfillment center bus stop,
Black-owned professional network, Black British City Group (BBCG), has launched its flagship City Booster program, designed to help support the growth of Black founders. Through BBCG’s City Booster program, Black entrepreneurs not only be eligible for grants of up to £3,000 but will also have access to coaching opportunities and skill-based workshops to help them elevate and grow. The City Booster program run by BBCG aims to provide mentorship, skills-based workshops, and financial support to Black founders. In addition, the program, which spans nine months, will give Black entrepreneurs exclusive
Video-sharing platform, TikTok, has partnered up with Cyversity to connect underrepresented individuals with more opportunities in the cybersecurity world. TikTok is championing the #SeeYourselfInCyber hashtag as a part of a new HBCU program set to launch later this fall. The program, made up of an online mentoring syllabus, will host in-person events at HBCUs to aid students with the skills needed to work within the cybersecurity sector. The initiative aims to solve the issue of 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by awarding 50 students a scholarship representing the platform’s ongoing commitment to helping the next
A new Chicago Business Bulletin report has revealed that not enough has been done to support Black and Latinx startups. Compared to other top startup ecosystems, Chicago has higher share capital deals. Additionally, Chicago leads significant startup ecosystems in the share of venture capital funding garnered by underrepresented founders. Since 2019, 5.1% of Black and Latino-founded companies have participated in a venture capital deal, compared to 2.5% nationally. “This report is intended to raise awareness of the strategic movement underway in Chicago to drive greater, more equitable investment by and among VCs
