Latina-led fintech platform Hello Alice has announced the dismissal of lawsuit brought against it by America First Legal, which alleged its grants for Black business amounted to racial discrimination. What Happened? In October 2023, Hello Alice found itself at the center of a legal battle when America First Legal, Mitchell Law PLLC, and Ashbrook Byrne Kresge LLC filed a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination. This was due to the company’s initiative, which, in partnership with Progressive Insurance, provided $25,000 in grants to 10 Black-owned businesses. However, Hello Alice maintained its stance
Crowdaa, a French company founded by Vigile Hoareau and Jimmy Thomas, has secured €1.2 million ($1.29M) in a seed round led by Apicap. The company aims to make app creation accessible to non-developers, allowing them to release mobile apps quickly. Initially focusing on music, Crowdaa expanded its services during the pandemic to cater to a broader audience, including sports teams, organizations, and political parties. This new funding will enable Crowdaa to enhance its technology and embark on an ambitious US expansion. Innovative Solutions For Content Creators Crowdaa’s platform allows users
Félix Pago, a fast-growing fintech startup, has recently raised $15.5 million in a Series A funding round to enhance its services across Latin America and the US, according to TechCrunch. Revolutionizing Remittances With WhatsApp Félix Pago’s approach leverages WhatsApp as its main interface, with a chatbot that makes it simple to send and receive cross-border money transfers, even with a voice message. This choice is strategic, given WhatsApp’s extensive regional user base. Users in the US initiate transactions via the WhatsApp chatbot, completing the final step by securely entering debit
NBA legend Dwyane Wade is leveraging his influence through an online community dedicated to transgender youth and their families. On Thursday, Wade received the Elevate Prize Catalyst Award at The Elevate Prize Foundation’s Make Good Famous Summit in South Florida, which comes with $250,000 in unrestricted funding. Wade received the award in recognition of his advocacy for the transgender community and his work with the Wade Family Foundation. Following his acceptance of the award, Wade announced the launch of Translatable. Translatable: A Safe Space For Transgender Youth Translatable, funded by
In celebration of AAPI Heritage Month, it’s essential to recognize and honor the incredible contributions of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women in the tech industry. Their stories of resilience, creativity, and leadership inspire and underscore the vital role of diversity in fostering technological advancement. During this special month, we have highlighted the achievements of some of these trailblazers, celebrated their contributions, and explored how they are paving the way for future generations. Reshma Saujani – Girls Who Code And Moms First Reshma Saujani is a leading activist and the
Viola Davis, journalist Joy Reid, and radio host Charlamagne Tha God are among the partners that have teamed up with The Grio founder David A. Wilson and tech leader Brandon John-Freso to launch ALTR. ATLR pronounced ‘alter’, is a personal development app tailored to the Black community. A Collaborative Vision for Empowerment ATLR aims to provide short-form audiobooks by Black luminaries and authors. It is currently open for early access sign-ups and is scheduled for an official launch in late 2024. The development of ALTR is in collaboration with JuVee Productions, founded by Davis
Rachael Twumasi-Corson, the founder of Afrocenchix, is stepping into a new role as the Managing Director of LIHA BeautyLIHA Beauty. This move comes after her successful tenure at Afrocenchix, where she played an instrumental role in securing $1.2 million in seed funding for the natural haircare e-commerce business. A Vision For African Beauty Twumasi-Corson’s decision to join LIHA Beauty wasn’t part of her initial plan after exiting Afrocenchix. However, the opportunity to collaborate with LIHA’s founders, Abi Oyepitan and Liha Okunniwa—two women she holds in high esteem—was too good to pass up.
Two Black founders have teamed together to create Dreamward Ventures, a new Seattle-based fund that plans to invest in diverse founders, including early-stage startups led by Black entrepreneurs. Dreamward Ventures Dreamward Ventures offers early-stage capital, technical due diligence, and network connections to founders who need them most. According to GeekWire, founders Evan Poncelet and Jesse Posey met at a Seattle Angel Conference event and decided to address the gaps in venture capital for Black founders and investors. “It’s hard for the venture capitalists and angel groups to reach out to founders of color, specifically Black
In its fourth grant cycle, the Commemoration Fund has selected 32 grantees funds ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 to help mitigate racial inequalities. The Commemoration Fund, founded in 2020, supports efforts to correct social, political and economic injustices that impact Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and people of color in the community. Their funds address disparities rooted in white supremacy and systemic racism with sustainable, collaborative solutions. “The Commemoration Fund is uniquely situated to stimulate the transformative work necessary to address race-based inequities,” said Hannibal B. Johnson, board chair. “Through our strategic investments,
Social entrepreneurship non-profit Echoing Green is launching a $15.6 million fund to provide capital to help social innovators grow. The Signal Fund The Signal Fund will serve as a financial tool providing capital to social innovators at critical growth stages, especially founders with overlooked potential for scalable social impact. In 2019, research from Echoing Green and The Bridgespan Group showed that the revenues of Black-led organizations were 24% smaller than those of their white-led counterparts. The unrestricted net assets of the Black-led organizations were 76% smaller than their white-led counterparts. Co-designed with Angel City Advisors
