Every year, Forbes spotlights the under-30s blazing a trail in their respective fields. With the release of the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe list, we’ve rounded up some of the Black and Brown tech founders recognized as powering a digital revolution. Lethabo Motsoaledi Co-Founder and CTO, Voyc Lethabo Motsoaledi is the co-founder and CTO of Voyc, which uses AI speech analytics software to monitor call center interactions and provide valuable insights. Motsoaledi and her co-founder moved their HQ from South Africa to the Netherlands in 2020 to take advantage of the
Google for Startups is accepting applications for its Black Founders Funds in the US, Europe, Africa, and Brazil, and its Latino Founders Fund in the US. This year also marks the first time Google for Startups has opened the US funds to the public. In previous years, Google reportedly selected US businesses solely through referrals. Less than 0.5% of funding goes to Black-led startups, even though 77% of them are revenue-generating and create an average of 5.4 jobs each. First announced in June 2020, the Black Founders Fund was launched as
Onu, founded by Lindsey Redd and Chine Ikoro, is a developer-first program designed to help engineers have a smoother workflow. The platform – yet to be launched – allows engineers to quickly turn their ops/CV-related scripts and workflows into internal tools without requiring frontend work. Redd and Ikoro are software engineers who met five years ago while working at Lyft and Stripe. The pair who are now YC founders started the initiative after experiencing first-hand how difficult it can be to operate in a fast-moving environment without internal tooling. Companies like Stripe have
Long before Apple implemented color emojis, Katrina Parrott had devised the idea to create a diverse range of emojis for all skin tones. In 2013, Parrott had a lightbulb moment after her daughter complained she couldn’t send emojis that looked like her to her friends. Despite not knowing much about what emojis were – Parrott decided to invest her money into designing a diverse range of emojis. According to a report by BuzzFeed News, Parrott used all her savings to hire a software engineer, illustrator, and copyright specialist to launch
This article was first published by Lillian Cartwright on Medium. Three years ago, when I founded ShelfLife, odds were I’d be writing this post about shutting down. The greater majority of startups fail. Although the definition of failure is up for debate, more than two-thirds of startups don’t deliver a positive return to investors. Couple this with the fact that in 2022, just 1% of venture capital went to Black founders and less than 2% went to all-female founding teams. And Black female founders raised…er, let’s not even go there. Against those odds, we
Explaining your business idea can be an excruciating experience for anyone, especially at a dinner party. So, what exactly do you do when your business proposal comes with unwarranted feedback? In a recent LinkedIn post, founder and CEO of The Stack World, Sharmaden Reid MBE, broke down the many steps entrepreneurs must take when faced with negative feedback about their business idea. “I had a female founder friend call me recently – they had been to an event, a dinner party, and they had to pitch, but some man has completely shut
Dr. Tori Brown, the founder of Fresh Digital Media, is the latest founder to join Apple’s Entrepreneur camp. Fresh Digital Media, founded in 2018 by psychologist and business consultant Dr. Tori Brown, is a social tech enterprise providing business education to children and families. The company works to engage and support communities’ business education and financial literacy using augmented reality (AR), interactive learning content, and music and art entertainment. Dr. Tori Brown will join a cohort of 17 developers as part of Apple’s Entrepreneur camp and gain insight and inspiration from top
Dr. Kimberly Clay, founder of Play Like A Girl, is using her passion for STEM and sports to teach young women how to become executive leaders in the corporate field. Play Like A Girl is a charitable organization fighting to help every girl – no matter their background – reach their full potential in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) industry. Since 2019, Play Like a Girl has partnered with the NFL to infuse the sports discipline with the skillset needed to excel in STEM. Play Like A Girl is
The winner of the Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic Startup Pitch Competition has finally been announced. Out of 200 startups who applied to participate in the competition, only one has made it to the finishing line. Child-friendly music app, Healthy Hip Hop, has officially been crowned the winner of the startup pitch competition. The platform, founded in 2019 by Roy Scott, is an educational app aimed at children, infusing hip-hop culture with innovative technology. Last year, Michael B. Jordan announced that the Invesco QQQ startup pitch competition had returned for its second year in partnership
It’s time for all journalists to get into their bag. Black-owned digital media and tech company, Hero Media, has launched Goodfeed, a social wellness platform for women from diverse backgrounds. On Goodfeed, in-house journalists get paid royalties for their work using money generated from ad rolls. The online platform – which has built a community for Black and brown women – has been described as another version of YouTube where users can share their editorial content, written articles, audio, and videos. Through Goodfeed, Black women can connect and share fitness,
