America is in the midst of a Black maternal health crisis, and according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020, Black women in America are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women, a disparity the CDC attributes to factors including underlying chronic conditions, structural racism, and implicit bias. There is a damning body of research showing how Black women and birthing people go unseen and unheard as they navigate the healthcare system with celebrities like Beyoncé and Serena Williams bringing attention to the risks of childbirth
Black tech entrepreneur Bill Spruill reportedly turned his employees into millionaires when he sold his startup Global Data Consortium for an undisclosed amount. Global Data, which he launched make in 2012, makes software that verifies the identity of people behind online transactions, an important step in eliminating potential fraud. Though financial details have not yet been revealed, Spruill described the deal to Axios as a “Bronto-level transaction,” which was acquired by NetSuite for $200 million in 2015. When Spruill started the Global Data Consortium he only raised $5 million from investors – this is rather
Influencer marketing agency Fanbytes has been acquired by digital media agency Brainlabs for an undisclosed fee. The UK-based 65-strong business was launched by its chief executive Timothy Armoo, chief operating officer Ambrose Cooke and chief technology officer Mitchell Fasanya in 2017. Fanbytes now works with a client list that spans Samsung, Nike, Ubisoft, Mattel, Estée Lauder and H&M. The agency also formed a talent management business dubbed Bytesized Talent. Now, it represents some of the biggest creators in the UK like EmandLoz (fashion and entertainment), and Mr Tov (comedy, lifestyle
Norebase, the trade technology company building a single platform for businesses to start, scale and operate in any African country, has secured a $1M pre-seed funding round. The company is laser-focused on building two-pronged platforms that offer African and non-African businesses access to the African continent as one big market while creating a channel where African founders can access the international markets (such as the USA). Using Norebase, established companies can expand to new locations while new businesses can be incorporated in any African country of their choice in just a
In the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, the 300 visionaries featured on the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list have persevered, innovating and collectively raising more than $2 billion in funding for their ventures—more than double the amount raised by last year’s honorees. Aasiyah Abdulsalam, Ngoni Chikwenengere, Agnus Mwakatuma, Josephine Phillips, Malone Mukwende, and Nigel Matombo were just some of the Black people featured on this year’s list for their amazing work across tech, fashion and mental health. Aasiyah Abdulsalam Aasiyah Abdulsalam is the 26-year-old founder of The Renatural, a brand offering innovative products
Sojo, the British clothing alterations app, has been making strides for a while now but this time it’s hit a big milestone after raising $2.4 million in a pre-seed funding round led by CapitalT and Ascension, with Mustard Seed Maze and Vertex Albion Capital also in participation. Launched by 24-year-old Josephine Philips, the recent graduate first recognized a lack of easy and accessible clothing repairs after she became a top seller on Depop in 2018, buying and selling one-off vintage garments. To fix the issue, Philips launched Sojo, an app
OnePort 365, a platform that claims to solve problems by providing end-to-end digitization of freight management for stakeholders, is building an operating system for cross-border trade in Africa. It says its platform covers air freight, ocean freight, inland haulage (trucking, barge, and rail), pay-as-you-go warehousing, marine insurance, and customs brokerage. Traders can connect with shipping and inland transportation vendors and manage the entire process (from booking to payments), including real-time visibility of their shipments. When it comes to payments, OnePort 365 claims to aggregate different methods enabled by the Pan-African
While the tech world still remains a heavily male-dominated sphere, there are a growing number of female trailblazers paving the way. Here’s a bite-sized introduction to their achievements and stories below. Anna is a technical co-founder of Lioness, the women-led sexual health startup that built the world’s first and only smart vibrator that improves understanding of sexual pleasure and body through biofeedback data. Before Lioness, Anna worked at Amazon Lab126’s concept engineer team, and helped launch the Kindle Voyage. She also teaches at Scientific Adventures for Girls, a non-profit that
Timeless London-based watch and accessories company, Vitae, reached two major milestones last year securing $1million in sales and distributed 5,000 solar lamps to Sub-Saharan school children. The solar-powered lamps were distributed in partnership with Pen to Paper Ghana, a Ghanaian non-profit that works to deliver lamps to students so that they can complete their school work with efficient lighting. But now its founder William Adoasi has just announced that the brand is launching each limited edition watch with an NFT. Talk about innovative! In a video, Adoasi said: “It’s William
Floyd Mayweather has announced the drop of a new NFT Project called Mayweverse. The project will consist of 5,000 NFTs and is set to launch on Wednesday. Fans on Twitter, however, are not pleased with the announcement and accused him of scams, taking people’s money, and abandoning projects. There will be five different NFT cards with a quantity of 1,000 available for each. In a tweet on the official Mayweverse account, it tweeted: “The mint price will be 0.3ETH bringing you maximum profit and value.” Floyd had previously launched a
