As a Black medical student, Malone Mukwende was only taught to recognize clinical signs of disease on white skin. But many diseases look different on darker skin tones, leading to misdiagnosis, poor treatment, and even death. As a result, Mukwende launched BlackandBrownSkin. Through innovative tools like the Mind the Gap handbook, the Hutano app, and, most recently, the “Diagnosing Skin of Colour” digital quiz, Mukwende is revolutionizing care for Black and Brown patients. Red rashes, pale skin, blue lips “On arrival at medical school, I noticed a lack of teaching
Shepherd is the “world’s first Bible app that recommends verses based on your needs.” The Bible is the most widely read book in the world, but increasingly, Christians are opting for app-versions over the physical book. As YouVersion’s Bible App reaches the colossal milestone of 100 million downloads—joining major brands like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter—one Black-owned Bible app is growing in popularity. “It’s more like having a daily chat with a good friend, a friend who always knows the best part of the Bible to share with you.” Samuel Abaka-Wood, Shepherd founder Introducing Shepherd Shepherd,
In 2021, Jack Dorsey’s company, Block Inc (formerly known as Square), agreed to acquire Tidal for $306 million. This deal made Jay-Z a board member of Block Inc and left many wondering whether Dorsey had been finessed into buying the relatively small streaming service at a premium price. Block agreed in March 2021 to pay $396 million in stock and cash for an 87.5% stake in Tidal. After adjustments, it paid $237.3 million for an 86.2% stake, according to Reuters. Jay-Z joined Block’s board after the purchase and remains a
Tade Oyerinde is empowering students to complete their first two years of college without taking on any debt through his community college startup Campus. As per Forbes, Campus has secured $29 million in a Series A funding round led by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Discord founder Jason Citron to expand the college. Other investors in the round include Figma founder Dylan Field; former head of Stripe Lachy Groom; Bloomberg Beta; Founders Fund; Rethink Education; Reach Capital and Precursor Ventures. Students and professors are struggling In 2018, Oyerinde conceived the
Sabrina Thompson, a NASA aerospace engineer and founder of streetwear brand Girl In Space Club (GISC), is using her passion for sneakers to ignite the curiosity of young minds in science, space, and technology. The 38-year-old’s initiative, STEMulating Art, is bridging the gap between creativity and technical skills for young minds. Designing a pair of kicks for the moon Thompson noticed that while kids were excited to meet a rocket scientist like herself, they had trouble connecting with the technical aspects of her work. Determined to bring space exploration down
Two Black 22-year-old founders have raised $5 million to democratize event planning with POSH, the event management and ticketing platform that aims to take on the likes of Dice, Ticketmaster, and Eventbrite. Democratizing event planning POSH announced its public launch last week after being in beta since October 2020. Now, the platform has raised $5 million in a seed funding round co-led by Companyon Ventures and EPIC Ventures, with participation from Day One Ventures, Pareto Holdings, DoNotPay founder Joshua Browder and others. The brainchild of Avante Price and Eli Taylor-Lemire, POSH allows
True, one of the largest executive search firms in the world, has announced it is acquiring Jopwell, a hiring platform focused on advancing the careers of Black, Latinx and Native American students and early-to-mid-career professionals. According to a press release, Jopwell will complement the executive-focused DEI efforts of True Search and AboveBoard, an inclusive executive platform and community). Jopwell co-founders and execs Ryan Williams and Porter Braswell will continue to build Jopwell as a business unit within True. The story behind Jopwell Williams and Braswell started Jopwell after meeting at Goldman
Dr Rashae Barnes, the founder and CEO of Evals Equity Women’s Fund, has announced that September 30 will mark the first-ever National Black Funding Day. The national holiday was registered through National Day Archives. It aims to recognize and honor the accomplishments of Black entrepreneurs in the funding industry, while highlighting the disparities in venture capital grants, and educational resources for underserved communities. Funding for Black founders Black founders have long faced challenges in securing funding for their businesses, and the current economic climate hasn’t helped. Following George Floyd’s murder,
Kiddie Kredit, a Miami-based startup founded by Evan Leaphart, has raised $1.4 million in funding to expand the reach of its financial literacy app. Investors include Nueterra Capital, Plain Sight Capital, Fuerza Ventures, Verve Capital, and former pro athletes Dwyane Wade and Baron Davis. “I was drawn to what Evan and team are working on with Kiddie Kredit. It’s important to give kids a head start and especially on the topic of credit,” said Dwyane Wade, according to Refresh Miami. teaching credit through chores The mobile app teaches kids aged
Stemuli, a Black woman-owned edtech company providing AI-driven game-based learning through its educational metaverse, has announced the merger of infinity.careers and Oppti into Stemuli. Immersive education A lack of engagement in K-12 classrooms today is resulting in math and science scores being at an all-time low. This creates long-lasting negative impacts not only for the students themselves but also for their communities and the national economy. Stemuli reports that we facing a loss of $8.5 trillion in potential earnings because students are not prepared for the workforce that awaits them.
