Michael Broughton and Ayush Jain came up with the idea of helping people build credit through recurring payment forms such as digital subscriptions to Netflix, Spotify, and Hulu. It was in December 2019, that they started Altro and began brainstorming how to build out a platform that finds a person’s recurring transactions and connects them to a trade line that reports to all three credit bureaus. A trade line is a line of data that goes directly into a bureau’s system that affects a person’s FICO score, which is used for underwriting.
Recent YC graduate Topship has raised a $2.5 million seed round months after concluding the recent YC winter batch with Flexport as its lead investor. Other backers include Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Starling Ventures, Olive Tree Capital, Capital X and True Capital. The individual investors in the round include Immad Akhund, Mercury CEO and Arash Ferdowsi, co-founder of Dropbox. Topship is considered a borderline local and international shipping solution between digital freight and e-commerce fulfillment. It was founded in 2020 during the pandemic when co-founder and CEO Moses Enenwali reportedly noticed a surge in merchants’ needs for
What does it take to produce hundreds of Doodles a year that celebrate major cultural moments and push critical conversations forward? Perla Campos knows all about it. She leads marketing for Google Doodles, which changes Google’s logo for special occasions. Campos is also a proud Latina who describes her job as “making people feel seen and heard.” Campos usually runs on five-and-a-half hours of sleep, according to her previous media interviews and sometimes she manages about a dozen doodles at a time and is in constant talks with ‘Googlers’ around
Black people have a significant legacy in the scientific and engineering fields. It’s important to remember and honor that legacy and highlight the brilliant work done by Black people – both past and present. Though this list is by no means complete, below are five scientists, engineers, and inventors whose work we all should know. Jerry Lawson – past The self-taught engineer helped create the Fairchild Channel F, the first home video game system that could play interchangeable games. Previously, video arcade machines played just a single game, but Lawson’s
Precious Drews’ personal story is one of perseverance and passion. She’s the second youngest of eight children and first became an entrepreneur in middle school – making YouTube videos for her favorite artists in exchange for easy money. Although she didn’t consider herself an entrepreneur – anyone that hears her story can be quick to identify her as a natural-born leader. She was also the first in her family to go to college and later start her own small business – a natural skin care line that uses recycled coffee
Chicago teenager, Zaire Horton, will be embarking on a solo trip in his motor glider with plans to visit seven HBCUs that were influential in teaching pioneering Black pilots during World War II. By age 14, Horton was learning how to fly a motor glider and by 15 – he was able to soar the skies solo. When he turned 16, he obtained his glider pilot’s license and at 17 Horton expects to receive his private pilot and aeromechanics license before graduating from high school. According to  CBS News, the teen pilot started
The Harvard professor and sociologist has spent over a decade conducting research centered on skin tone and the effects of colorism in society. Now Google has just announced in a tweet that together – they’re releasing a new skin tone scale designed to be more inclusive of the full spectrum of skin tones. This is the next step in the firm’s commitment to image equity and improving representation across Its products. According to a press release sent to AfroTech, Google is proudly announcing a new industry standard backed by Dr. Monk’s findings.
Donald Boone, CEO of BoxedUp, an equipment rental company, started the company back in 2019. He would spend hours and even days packaging orders himself with dozens of equipment lying around his family home. Now he runs a three-person company that’s got $2.3M in funding. The 30-something-year-old Maryland native had the realization that in order to make an impact on his community- he needed to find a way to pursue entrepreneurship full time. After a corporate career in engineering, a failed startup, and a career at Amazon, he’s found a
Cryptocurrency has created wealth and opportunity – with a generous dash of controversy – for millions around the globe but for Himanshu Kumar, a college drop-out from the Indian city of Bengaluru, Crypto has been the thing that has made his dreams become a reality. Today he runs AMB Crypto, a global media company that serves digestible, unbiased cryptocurrency news to traders, enthusiasts, and entrepreneurs, with Jeevan Thomas. The duo now employs 15 graduate journalists, has a newsletter with thousands of subscribers, and over 3 million visitors to the website every month, according to
Identitypass today announced that it has raised $2.8 million in seed funding, months after graduating from Y Combinator. The round also comes a few months after the startup raised $360,000 in pre-seed investment last November, bringing its total funding to $3.1 million.  The startup, launched in 2021, is focused on making it possible for digital businesses in Africa to easily verify their customers within seconds. It’s a simple compliance and data security platform that allows online businesses to easily verify and confirm a transacting party’s identity using existing forms of identification. Identitypass
