POCIT recently sat down with Bruce Hamilton, 30, and Mario Mitchel, 35, the founders of Mech Ventures, an early to late-stage venture capital firm that invests early in founders building fast-growing technology companies.
Cambridge-based post-seed accelerator Deeptech Labs has announced its autumn deeptech startup cohort.
Black-owned startups will soon have access to billions of dollars, thanks to this latest move by Vice President Kamala Harris.
California’s civil rights regulator is investigating Google’s treatment of Black female workers following alleged incidents of harassment and discrimination, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurship, a firm helping Black entrepreneurs with mentorship and networking, is set to receive a $1 million donation and partnership as it ramps up programming after more than a year of pandemic-related delays. It has now raised more than $34 million from about 48 partners to build out its facilities and resources, CEO Jay Bailey said. And the Global financial technology company Fiserv Inc. (Nasdaq: FISV) is the latest corporate giant to support the center.
And with a more pronounced focus to increase innovative education and close society’s opportunity gap, DeVry University has added two prominent Latina leaders to help in that effort.
Black tech entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom are not shying away from speaking about the difficulties of getting funding from investors. Now they say they have to rely on foreign investors to get their businesses off the ground. When I first heard that this was happening – I wasn’t entirely shocked because this conversation had been long brewing for many years now. Between 2009 and 2019, only 0.24% of all venture capital available to UK startups went to just 38 Black founders, according to Extend Ventures, a non-profit that tracks the
Google has announced that it has made the first investment from its Africa Investment Fund in Ugandan super app SafeBoda. The undisclosed investment comes two months after Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced the tech giant’s intentions to commit $1 billion over the next five years in “tech-led initiatives”, which includes a $50 million Africa Investment Fund targeted at early- and growth-stage startups on the continent. SafeBoda has rarely spoken publicly of any of its funding rounds since its inception in 2017. Still, people who know the company’s dealings say it has raised over $20 million, according to TechCrunch.
A female-centered private equity fund dubbed Alitheia IDF has raised $100 million to support “gender-diverse businesses” in Africa. The news comes just one year after raising $75 million from investors. This is a massive achievement as women-only founders have received less than 1% of the nearly $5 billion raised by startups across Africa so far this year. This time around, involved in the fundraising was the African Development Bank, Bank of Industry Nigeria, FinDev Canada, Dutch Good Growth Fund, and the European Investment Bank. Closing the round, European Investment Bank (EIB) committed $24.6 million.
Microsoft has finally shared an update on promoting racial equity in the US by investing in and working with Black and African American-led financial institutions, suppliers, and partners. It reports that it has reached its goal of committing $100 million to mission-driven banks, which provide capital to diverse communities. The giant has also beat its target of doubling the percentage of transactions it conducts with Black and African American-owned financial institutions. As part of its Black Growth Partner Initiative, Microsoft created $50 million funds to invest in small businesses and startups
