A total of 17 founders from the Black and Latinx community are now part of the first cohort of ACT House, a new accelerator in the city geared to guide and help scale minority-led startups in Tulsa with coaching, programming, and other services. Each founder will get a $70,000 capital investment to help build its business. The unique collaboration was reportedly done to help revive the ‘Black Wall Street.’ Located in the mainly Black Greenwood district in Tulsa – it was once a famous region with hotels, thriving businesses, and luxury
Nathaniel Wade studied to be an engineer before he dived into the entrepreneurial route. He first started off with a property investment business before going on to launch what he believes will be a leading platform for amplifying Black businesses. Wade, 30, launched Wakuda, also dubbed the ‘Amazon’ or ‘Etsy’ for Black businesses with his long-time friend Albert Larter back in September 2020 during the pandemic. This was a time when thousands in the UK were furloughed, some were let go and others were forced to close the doors to
Ann Lai’s portfolio of work and achievements is impressive. She got a scholarship to attend an elite private school, and then she found out the school didn’t have resources for serious scientific research. But that didn’t stop her. Through her science adviser, she met a chemical and biomolecular engineering professor at Case Western Reserve University and wound up conducting research on sulfur dioxide sensors in his lab, winning prestigious science prizes She was also a violinist, playing in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s preparatory orchestra, and made mixed-media art installations
The cohort includes 35 US creators who will get funding, training, and other resources through the program. The fund provides one year of support, including seed funding for channels, development programs, workshops, and networking opportunities. “Black creators have played an important role in shaping the culture on YouTube. From fashion and comedy to politics, learning, and wellness, Black creators have propelled our platform forward,” the company said in the announcement. A total of 26 African YouTube creators, including 10 Nigerian creators, were also picked. They were chosen to join a
Earlier this year, a two-year-old Thai girl named Matheryn became the youngest person to be cryogenically frozen, preserving her brain moments after death in the hope that she would one day be brought back to life. According to reports, baby Matheryn Naovaratpong, nicknamed Einz, is a patient currently being held at Alcor, an organization currently housing 200 bodies that it hopes to give a second chance of life. The company depends on science and tech to do this. Matheryn died from brain cancer in 2015. Her parents, Nareerat and Sahatorn,
Esusu, a fintech that targets immigrant and minority groups and provides rent reporting and data solutions for credit building, said it had raised $130 million in a Series B fundraising round. The investment gives Esusu, launched in 2018 by co-CEOs Nigerian-born American Abbey Wemimo and Indian American Samir Goel, a valuation of $1 billion, placing it as one of the very few black-owned unicorns in the U.S. and globally. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the funding round, with participation from Jones Feliciano Family Office, Lauder Zinterhofer Family Office, Schusterman Foundation, SoftBank Opportunity Fund, Related
Black Women Talk Tech, a worldwide collective of Black women tech founders, celebrates its longstanding relationship with Microsoft and continues collaboration with a host of new projects for 2022. BWTT seeks to identify, support, and encourage all women to build the next billion-dollar business. Its next event, Face of a Founder Summit, is set for Feb. 24, 2022. In the fifth year of the relationship, Microsoft has supported Black Women Talk Tech’s Roadmap to Billions Conference, which took place at the company’s New York City headquarters in 2018. In addition, Microsoft
NALA, a Tanzanian cross-border payments company that recently pivoted from local to international money transfers, has raised $10 million in a new fundraising round. It comes almost three years after NALA secured a seven-figure pre-seed round led by Accel in 2019. It received funds from an impressive group of angel investors — Jonas Templestein, co-founder and CTO of Monzo; Vladimir Tenev, Robinhood co-founder and CEO; Deel founder Alex Bouaziz; Laura Spiekerman, co-founder of Alloy; Peeyush Ranjan, the head of Google Payments and early employees at Revolut and TransferWise. Sheel Tyle,
Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty has reportedly raised $125 million in a Series C funding round, thanks to investments from a consortium of private equity firms, led by Neuberger Berman. As she sings in Pour It Up, all Rihanna sees are dollar signs. Timed with the opening of the company’s first-ever brick-and-mortar over the weekend, Savage X Fenty has just raised millions from several big0time investors. Neuberger Berman was joined by previous investors L Catterton, Avenir, Sunley House Capital, and Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners. The recent funding round comes on the back of a Series B
As it prepares to open its first-ever retail locations, lingerie brand Savage X Fenty said its inaugural store in Las Vegas would feature augmented reality (AR) technology from apparel matching platform Fit: Match. Fit: Match. is designed to use body scans from Apple devices equipped with lidar to analyze shoppers’ body shape data and find their personal “fit twin” from the unique database created for each retailer. This twin is based on the shape profile of an actual person and functions as the shopper’s fit model. Fit: Match then recommends the
