In the US, accelerators like Techstars and Y Combinator are the most active investors in Black founders, followed by early-stage investors like Backstage Capital and Kapor Capital that focus on diverse founders. As we already know, Black founders often get a small portion of the pie when it comes to investment – which is why it’s essential to highlight the VCs dedicated to investing in minority communities and those who have a history of supporting under-appreciated groups. We’ve sifted through a list created by the Black Founders list of VC firms across the US that
Cash App has launched Cash App Studios, which allows the mobile payment service to invest in creators’ projects. Creatives include artists, designers, directors, and musicians. In an official statement, Brian Grassadonia, lead at Cash App, said: “We’ve long upheld the importance of artistic expression at Cash App. With the introduction of Cash App Studios, we’ll continue to support the artist’s freedom, both financially and creatively. “In keeping with our guiding principle of economic empowerment, we are excited to support emerging artists who are limitless in their vision with this new program.” Artists
Clubhouse has added a new “music mode” on its app – giving musicians who play live on the social network their own special set of tools to optimize sound quality. The feature will hit iOS first before rolling out to Android. The company said the new feature would allow users to “broadcast with high quality and great stereo sound” — giving listeners a rich listening experience. It added that music mode will also make it possible to hook pro-level audio equipment like mixing boards and mics into Clubhouse. This is
Brandwatch is hiring on pocitjobs.com Having worked at digital consumer intelligence platform Brandwatch for six years, Tara Seney has been Global Workplace Planning Manager for the past 20 months. Her time in the role has coincided with the pandemic, and as such, a lot of her work has focused on the company’s transition to remote work. In this interview, Tara talks about how Brandwatch has maintained a sense of community within the context of hybrid working and how they’ve evolved their diversity and inclusion initiatives in this new reality. Hey
Looking back I was generally pretty good at school because to me it was a simple bargain. You go to this location every weekday, listen to someone older than you teach, then on your own time you optionally need to study the concept and apply them to tests. I was a straight-A student and it quickly became a point of pride for me and people who knew me. I was considered “smart”, but looking back I can see that I was mainly regurgitating facts and logic. Lucky for me, this
Award-winning Canadian choreographer, Laurieann Gibson, has joined forces with Los-Angeles based Cinedigm to launch the BOP (Born Out Of Passion) Network. BOP will be the only destination for 24/7 access to premier dance content, which includes documentaries, licensed movies, musicals, music videos and series. It will be the first multimedia streaming service offering an all-inclusive slate of global dance-related programming. The network will also feature scripted and non-scripted original content as well as dance tutorials led by Gibson, her peers, and other industry influencers. In an official statement – Chris McGurk, Chairman & CEO
Stage11 has raised a whopping $5.7M to help the likes of Snoop Dogg and Akon – so the moguls can monetize their music using NFTs. The company, founded by Jonathan Belolo, the co-owner of Scorpio Music, develops new landscapes for artists to have a creative outlet to engage with their fans through interactive performances and music worlds. According to PR Newswire, the seed round was led by the European venture capital fund, Otium Capital totaling $5.77 million. “As a gamer and sci-fi nerd, It feels like I’ve been dreaming about
Coinbase and UnitedMasters, a company that distributes music, have signed a deal to allow artists to receive their payments in cryptocurrencies. The Black-owned company, founded by Steve Stoutes, is now one of the first to offer, according to a report by Bloomberg. The partnership’s goal is to “empower independent artists by giving them transparency, equity, and control over their earnings.” Payments are set to be made through Coinbase’s payroll product. UnitedMasters stressed that with this new means of receiving payments, the music artists can now participate in a more equitable
Kave Bulambo, who grew up in South Africa before moving to Berlin, noticed the lack of diversity in tech in the European nation when she first landed a role in the sector. But it was when she realized that she also had just one Black engineer at her own start-up that she decided action seriously needed to be taken. That’s when she launched “Black in Tech Berlin,” a network surpassing more than 600 Black people in the tech and business sector – from founders, software engineers to designers. Before the
Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners is adding spatial LABS, a metaverse and blockchain-based tech incubator, to its growing list of crypto investments, according to a report from Billboard. Founded by 24-year-old entrepreneur Iddris Sandu, next year, sLABS will launch its first product, “LNQ,” a blockchain-enabled hardware platform that helps onboard young creators to the metaverse, according to widely shared reports. “Iddris has a conscious world view and a youth-centric vision that is innovative and refreshing to witness,” Jay-Z said in a statement. “We share similar parallels in how we imagine impacting
