OpenseedVC has reached the first close of its $10 million fund for operator-led startups in Africa and Europe. Founded by former Octopus Ventures and Oxford Seed Fund investor Maria Rotilu, OpenseedVC is a new solo General Partner (GP) that aims to be the first check for startups. OpenSeedVC: Filling a Crucial Funding Gap According to Sifted, Rotilu is Europe’s first Black solo GP and one of the first female solo GPs in the region. Rotilu’s strategy with OpenseedVC is to back startups even earlier than the pre-seed stage, at a
Viola Davis, journalist Joy Reid, and radio host Charlamagne Tha God are among the partners that have teamed up with The Grio founder David A. Wilson and tech leader Brandon John-Freso to launch ALTR. ATLR pronounced ‘alter’, is a personal development app tailored to the Black community. A Collaborative Vision for Empowerment ATLR aims to provide short-form audiobooks by Black luminaries and authors. It is currently open for early access sign-ups and is scheduled for an official launch in late 2024. The development of ALTR is in collaboration with JuVee Productions, founded by Davis
NBA legend Charles Barkley has pledged a $1 million donation to St. Mary’s Academy, where two high school students, Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Johnson, claimed to have solved a mathematical mystery. The duo’s work, unveiled at the American Mathematical Society’s Annual Southeastern Conference, presented a new proof of Pythagoras’ theorem that many mathematicians thought impossible. Jackson and Johnson have submitted their discoveries for final peer review and publication. NBA Legend Charles Barkley’s Donation After learning about their achievement during a segment on CBS’ “60 Minutes” featuring St. Mary’s Academy, Barkley was deeply moved
Irving L. Peddrew III, the first African American admitted to Virginia Tech, has passed away at the age of 88. Breaking Barriers in Education In 1954, Irving Peddrew made history as the first Black student admitted to Virginia Tech, a historically white, four-year public institution in the former states of the Confederacy. Despite the milestone, Peddrew faced a level of adversity, including being forced to live and eat off campus due to segregation. He found a home with a Black couple, Janie and William Hoge, who supported him during his
Eight TikTok creators have filed a lawsuit against the US government over their new law that would force the sale or ban of the video app, owned by Chinese ByteDanceLTD. The Potential TikTok Ban So Far Joe Biden recently signed into law a bill that requires TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the social media app’s US operations or face a ban, after the Senate passed the legislation. The bill gives TikTok’s Beijing-based parent, ByteDance, 270 days to sell the app’s US operations and if not, it will then face a
Brand new Techish! Hosts Abadesi and Michael are back in the studio to break down: The dark side of the Drake vs Kendrick beef Google employees fired for protesting Israeli contract Stack Overflow partners with OpenAI The real reason behind the TikTok ban? Listen on Spotify or Apple podcast also. Watch On YouTube
Terri Burns, 26, the youngest partner in GV’s history and its first Black female partner, is launching her firm, Type Capital, according to Fortune. Breaking the Heat Cycle During her time at GV, formerly Google Ventures, Burns witnessed a recurrent issue within VC funding strategies: the reliance on “heat” from other investors before committing to a deal. “A lot of investors are driven by heat, versus being driven by true innovation,” she told Fortune. “[Founders are] talking to amazing investors, they’re getting some interest, but no one’s really willing to take the leap
Fanbase, a social media platform used to monetize content creation, has reached $10 million through equity crowdfunding, setting the stage for a $17 million campaign. Fanbase’s Crowdfunding campaigns The funding has reportedly marked founder Isaac Hayes III as the first Black man to accomplish this feat in a Regulation Crowdfunding campaign via StartEngine. Hayes created Fanbase to enable Black creators to cultivate their audiences and monetize their contributions effectively. According to a press release, Fanbase had raised over $10 million from three crowdfunding campaigns and 14,000 over investors via StartEngine. The company recently
Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners Eyes Billion-Dollar Merger With Investment Arm Of Pendulum Holdings
Marcy Venture Partners (MVP), co-founded by “Jay-Z” Carter, is reportedly nearing a significant merger with Pendulum Holdings’ investment arm Merger Talks According to Bloomberg, the merger could create a new entity with over $1 billion in assets under management. Sources close to the discussions, who preferred to remain anonymous, have indicated that the merger between these two California-based powerhouses is almost finalized. Both entities have declined to comment on these speculations. Culture-driven investments Marcy Venture Partners, established in 2018 by Jay-Z alongside Jay Brown and Larry Marcus, has demonstrated an eye for culture-driven investments. Its
Microsoft Corporation has decided to close the engineering section of its Africa Development Center (ADC) in Lagos, just two years after its inception. Economic Instability Leads to Closure The decision to shut down the ADC in Lagos adds to Nigeria’s broader economic challenges, including a persistent currency crisis, dollar shortages, and high inflation. These factors have impacted business growth and diminished consumer purchasing power, prompting companies like Procter & Gamble, GSK, and Bayer to overhaul their African strategies. “Microsoft has decided to close the Africa Development Centre in Nigeria, and
