As Black-owned businesses face increasing financial pressures during and after the startup stage, many of them have sadly had to close their doors. The state of Black entrepreneurship Black Americans are among the most entrepreneurial groups in the nation, with 1 in 5 Black people in the US starting their own business. From 2017 to 2020, the nation witnessed a remarkable 13.64% surge in the number of Black-owned businesses. Black-owned firms brought in an estimated $141.1 billion in gross revenue in 2020 – an impressive 11% increase since 2017. In
This Hispanic Heritage Month we are spotlighting the Hispanic and Latine people shaping the tech world. What is Hispanic Heritage Month? National Hispanic Heritage Month is from September 15 to October 15, and it celebrates the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. The celebration started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was extended to 30 days in 1988. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988, on the approval of
This article was first published by Lindsey Redd on Medium. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been meeting with current and hopeful founders who want to become Y Combinator founders. They’re applying to the Winter 2024 batch, and naturally have a ton of questions about our experience applying and being accepted to YC. One of the main questions I get is “What was your interview experience like?” Of course, before there was the interview, there was the application. This is a story in and of itself that I’ll save for
Business owners of color seeking Small Business Administration (SBA) loans can no longer say their race is a disadvantage without a three-page letter to back it up. According to the Insider, applicants must complete a “social disadvantage narrative” to receive funding through the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development program. SBA’s 8 (a) Program The 8(a) Business Development program is a robust nine-year program created to help firms owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Businesses participating in the program receive training and technical assistance designed to strengthen their ability
Airbnb has announced Google’s Senior Vice President of Research, Tech and Society, James Manyika, is joining its Board of Directors. Meet James Manyika Zimbabwe-born Manyika is Senior Vice President of Google’s Research, Tech and Society Team, a role which includes overseeing Google Labs and Google Research. Manyika is a graduate of both the University of Zimbabwe and the University of Oxford, where he holds two master’s degrees and a PhD in AI and Robotics. He also was a senior partner at McKinsey & Co. and sat as the chairman and
FTX seeks to reverse payments made to Shaquille O’Neal, Naomi Osaka, Stephen Curry, and other celebrity athletes who promoted the crypto exchange before it filed for bankruptcy. FTX’s collapse Sam Bankman-Fried started FTX in 2019 as a digital currency exchange platform that lets people buy and trade cryptocurrency. Customers began opening accounts on FTX to trade and buy cryptocurrency, and top venture capital investors began pouring into it. According to Tech Target, by January 2022, the company was worth $32 billion. However, that ended in November 2022 when an accounting
TIME chose the 100 Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence for the TIME100/AI, featuring several people of color. TIMES’ most knowledgeable editors and reporters spent months fielding recommendations from dozens of sources to assemble hundreds of nominations they whittled down. “We wanted to highlight the industry leaders at the forefront of the AI boom, individuals outside these companies who are grappling with profound ethical questions around the uses of AI, and the innovators around the world who are trying to use AI to address social challenges,” said executive editor Naina
California is working on passing SB 54, the nation’s first legislation to increase diversity in venture capital. In California, venture capital investments do not reflect the state’s diversity, according to the bill. It states that companies founded or co-founded by women receive far less investment funds than companies founded by men. Additionally, companies founded or co-founded by people of color receive far fewer investment funds than companies founded or co-founded by white people. Black founders have long faced challenges securing funding for their businesses, with VC funding dropping by 36%
A leaked Google spreadsheet has revealed that Black employees at Google make $20,000 less on average than their white coworkers. Insider obtained an internal Google spreadsheet with over 12,000 U.S. staff reporting their annual salaries in 2022. The data covers software engineers, business analysts, salespeople, and legal counsel roles. Race disparities The data sheet found that Black staff at Google tend to make $20,000 less than their white co-workers, with $147,000 going to Black workers and $170,000 going to white workers. White staff also got $40,000 more in equity than
Copenhagen-based Unconventional Ventures has announced the second close of its €30 million fund ($32 million), dedicated to investing in diverse founding teams and founders. Unconventional Ventures According to Tech Funding News, Unconventional Ventures (UV) is the only European fund with a diversity impact at its heart. It is an impact-focused investment firm investing in early-stage startups led by underrepresented founders in Europe. Launched by Thea Messel and Nora Barvey in 2018, UV has a VC structure and invests across the Nordics in healthcare, women’s health, diversity tech, sustainable fashion, food
