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25-year-old Iddris Sandu is a technologist and founder of Spatial Labs (sLabs) an organization committed to reshaping the future of commerce, Blockchain technology, and fashion.  The technologist, born in Accra, Ghana, moved to Los Angeles when he was three years old. After teaching himself how to code and partaking in a range of internships and consultancy programs, Sandu set his sights on reshaping the way technology exists in the world. Additionally, he stuck to his word and became one of the youngest founders to enter Black Enterprise’s 40 under 40 list. The

Serena Williams is making big moves in the venture capital world. After announcing earlier this year, that she would be stepping away from tennis, Williams has embodied the phrase ‘put your money where your mouth is, by investing over $100 million in early-stage startups.  Ugandan-based fintech, Numida, is the latest business to benefit from investment from Serena Ventures. The fintech recently raised $12.3M in a pre-series A funding round led by Serena Ventures. Participation included the Pan-African VC fund, Launch Africa, Breega, Soma Capital, Y Combinator, and MFS Africa.   What is

Nigerian startup Stears has announced a $3.3 million seed round led by MaC Venture Capital which included Serena Ventures. What started as a written media publication by a group of Nigerian graduates is now a growing data insights company with its sights set on rivalling the likes of Bloomberg. Backed by Serena Ventures Serena Williams was playing in the US Open when the seed round for Stears came together. Nevertheless, according to Serena Ventures’ founding general partner, they were keen to invest and fought “tooth and nail” to get in.

The Congressional Black Caucus Institute (CBCI) is launching a new AI tech platform that matches public policy corporations with CBCI-vetted job seekers.  Founded in 2000, the CBCI is a nonprofit social welfare organization that aims to educate and empower the African American community around issues that impact it the most. The CBCI’s latest initiative, the Career Placement Initiative (CPI), aims to diversify hiring in the public policy space. The Career Placement Initiative So how does it work? Employers bulk upload communications, legal, public policy, and government relations job openings to the platform. The

Funding for African startups has hit a new record between January and June. According to reports, the African market is the first to see more than a single digit of growth which was extremely unpredictable considering the slowdown globally.  Venture capital deals within the African region reached a striking $3.5 billion in six months, with no other continent coming marginally as close to Africa’s startup funding growth.  Of the 300 companies that benefitted from this funding, 27% were led by female founders or had at least one female founder. This is

Black couple DeMario and Dawn Nicole McIlawin are the creators behind Skilldora. This Black-owned edtech startup is one of the first e-learning platforms to embrace “digitally created humans,” also known as AI instructors.  Skilldora has partnered with Israel-based company, D-ID, to accelerate academic learning for the next generation. According to Yahoo Finance, edtech startups have helped boost the educational sector. Online education is now one of the most effective and fastest ways for modern learners to learn seamlessly.  Skilldora is on a mission to revolutionize the education system by becoming

IBM has announced the launch of Cybersecurity Leadership Centers across six HBCUs.  The move aims to give students and faculty access to IBM training, software, and certifications at no extra cost.  Underrepresented students and professors can receive help with coursework, lectures, immersive training experiences, and knowledgeable skills they can always take with them as they grow.  According to IBM, the program will be available at 20 HBCUs across 11 states to help co-create Cybersecurity Leadership Centers and create talent opportunities for employers and students combined.  “Collaborations between academia and the private

Black-owned health startup Ubenwa uses artificial intelligence to detect early diseases in babies and their cries.  The startup’s learning system analyzes the amplitude of a baby’s cry and uses cutting-edge AI to diagnose infants up to six months old. By analyzing the frequency patterns of a baby’s cry, the AI-powered software picks up on brain and lung conditions in young infants.  Communicating with babies Ubenwa was co-founded in 2017 by Charles Onu, Samantha Latremouille, and Innocent Udeogu. The startup combines AI techniques with medical expertise to detect breathing conditions and

Byld Ventures, a $15 million fund launched this May, has eyes for startups mainly across Egypt and Nigeria due to the partners’ experiences in those markets. Byld Ventures reached its first close almost in June and a second close at $10 million last month. It expects to achieve its final close by year’s end, according to TechCrunch. Over a dozen athletes have backed the fund as well as the Dubai government and several unnamed institutional LPs. The early-stage fund — which has made four investments: Ceviant, Apata, Thepeer and Anchor — consists of four

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