Incredible Health, an award-winning job-matching platform for nurses, has closed an $80 million Series B funding round. The latest funding round was led by Base10 Partners, including investors Andreessen Horowitz and Obvious Ventures. To date, the digital marketplace has hit a staggering $1.65 billion valuation, making its founder, Dr Iman Abuzeid, one of the very few Black female founders spearheading a unicorn company. Abuzeid founded the nurse-hiring startup in 2017 to act as the bridge between healthcare workers and industry hires, matching “the right nurse with the right role at
Tech startup ImIn has further closed $1 million in seed funding to expand its employee scheduling app. Black-led venture capital firm Collab Capital led the funding round. ImIn, founded by Chime Solutions exec Lauren Wilson, is a staffing software platform aimed at helping the call center industry. After seven years of working at her father’s high-volume call center business, Wilson came up with the idea to launch her app after identifying the missed opportunities both companies faced because of a familiar yet widely accepted industry challenge: absenteeism. According to a 2017 US Department
Black-owned digital app, ShearShare, has raised $2.3M in a seed funding round led by Fearless Fund. The round also included Level Up Ventures, New York Ventures, Gaingels, Chloe Capital, Portfolia, Pipline Angels, Bacon Family Trust, and ACV Auctions co-founder Jack Greco. The additional funding brings ShearShare’s total funding amount to $6.2M. Known to many as the “HairBnB,” ShearShare has created an easily accessible mobile app that provides licensed beauty and barbering professionals with flexible and affordable spaces to rent. In addition, entrepreneurs can use these spaces with no-term leases or commission fees.
The pre-seed fund, Visible Hands, has officially launched the second cohort of its “Visionaries Accelerator” program. The initiative, which aims to support overlooked and underrepresented founders, welcomed 51 new founders to its flagship program. The program, which will take place from September to December, will see each company work full-time towards building their business, with financial support from the Visible Hands team. Each founder will receive a starting investment of $25,000. Throughout the program, they will have the chance to earn additional assets of up to $150,000 as they progress.
Venture capital firm, LatinxVC, has opened applications for the third cohort of LatinxVC fellows. The eight-week program prepares participants for a successful analyst, associate, and senior associate role at a venture capital firm. In addition, the program will equip Latinx candidates with the tools needed to succeed and break into the investment world. LatinxVC was founded in 2019 by Rami Reyes, Maria Salamanca, and six other Latinx professionals. It works to grow the number of Latinx professionals in venture capital by helping them develop their careers and network. Their eight-week program
Black-owned digital bookkeeping platform, Pastel, has raised $5.5 million in a seed funding round. The round led by pan-African venture capital firm TLcom Capital also included other VC firms such as Global Founders Capital, Golden Palm Investments, DFS Labs, Ulu Ventures and Plug and Play, and Soma Cup. Pastel, co-founded in 2020 by Abuzar Royesh, Olamide Oladeji, and Izunna Okonkwo, is a platform designed to help build digital tools to provide a solution to issues small businesses across Africa face. The platform’s primary goal is to unlock the potential of
B2B startup Vori has raised $10 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by Silicon Valley-based venture fund, The Factory, and included participation from Greylock, E2JDJ, MKT1, and Mollie Stone’s Markets. Vori, founded in 2019 by Brandon Hill, Robert Pinkerton, and Tremaine Kirkman, is revolutionizing the grocery industry with its B2B operating system. Vori’s platform is committed to enhancing retailers’ inventory workflows by digitizing traditionally labor-intensive processes. Their work unlocks the data required for grocery retailers, brands, and distributors to effectively address food access and food waste
Black-owned SaaS startup, Stimulus recently closed a $2.5 million seed round. The funding round was led by Black Ops VC and included Genius Guild, Morgan Stanley, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, REFASHIOND Ventures, Bronze Valley, The BFM Fund, Plain Sight Capital, Penn Medicine, and a few angel investors. Stimulus, founded in 2017 by Tiffanie Stanard, is a relationship intelligence (SaaS) platform that uses data insights and relationship-building tools to help companies make the best purchasing decisions while assisting them in optimizing, nurturing, and growing their supplier ecosystems. The company’s mission is to help businesses
Backstage Capital, one of the first venture capital firms to pave the way for hundreds of underrepresented founders, has announced Bank of America as the latest investor in its Opportunity Fund I. The investment firm, founded by Arlan Hamilton, has been investing in underestimated founders since 2015. As a result, the platform has one of the largest portfolios of underrepresented founders in venture capital. Their portfolio comprises 200 companies led by women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ founders. According to a press release, Bank of America recently announced that it had
Black-owned digital health platform, She Matters has closed a $1.5 million pre-seed investment fund. The funding round included participation from Oxeon Ventures, Chingona Ventures, New York University, The Fund, and Techstars. The platform, co-founded by Jade Kearney and Marguerite Pierce, is a social networking platform designed to support Black mothers who experience postpartum comorbidities. The organization provides mothers access to a community, culturally competent healthcare, and culturally relevant resources. Additionally, they train healthcare providers on culturally appropriate healthcare and help them understand Black women’s challenges. She Matters’ original mission was
