Timbaland and Swizz Beats co-founded Verzuz during the peak of the first pandemic. The platform has provided millions of viewers with entertainment from the comfort of their homes. The show, which sparked success after hosting some exciting head-to-head music battles, was acquired by Triller in 2021. The deal included Swizz Beats and Timbaland directing a portion of their equity stake to 43 artists who have made appearances on the platform. The agreement also involved the award-winning producers overseeing Triller’s music strategy. Many speculated the video app acquiring Verzuz would impact
Children’s social media platform Zigazoo has raised $17 million in Series A funding. Liberty City Ventures led the funding round, which included the National Basketball Association (NBA), Causeway Capital Management, Dapper Labs, OneFootball, Medici VC, Animoca Brands, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Zigazoo, founded by Zak Ringelstein in 2020, has become one of the leading platforms for children’s short-form videos. The digital program, which has recently launched a non-fungible token (NFT) collection, aims to provide children with a safe and positive community where they can find joy, develop healthy online relationships,
The hashtag VCTok is slowly but steadily growing along with founderstiktok. TikTok has more than 1 billion users — the majority of whom are under the age of 30. So it’s the perfect place for firms looking to tap into the younger market or for business owners who want to attract more customers. Back in January, Redpoint Ventures gave Rashad Assir just one task: Make TikToks about venture capital. The request, which some could argue was a bit strange coming from a VC firm, came after Assir amassed more than 56,000 followers
Cryptocurrency platform Binance has joined forces with TikTok star Khaby Lame for the launch of their new NFT series. The influencer, who will join the team as a brand ambassador, will use his signature moves to debunk myths surrounding crypto and the blockchain space. The partnership will see Lame create content that helps clear up any misconceptions people may have around Web3 and cryptocurrencies. As a result, fans will not only be able to purchase exclusive Khaby Lame NFT collections, but they will also have access to educational resources to
Black-owned venture capital firm, Backstage Capital, has cut 75% of its operational staff due to fundraising and growth challenges, both externally and internally. Backstage Capital, founded by Arlan Hamilton in 2015, was one of the first VC firms to dedicate their services to minimizing the funding disparities in tech by investing in high-potential founders of color, women, and LGBT members. The firm, which Hamilton built from the ground up while homeless, invested in over 170 start-up companies led by underrepresented founders. The decision to downsize its team came just three
22-year-old Khaby Lame (@khaby.lame) has officially become the most-followed person on TikTok after accumulating 142.8 million followers on the platform, ultimately making him the official king of TikTok. Khaby Lame, who first joined the app in March 2020, managed to cultivate a cult-like following in just over a year without saying a word. Over the past few weeks, his fans across the world launched a social media hashtag (#KhabyToNumberOne) to push him past TikTok creator Charli D’Amelio, who previously held the top spot with 142.3 million followers. “I don’t care
After weeks of speculation about a leaked draft opinion that indicated that abortion would no longer be guaranteed as a federal right but instead left up to the states to decide, the United States Supreme Court has officially overturned Roe v. Wade. The move will allow more than half of states to ban abortion, with an immediate and enduring impact on tens of millions of Americans. The court decided there is no constitutional right to abortion in a case called Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In reaching that decision, the conservative-majority
YouTube has officially opened grant applications for the #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund Class of 2023. The $100 million funds will amplify and nurture Black voices in the creator community. The grant program, which the video platform first launched in 2020, was primarily designed to help support and nurture Black creators and artists, from musicians and lawyers to gamers and fitness instructors. The scheme has welcomed over 300 grantees from the United States, Kenya, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, and Nigeria in just over two years. The program has not
TikTok user Natasha (@tashathecaptain) worked as a tech lead at a drink distribution company. She helped create new systems to help support drivers who may have experienced technical issues traveling across the country. After three years, she decided to resign after feeling overworked, underpaid, and a lack of recognition for some of the new initiatives she had implemented and created to help build the company. After attending her first-ever tech conference in Colorado, Natasha was taken aback by the lack of diversity. After realizing she was the only Black woman
Meta Chicago is reportedly set to launch software engineering courses to bring more Black people into tech. The underrepresentation of African Americans in tech has been an issue since the 1970s when the Bay Area became Silicon Valley. And while one can say it’s gotten better, there is still a way to go. In 2018, according to Silicon Valley Bank, only 1% of venture capital dollars went to Black start-up founders, and Black employees made up only 2.8% of Google’s technical roles and 4.8% of their entire workforce. More recently, Twitter reported
