Europe is “solidifying its place as a global tech power”, according to Atomico’s annual State of European Tech 2021 report. However, research still shows women and minorities are not being given enough investment. European tech is projected to cross the $100B milestones of capital invested in a single year, close to 3 times the level in 2020, reported Dealroom. The total number of tech companies that have scaled to $1B+ in Europe has jumped from 223 last year to 321. Large rounds ($250M+) are now the norm in Europe —
Less than half of Britain’s Black business owners – 43 percent – trust banks to support their interests, a new survey has revealed. The report, entitled ‘Black British In Business and Proud’, highlights the issue of structural racism in terms of accessing capital, and its impact on Black business owners. The research, which was sponsored by Lloyds Bank and undertaken by Savanta, surveyed 808 participants from Black communities in Britain – 345 of whom were Black business owners. It revealed that Black business owners are 21% more likely to be self-financed than
Like many industries, the tech sector still has some way to go in addressing diversity and bias issues and although there has been some progress with big companies like Google creating initatives specifically for minority communities – the work shouldn’t and doesn’t stop there. After diverse intake in companies – what roles are they being given, the salary disparity once in the role, the treatment among colleagues and the handling of racism allegations. We’ve heard countless of stories of Black employees and their allies being sidelined for speaking out against
The UK Black Business Show aims to bring together the best Black start-ups in the country through exhibitions, workshops, interactive panels, and seminars. It’s known to be Europe’s biggest Black-Owned Business show of the year with 4,000 annual attendees, and it’s retaking place on October 30th this year. We’ve broken down everything you need to know before the event What is it exactly? According to its website, this event will enable personal, professional, and corporate development through business exhibitions, deep-dive workshops, interactive panels, and seminars delivered by industry pioneers. To
When it comes to Venture Capital, the UK is far from meeting the necessary targets for diversity, particularly when it comes to the Black community. But Black VCs up and down the country are not staying silent anymore, and many of them are becoming more and more vocal on the lack of diversity in the sector, with some taking matters into their own hands to make an active change. From blogs and podcasts that advise new founders, group mentoring sessions to even launching their own firms specifically for Black aspiring VCs
London-based digital-first car insurance provider Marshmallow has just become the UK’s second Black-founded unicorn after raising an $83million Series B – valuing it at $1.25 billion. The start-up’s founders Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham, who are twins, first launched the platform in 2017 – initially set out to serve ex-pats who struggled to find affordable insurance. But since its boom and rapid scale in business – the firm now describes itself as a “mass market.” According to Sifted, it is one of only two UK insurance start-ups to be granted a license
A spat between the UK Government, PayPal and Kenya freelancers has got everyone mixing up issues. “Thousands of jobless graduates from Kenya who help lazy university students in developed countries to cheat academically could soon be forced to find something else to do after the UK government started clamping down on essay mills. On Thursday, international digital money transfer service, PayPal, announced it was withdrawing its services to essay-writing firms selling to university students. This was after weeks of pressure from the UK government, which insists on stopping payments for
Welcome friends 👋 I had the opportunity to run an interactive workshop this year at Afrotech Fest 2019 in collaboration with Cynthia Mukendy from African Gist. The purpose of the workshop was to brainstorm and create a library for individuals of the African diaspora in the UK who are currently working or interested in Tech. Things that we covered during the session: Forums/communities that cater to individuals currently working or interested in tech. Inspirational people in tech of Black/African/Caribbean descent. Local organisations / business that support with funding / co-working space / mentoring
A long overdue article on the immense black entrepreneurial talent in the UK tech scene. Here we feature founders across sectors as diverse as beauty, event discovery, medicine, artificial intelligence, and IOT. Some have raised money, others are bootstrapping, some are running large agencies, others lean teams. Celebrate their stories. Sharmadean Reid @sharmadeanreid What more can be said about Sharmadean Reid? The founder of WAH nails an amazing salon in West London that integrates technology across the customer experience, she also is the co-founder of futuregirlcorp.com an events organization to support young female
by Steve D. Amara (@amarast) Diversity is less discussed on the East side of the Atlantic, mainly because European countries approach the topic very differently from each other. Nonetheless, major tech hubs have seen some brilliant startups founded people of color, tackling a variety of issues from urban logistics in European capitals to financial inclusion in Emerging Markets. Below are some that really caught our attention. African Markets African Markets is a provider of information and data dedicated to African stock markets. A very comprehensive platform, launched by 30-year-old Cameroonian
