The nonprofit social startup digitalundivided has released its latest Project Diane report unveiling the experiences of Latina and Black women tech entrepreneurs. Catalyzing Latina and Black women’s growth Founded in 2012, the Newark-based startup leverages data, programs, and advocacy to catalyze economic growth for Latina and Black women founders at all stages of their entrepreneurial and funding journeys. In 2016, digitalundivided launched the Project Diane Report, the first biennial demographic study that captures the experiences of Latina and Black women tech founders. “Building on the legacy of women like Diane Nash who worked
Frequency People is the Black-owned social collaboration platform that lets creators control almost every aspect of the online communities they build. Individual users and businesses can create a public or private community to connect with those with similar interests. Followers can join these communities or networks and choose to pay for access to exclusive content. This means that brands, influencers, artists, and other creatives can seamlessly monetize their followers through ticket sales, ads, subscriptions to exclusive lives, AR content, and NFTs. Atlanta-based duo John York and John McAdory founded Frequency
Every year, Forbes spotlights the under-30s blazing a trail in their respective fields. With the release of the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe list, we’ve rounded up some of the Black and Brown tech founders recognized as powering a digital revolution. Lethabo Motsoaledi Co-Founder and CTO, Voyc Lethabo Motsoaledi is the co-founder and CTO of Voyc, which uses AI speech analytics software to monitor call center interactions and provide valuable insights. Motsoaledi and her co-founder moved their HQ from South Africa to the Netherlands in 2020 to take advantage of the
Black-owned startup Equipt is using the power of the community to help tech workers bounce back from layoffs. In 2021, Olajide “Jide” Osan and Hubert Dagbo co-founded Equipt as a talent marketplace using upskilling events to connect job seekers with potential employers. After first meeting at Lehigh University in 2008, Dagbo and Osan found mentors who used their skills and networks to find career opportunities in finance and tech, respectively. The pair reconnected during the Covid-19 pandemic and launched Equipt, using technology to replicate the path they followed years prior.
Brooklyn-based climate tech company BlocPower has raised $150 million to drive its mission of making America’s buildings greener. The round included over $24 million of Series B corporate equity led by VoLo Earth Ventures and $130 million of debt financing led by Goldman Sachs. Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Credit Suisse, Builders Vision, and New York State Ventures were among the investors. Making buildings greener 10% of all US greenhouse gas emissions come from burning fossil fuels in homes and buildings for heating and cooking. Traditional heating and cooking appliances that run
Google for Startups is accepting applications for its Black Founders Funds in the US, Europe, Africa, and Brazil, and its Latino Founders Fund in the US. This year also marks the first time Google for Startups has opened the US funds to the public. In previous years, Google reportedly selected US businesses solely through referrals. Less than 0.5% of funding goes to Black-led startups, even though 77% of them are revenue-generating and create an average of 5.4 jobs each. First announced in June 2020, the Black Founders Fund was launched as
Black-owned startup Robin AI has raised $10.5 million to transform the legal industry with its AI-driven contract editor. What is Robin AI? Robin AI is the brainchild of former Clifford Chance lawyer Richard Robinson and former machine learning research scientist James Clough. The startup trained its machine learning model on data from 4.5 million legal documents with input from in-house lawyers to create a ‘lawyer bot’ that can draft and edit legal contracts. On average, users can draft and negotiate contracts up to 80% faster, saving up to 75% on
Four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry has partnered with AI platform Simplicity to help increase the quality of life for city-dwellers across the country. Simplicity is an AI-driven platform offering a one-stop shop for everything happening in a city. Through cutting-edge technology, Simplicity aims to simplify government services, streamline communication, and enhance cities’ relationships with local communities. The platform is already in operation in over 30 major cities across the US, from New York City to Austin and Los Angeles to Cleveland and more. Curry’s involvement with Simplicity is a natural extension of
Onu, founded by Lindsey Redd and Chine Ikoro, is a developer-first program designed to help engineers have a smoother workflow. The platform – yet to be launched – allows engineers to quickly turn their ops/CV-related scripts and workflows into internal tools without requiring frontend work. Redd and Ikoro are software engineers who met five years ago while working at Lyft and Stripe. The pair who are now YC founders started the initiative after experiencing first-hand how difficult it can be to operate in a fast-moving environment without internal tooling. Companies like Stripe have
The 18-Year-Old Making Computer Science Education Accessible For Students With Learning Disabilities
Mohammed Shirmohammadi – also known as “Mo” – is the 18-year-old founder of the non-profit organization Code Can Bridge. The initiative is actively working to make coding accessible to all students, regardless of socioeconomic status or abilities. Shirmohammadi – the brains behind the platform – has always been labeled a go-getter. In an interview with Forbes, the entrepreneur shared his long-term vision of leaving an everlasting dent in the universe, driven by technology. “Computer science is so impactful. We live in a world that’s basically computer-driven, and things are becoming more and
