African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) has successfully closed its fourth pan-African infrastructure fund, African Infrastructure Investment Fund 4 (AIIF4). The fund reached its hard cap with $748 million in commitments and an additional $206 million in co-investments, totaling $954 million. “Given the challenging global fundraising environment, we are delighted to have outperformed the targeted fund size,” said Paul Frankish, AIIM’s Head of Strategic Initiatives according to Shoppe Black. “We received strong support from our existing investor base with a high level of re-ups from the supporters of our previous mandates
A new app why?! founded by former Netflix and Clubhouse executives is set to transform the way people connect with meaningful conversations. Former Netflix and Clubhouse Executives Launch why?! Founded by former Netflix and Clubhouse executives Maya Watson and Lexi Nisita, the app addresses the growing issue of shallow social media interactions and the difficulty in maintaining quality relationships. According to The Harvard Study of Adult Development, the quality of relationships is crucial for a good life, yet 58% of Americans feel that nobody truly knows them. $1.65M Pre-Seed Funding
UK-based Tech1M has secured $750,000 in pre-seed funding in a boost for the human resources (HR) technology sector. The round was led by SFC Capital, known for its recent backing of 4D Medicine and VoltShare, and Techstars. The funding also saw participation from Tech Nation, Barclays Eagle Labs, HSBC Innovation Banking, ICE Network, Vantage, 1000 Black Voices, Foundervine, and GrowLondon Global. Innovating Recruitment with AI Tech1M, founded by Tommie Edwards and Damilola Ogunmoye, is set to transform the talent acquisition landscape with its AI technology. As an alumnus of the
Forbes has unveiled its annual 50 over 50 list, highlighting dynamic female leaders and entrepreneurs who have achieved significant success later in life. Let’s meet some Black women over 50 making moves in tech and proving that success has no age limit. Carlotta Berry – Founder of NoireSTEMinist Berry, 54, a robotics expert and engineering professor at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, founded NoireSTEMinist in 2020. The educational consulting firm promotes diversity in STEM through workshops and products. Berry also co-founded the Rose Building Undergraduate Diversity (ROSE-BUD) program, co-directs a
Vancouver-based outerwear brand Arc’teryx has introduced a new design platform, Walk Gently, which aims to honor and integrate Indigenous high-tech garment design into modern fashion. The platform gives Indigenous artists and designers a voice, showcasing their contributions to high-performance clothing. Indigenous Roots in Technical Design Indigenous peoples across North America have a long history of creating advanced clothing from natural resources. “We are technical designers in our own fashion,” Cole Sparrow-Crawford, an Indigenous artist who grew up in the Musqueam Nation in Vancouver told FastCompany. “We took our resources and
FOSSA, a leading open-source compliance and security platform, has acquired StackShare, a developer community platform. The move aims to bridge the gap between compliance, security, and developer tools, impacting over 1.5 million developers who use StackShare to share and discuss their tech stacks. Integration of Developer Tools and Security FOSSA, valued at over $100 million, started as a tool to help developers manage open-source licenses. Over the years, it has evolved to offer security vulnerability management and Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) management. This expansion has positioned FOSSA as a
Google for Startups Accelerator Africa has revealed its 8th cohort, featuring ten startups from Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa. These ventures are using AI to address significant issues in healthcare, cargo mobility, energy solutions, and beyond. Pioneering Innovation Across Africa Africa’s tech ecosystem is described as a hub of creativity and problem-solving, driven by startups tackling both local and global challenges with exceptional ingenuity. Since its launch in 2018, the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa program has been important in supporting the continent’s startup landscape. The program has now
RUNWAY, a Black-women led financial innovation firm, launched its first in-house integrated capital investment fund. The RUNWAY ROOTED Fund is committed to investing $50 million into businesses, cooperatives, and grassroots organizations that are building wealth in Black communities across select regions in the United States. A New Paradigm in Reparative Finance The RUNWAY ROOTED Fund represents a significant shift from traditional investment models. It serves as a vessel of restitution and revitalization, aiming to address the systemic issues that have long fueled the racial wealth gap. “For too long, the
Venture capitalist (VC) Brittany Davis has shared a list of 80 Black-led VC funds in the US, highlighting the growing presence and influence of Black investors. The Black VC ecosystem Despite the increasing number of Black entrepreneurs, only 2% of VC funds are Black-led according to Davis. In return, Black founders in the US only received 0.48% of all venture dollars in 2023, about $661 million out of $136 billion. Realizing she could not find a recent list of Black-led VC funds, Brittany Davis, a General Partner at Backstage Capital,
Last year, Databricks acquired MosaicML, renamed Mosaic AI, a Black co-founded generative AI (genAI) startup know for its cutting-edge large language (LLMs) models. Building on both companies vision of making genAI accessible for all organizations, Databricks’ Mosaic team has since developed DBRX, one of the fastest and highest-performing LLMs available. Democratizing deep learning Co-founded by Jonathan Frankle PhD ’23 and MIT Associate Professor Michael Carbin, MosaicML started with the mission to make AI models more accessible. The startup developed a platform where users can train, improve, and monitor open-source models
