Black duo Estelle Agyeman and Temi Olusanya, the co-founders of KARR, are using their platform to make it easier for businesses to fight parking fines. KARR’s Journey The B2C parking fine technology platform KARR was born out of a need to simplify the often-tedious process of managing parking fines for businesses operating with multiple vehicles. The pair’s journey kicked off at a London startup weekend in 2022 when they won £10,000 in a pitch competition. The inception of KARR was driven by Agyeman’s personal experiences with parking fines at the university. “Back when I
Robinhood, the renowned trading and investing platform, has partnered with Rich Paul, the founder of KLUTCH Sports Group and LeBron James’ agent. Robinhood ventures into sports and entertainment Robinhood is a stock brokerage that allows customers to buy and sell stocks, options, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies with zero commission. Announced on Thursday, this collaboration marks Robinhood’s ambitious venture into the realms of sports, entertainment, and media. The fintech firm prides itself on introducing a diverse range of first-time investors to the market, aligning with Paul’s impactful history in sports management. Meet
Raioni Madison transitioned from a classroom teacher to the full-time leader of 3D Girls Inc., a testament to her unwavering commitment to empowering young women. Meet Raioni Madison In 2019, Raioni Madison, an educator with a rich family history in teaching, made a momentous decision. She bid adieu to her teaching job to focus entirely on 3D Girls Inc., a nonprofit she founded in 2012. Her dedication to addressing the disparities in resources and opportunities for young girls, particularly in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), fueled this leap.
MOONHUB has recently announced a significant boost to its growth and innovation efforts with an investment of €1.3 million ($1.4 million), led by Unconventional Ventures. The round, backed by Pi Labs and Ada Ventures, has raised MOONHUB’s total funding to an impressive €4.1 million ($4.5 million). MOONHUB’s Story MOONHUB is a trailblazing, interactive virtual reality (VR) training platform. Founded in 2016 by CEO Dami Hastrup and co-founders Vinh Ly and Hannah Sutcliffe, MOONHUB is pioneering in learning and development. Its platform offers CPD-accredited immersive VR learning experiences featuring its patented Spot and Jot technology. This approach has seen the
Lucy Guo, a self-made millionaire and co-founder of the $7 billion-valued unicorn Scale AI, is making headlines again with her platform Passes, according to Fortune. Lucy Guo And Passes At 29, Guo has secured $40 million in Series A funding for her new venture, Passes, a creator monetization platform. Passes, previously used by Black Chyna, aims to revolutionize how content creators earn money. The $40 million round was led by the San Francisco-based Bond, spearheaded by Kleiner Perkins alums Mary Meeker and Mood Rowghani. Skims co-founders Emma and Jens Grede
UK-based Black woman-founded digital health startup SökerData, has been awarded a share of a £6.2 million ($7.8 million) grant from Innovate UK. SökerData Research has found that people of European genetic ancestry represent a disproportionate 80% of participants in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). By contrast, only 2% of participants have African genetic ancestry. This imbalance has profound implications, especially in diseases like breast cancer, where outcomes vary significantly across ethnicities. SökerData’s project focuses on building a diverse biomarker database, a critical resource in the realm of medical research. Biomarkers are
Black Tech Nation Ventures (BTN.vc), a venture firm based in Pittsburgh, has announced the final close of a $50 million inaugural fund. BTN.vc This fund specifically targets software startups led by founders from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, including Black, Latinx, Indigenous, female, and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs. BTN.vc’s founding in 2020 resulted from a collaboration between three serial entrepreneurs, Kelauni Jasmyn, David Motley, and Seán Sebastian. The focus addresses the long-standing issue of inequity in funding and anticipates significant returns within the venture industry. “We set up BTN.vc to equip and train a
Recent data from Crunchbase reveals that there has been a disproportionate decline in venture funding for Black-founded startups in the United States. A Fall Below The $1B Threshold Last year, these startups secured only $705 million in funding, marking the first time since 2016 that the figure fell below the $1 billion threshold. This sharp decline of 71% in funding to Black-founded companies starkly contrasts with the 37% decrease in overall U.S. startup funding, highlighting a widening gap in investment allocation. This drop signifies a declining share of Black-founded startups
In Baltimore, a new social shopping platform, Xclusit, is transforming consumers’ engagement with Black-owned businesses. Vincent Johnson’s Journey Vincent Johnson, an Ellicott City-based entrepreneur and the CEO of Xclusit, crafted the platform to empower Black businesses. Johnson, a Vanderbilt University graduate with a master’s in divinity, initially focused on Black economics. His passion for entrepreneurship led him away from pursuing a PhD, instead dedicating himself to developing tech solutions that support Black-owned businesses. His journey in the tech world began with his first app, Coupify. Still, through direct engagement with
Chaymeriyia Moncrief, an Alabama native, has made a mark in the tech industry as the first Black woman to own a smart glasses brand. NSPRE Two years after founding Tesix Wireless Network, a millennial-focused wireless carrier., Moncrief launched NSPRE to ”inspire the culture through social technology“. From its inception in 2020, the brand swiftly progressed, raising $1.5 million in funding during its launch year. In June 2021, NSPRE established its headquarters in Alabama, reinforcing its foundation. NSPRE’s flagship product, the Smart Glasses, aims to represent a leap into the future of
