Billionaire Silicon Valley mogul, Adam Neumann, has bounced back from the spectacular failure of WeWork to become the face behind a $1 billion residential real estate company, Flow. According to Bloomberg, venture capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz has pledged approximately $350 million to kickstart Neumann’s newest venture. This investment will be the largest check written for single funding round, in the fund’s history, according to the New York Times – and it’s got everyone on the internet talking. Failing upwards Neumann’s new business venture comes three years after the world witnessed the meteoric
Black-owned digital bookkeeping platform, Pastel, has raised $5.5 million in a seed funding round. The round led by pan-African venture capital firm TLcom Capital also included other VC firms such as Global Founders Capital, Golden Palm Investments, DFS Labs, Ulu Ventures and Plug and Play, and Soma Cup. Pastel, co-founded in 2020 by Abuzar Royesh, Olamide Oladeji, and Izunna Okonkwo, is a platform designed to help build digital tools to provide a solution to issues small businesses across Africa face. The platform’s primary goal is to unlock the potential of
The Black Business Alliance (BBA) has received a $100,000 federal grant to fund their ‘Black Business Funding Superhighway’ initiative. The BBA is a non-profit membership organization that helps support and grow small Black and minority-owned businesses. Their work, designed to address the gap in business access to funding, helps startups by providing them with access to both funding and educational benefits. The free twelve-week Black Business Funding Superhighway program is a mindset, educational, and mentorship program offered to select guests only. The program, designed to help Black or Brown business
Black-owned scheduling platform Calendly has been named one of the world’s top private cloud companies on Forbes’ Cloud 100 list. Calendly is a cloud scheduling company on a mission to revolutionize how the world schedules. Tope Awotona launched the platform in 2013 and it is now worth a staggering $3 billion. The app uses an automated tool to make the process of scheduling easier. Users can sync their calendars with the platform and share a link that will bring people to their Calendly page. People will not be able to see your
B2B startup Vori has raised $10 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by Silicon Valley-based venture fund, The Factory, and included participation from Greylock, E2JDJ, MKT1, and Mollie Stone’s Markets. Vori, founded in 2019 by Brandon Hill, Robert Pinkerton, and Tremaine Kirkman, is revolutionizing the grocery industry with its B2B operating system. Vori’s platform is committed to enhancing retailers’ inventory workflows by digitizing traditionally labor-intensive processes. Their work unlocks the data required for grocery retailers, brands, and distributors to effectively address food access and food waste
Business accelerator program, Comcast RISE, has dedicated $1 million to supporting Philadelphia BIPOC-owned businesses. The program, which was initially launched in 2020 as a response to help small business owners of color who were impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic, will award more than 100 Philadelphia small businesses owned by women and people of color with $1 million in grants. According to a press release, Comcast RISE has distributed over $16 million in grants to early-stage businesses, and $75 million in in-kind support for marketing and technology services, impacting more than 9,500
Black-owned SaaS startup, Stimulus recently closed a $2.5 million seed round. The funding round was led by Black Ops VC and included Genius Guild, Morgan Stanley, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, REFASHIOND Ventures, Bronze Valley, The BFM Fund, Plain Sight Capital, Penn Medicine, and a few angel investors. Stimulus, founded in 2017 by Tiffanie Stanard, is a relationship intelligence (SaaS) platform that uses data insights and relationship-building tools to help companies make the best purchasing decisions while assisting them in optimizing, nurturing, and growing their supplier ecosystems. The company’s mission is to help businesses
Backstage Capital, one of the first venture capital firms to pave the way for hundreds of underrepresented founders, has announced Bank of America as the latest investor in its Opportunity Fund I. The investment firm, founded by Arlan Hamilton, has been investing in underestimated founders since 2015. As a result, the platform has one of the largest portfolios of underrepresented founders in venture capital. Their portfolio comprises 200 companies led by women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ founders. According to a press release, Bank of America recently announced that it had
Black-owned digital health platform, She Matters has closed a $1.5 million pre-seed investment fund. The funding round included participation from Oxeon Ventures, Chingona Ventures, New York University, The Fund, and Techstars. The platform, co-founded by Jade Kearney and Marguerite Pierce, is a social networking platform designed to support Black mothers who experience postpartum comorbidities. The organization provides mothers access to a community, culturally competent healthcare, and culturally relevant resources. Additionally, they train healthcare providers on culturally appropriate healthcare and help them understand Black women’s challenges. She Matters’ original mission was
Black-owned African integrator system, Bluechip Technologies, has announced its expansion to Europe amid growing demand. Bluechip Technologies, co-founded in 2008 by Kazeem Tewogbade and Olumide Soyombe, is a software company that works to provide business solutions and strategies to companies. The Nigeria-based organization focuses exclusively on assisting companies in planning, designing, implanting, and operating business application solutions. The organization gathers data from multiple sources and translates it into information that can help organizations understand trends. This process also allows them to assist businesses with understanding data to make better decisions
