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Startups

Geek Ventures announced its first immigrant-focused fund, Geek Ventures Fund I, LP, to support pre-seed and seed-stage technology startups. Geek Ventures Ihar Mahaniok, an immigrant engineering leader with over 20 years of experience building code and machine-learning models for startups, founded Greek Ventures in 2021. He saw immigrant entrepreneurs’ difficulties when raising capital and making connections within the U.S. venture capital ecosystem. They aim to invest in bold, innovative, and brilliant immigrant entrepreneurs worldwide and believe the challenges immigrants face when coming to a new environment nurture resilience and determination. 

Black-led venture capital firm Growth Warrior Capital is launching Elevo, an AI-powered pitch deck generator to help founders secure funding for their startups. Investing in overlooked founders Elevo is the brainchild of Promise Phelon, the founder and managing partner of Growth Warrior Capital. An experienced entrepreneur, Phelon’s track record includes raising $100 million in capital, transforming companies, and successfully navigating exits and acquisitions. Phelon’s early-stage venture capital firm, invests in “dangerous” startups led by traditionally overlooked founders that have the potential to “fundamentally change the way we work, earn, and

Ariana McGee founded Navigate Maternity, a remote monitoring platform facilitating equitable prenatal and postpartum care for pregnant women. Black Women and Pregnancy In 2017, over 1,205 women died during and after children, with the U.S. having the highest perinatal mortality rate of any developed country. The United States is also known to be the most dangerous and expensive high-income country for childbirth, especially for Black and Indigenous women. Black women face a nine times higher risk of maternal death than their white counterparts, regardless of wealth. McGee nearly lost her

Inuit Mailchimp has given Atlanta-based Black women’s artist collective TILA Studios $100,000 in unrestricted funding.  Mailchimp  Atlanta-based tech company Inuit Mailchimp is an email and marketing automation platform for growing businesses. They aim to empower customers worldwide to start and grow their businesses with world-class marketing technology. The platform makes data-backed recommendations for businesses automatically and with the help of AI. In 2021, Mailchimp was acquired by Intuit, an American business software company specializing in financial software. Recently, Inuit Mailchimp announced a pledge of $1 million to increase and help

Mariam Jimoh, the founder of African and Caribbean goods and foods online delivery service Oja has announced the digital supermarket is shutting down. Oja – Digital Supermarket In 2020, British Nigerian Mariam Jimoh launched Oja, which means market in Yoruba, as the UK’s first ethnic digital supermarket focusing on African and Caribbean goods.  After struggling to find the Nigerian food she grew up with in her local supermarket chain, Jimoh was motivated to leave her corporate career and work towards a solution. The result was Oja, which promised fast and

Zanifu, a Kenyan fintech company that helps millions of African businesses to access financial services, has raised $11.2 million in debt-equity funding in a pre-Series A round. Zanifu Founded by Steve Biko, the Zanifu platform allows small retailers and businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa to access inventory from their suppliers and pay later.  They aim to support micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) by bringing their businesses online while providing them with working capital finance. Biko told TechCrunch that the platform targets businesses that need help accessing credit from formal financial institutions for

ISACA and Blacks In Technology (BIT) are collaborating to prepare underserved communities in Atlanta for emerging tech careers, through ISACA’s Digital Trust-Workforce Inclusion Program (DT-WIP) and One In Tech Foundation. ISACA And Blacks In Technology ISACA is a global professional association and learning organization of nearly 170,000 professionals in 188 countries. Their members work in digital trust fields such as information security, governance, assurance, risk, privacy and quality. Through its foundation, One In Tech, ISACA supports IT education and career pathways for underresourced and underrepresented populations. “Enterprises across all industries need qualified professionals

Endeavor Miami is partnering with venture capital firm DeepWork Capital to funnel more capital into underrepresented early-stage founders. Endeavor Miami and DeepWork Capital Endeavor Miami was founded in 2013, with the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as the first U.S. affiliate of Endeavor, an organization supporting entrepreneurs worldwide. According to Biz Journals, Miami’s Endeavor entrepreneurs generated over $700 million in revenues and employed over 5,000 individuals in 2021. Now the organization has partnered with DeepWork Capital, an Orlando-based early-stage venture capital firm that primarily invests in tech and

Fearless Fund has responded to the lawsuit filed by the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) after it accused them of racial discrimination. What happened? Conservative group American Alliance for Equal Rights, founded by Edward Blum, brought a lawsuit against Fearless Fund, which supports women of color who own small businesses. The lawsuit accuses Fearless Fund of violating Section 1982 of the Civil Rights Act of 1886, which bars racial bias in private contracts, by opening its grant competition to Black women alone. Lawsuits brought by Blum and the conservative group led

Nonprofit organization Blacks In Technology Foundation (BIT) has announced a strategic partnership with RoadPitch, the most extensive multi-city pitch tour to help Black tech founders to raise pre-seed and seed capital from investors.  For over a decade, BIT has offered training, education, networking and mentorship opportunities to elevate Black professionals in the tech industry.  The nonprofit aims to “stomp the divide,” influencing and effecting change in an industry that has historically not sought parity concerning Black workers. The Collaboration The collaboration will see RoadPitch become BIT’s official international pitch competition organizer.  RoadPitch will

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