Black-owned digital marketplace, Clutch, has raised $1.2 million in a pre-seed investment fund. The funding round which Precursor Ventures led also included Capital Factory and HearstLab. Clutch, co-founded in 2020 by Madison Long and Simone May, is a digital marketplace for emerging brands and creators. According to the outlet, Long and May built the platform to provide a space where creators can launch, market, and grow their side hustles. Clutch works to create a world where authentic, engaging work supports a more sustainable, equitable lifestyle. As a people-first platform, creators
California-based VC firm, L’Attitude, has launched its new fund to support early-stage Latino founders. The investment firm raised $100 million from big-name investors, including Bank of America, Trujillo Group, Barclays, Cisco, Royal Bank of Canada, and a “strategic anchor investment” from JPMorgan Chase. According to the outlet, Latino business owners have grown 34% over the last decade. Yet, despite this, 72% of Latino entrepreneurs face funding shortfalls, with a large majority relying on personal savings, and only 1.8% are venture-backed. L’Attitude, founded in 2019 by Kennie Blanco and Sol Trujillo,
The Black Girl Magic Digital summit, which has returned for its fourth consecutive year of programming, will allow small-business female-owned entrepreneurs to qualify for a prize pool of $100,000 in grants. The summit, produced by Boss Women Media production, aims to educate, empower, and equip Black women. The summit’s goal will be to celebrate and support thousands of global attendees, including a network of corporate professionals, entrepreneurs, and student changemakers. “We are on a mission to provide Black women with the tools and education they need to take the next
POC-led embedded integration platform, Paragon, has raised $13 million in a Series A funding round led by Inspired Capital Partners. The funding round also included investors FundersClub and Garuda Ventures. Paragon, founded in 2019 by Ishmael Samuel and Brandon Foo, provides customers with a seamless, self-service experience that fits within the users’ existing workflow. The program, which is still relatively new in the market, has helped several companies integrate with different SaaS apps in a matter of minutes. The platform’s vision is to build a connecting layer for all software
Black-owned VC firm, Cornerstone has launched its first-ever investment fund to help support entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds. The £20 million ($23.9 million) fund aims to give early-stage tech companies between £250,000 and £1 million, based in the UK and across 40 countries. Cornerstone VC wants to help change the situation, to make the investment world a lot more diverse by backing unrepresented and undervalued founders and innovators. “We believe diversity is key to driving outperformance. Contrary to perceptions around a pipeline problem, that there aren’t enough diverse entrepreneurs to invest
Here is our latest roundup of tech headlines from across the African continent. Black-owned digital insurance platform, Lami Technologies, has raised $3.7 million in a seed extension funding round. The funding round, which Harlem Capital Partners led, will help the API platform begin its path to building and distributing an end-to-end digital insurance platform. The additional funding brings Lami Technologies’ overall funding amount to $5.6 million. Lami Technologies, founded in 2018 by Jihan Abbas, is an end-to-end digital insurance and API platform enabling companies across sectors to offer insurance products.
Tech giant, Apple, has launched its inaugural Entrepreneur Camp for Hispanic/Latinx founders and developers. This year’s program will specifically focus on supporting Latinx founders and will encourage leaders and developers from nine app companies in the US, Brazil, Guatemala, and Portugal to build the next generation of apps. “We are so excited to bolster the impact of Entrepreneur Camp with the addition of this new cohort for Latin technologists,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. “It’s an honor to support these founders and
The Judee von Seldenec (JVS) Philadelphia Fund for Women has invested $500,000 in Black-owned hair product line, Naturaz. The investment fund, which marks JvS’ commitment to investing $2 million in women entrepreneurs, will financially support nine technology-based ventures based in Philadelphia. The extra funding aims to help close the funding gap, disproportionally impacting Black and Hispanic women founders. Naturaz, founded in 2017 by Mumbi Dunjwa, is a hair product line based in Philadelphia that manufactures and sells vegan hair products for curly hair. Dunjwa uses her experience in chemistry, health,
Financial group, BMO, has unveiled new plans to invest $650,000 in business hubs based in Madison. This includes two Black-owned business hubs, Urban League of Greater Madison’s Black Business Hub and The Center for Black Excellence and Culture business. The financial firm aims to develop the Madison community and create greater access to opportunities for BIPOC in the banking industry. The investment of $250,000, which will be given to each company across five years, will work to help talented Black people build their careers by providing economic growth and prosperity
Rising TikTok star, Shermann “Dilla” Thomas (@6figga_dilla) has partnered with digital coupon company, Groupon, to celebrate and support National Black Business Month. The annual celebration of Black businesses every August began in 2014 and aims to help ease the strain that minority-owned businesses experience, from macroeconomic challenges such as inflation to workforce shortages. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately two million companies are owned by BIPOC owners. Therefore, August is a time to show Black-owned businesses appreciation by encouraging individuals to shop, share and support their local Black businesses. Rising TikToker,
