NASA has awarded $1.2 million to 23 minority-serving institutions (MSIs), including Spelman College, Fayetteville State University, Hampton University, and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. This funding aims to enhance their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), research and technology capabilities while contributing to NASA’s missions. Advancing STEM at Minority-Serving Institutions The awards are part of NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Partnership Learning Annual Notification (MPLAN) initiative. Each selected institution will receive up to $50,000 over six months, allowing them to work directly on STEM projects
TestParty, a Black-led, AI-driven software compliance company, has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Harlem Capital and the Urban Innovation Fund. Founded in March 2023 by Michael Bervell and Jason Tan, TestParty helps businesses automatically rewrite source code to comply with global digital accessibility regulations. Making websites more accessible Currently, nearly all popular websites fail to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), leaving millions of people who rely on assistive devices unable to engage with the digital world. TestParty aims to bridge this gap by
Every June, Pride Month celebrates LGBTQ+ communities worldwide and honors their contributions to society. It’s also a time to recognize the ongoing struggle for representation, equality, and acceptance. In the tech industry, the LGBTQ+ community is underrepresented, with only 11% identifying as LGBTQ+. A McKinsey and Co. report found that while Black people make up 12% of the US workforce, only 8% are in tech jobs, resulting in a relatively low number of Black LGBTQ+ individuals in tech. Despite these challenges, many Black LGBTQ+ people are paving the way for
Cadana has raised $7.1 million in seed funding this year. Launched in 2021, the startup allows global workforces to integrate payments and payroll management into their systems. Cadana According to the company, the world’s largest payroll platforms and talent marketplaces use Cadana’s APIs to build compliant hiring products in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Founders Albert Owusu-Asare and Ameer Shujjah, who are originally from Ghana and Pakistan, gained years of experience working at Amazon, Esusu, and Goldman Sachs before founding the company. Although the pair appreciated their version of the
The Tech Talent Charter (TTC), a diversity-focused organizaton partly funded by the UK government, has announced that it is closing. Founded in 2015, the TTC aimed to bridge the diversity gap in tech by collaborating with industry leaders to foster a more inclusive environment. Despite significant achievements, shifting industry priorities and economic pressures have led to the difficult decision to dissolve the organization. The Tech Talent Charter When the TTC was launched, women held fewer than 15% of tech roles in the UK, and broader diversity data was scarce. Over
Félix Pago, a fast-growing fintech startup, has recently raised $15.5 million in a Series A funding round to enhance its services across Latin America and the US, according to TechCrunch. Revolutionizing Remittances With WhatsApp Félix Pago’s approach leverages WhatsApp as its main interface, with a chatbot that makes it simple to send and receive cross-border money transfers, even with a voice message. This choice is strategic, given WhatsApp’s extensive regional user base. Users in the US initiate transactions via the WhatsApp chatbot, completing the final step by securely entering debit
Black-led venture capital firm Harlem Capital is raising a $150 million fund, according to documents filed with the SEC. Harlem Capital, founded in 2015 by Henri Pierre-Jacques and Jarrid Tingle, aims to change the face of entrepreneurship by investing in 1,000 diverse founders. Harlem Capital’s Funds To Date The new fund, if raised, will be the firm’s third and most significant to date after raising $134 million in 2021 and $40 million in 2019. Its second fund focused on early-stage post-product companies from all sectors but a particular focus on consumer and enterprise tech.
OpenseedVC has reached the first close of its $10 million fund for operator-led startups in Africa and Europe. Founded by former Octopus Ventures and Oxford Seed Fund investor Maria Rotilu, OpenseedVC is a new solo General Partner (GP) that aims to be the first check for startups. OpenSeedVC: Filling a Crucial Funding Gap According to Sifted, Rotilu is Europe’s first Black solo GP and one of the first female solo GPs in the region. Rotilu’s strategy with OpenseedVC is to back startups even earlier than the pre-seed stage, at a
Angeles Ventures, a Latine and woman-led early-stage VC fund, has announced an equity investment from Bank of America. This investment aims to accelerate Angeles Ventures’ mission to find, fund, and grow Latine ventures across the United States. Addressing the Funding Gap for Latine Entrepreneurs Even though Latine Americans make up over 20% of the U.S. population and are the most entrepreneurial group in the country, they receive less than 2% of venture capital funding. Angeles Ventures aims to change this by focusing on tech-enabled B2B and B2C startups at the
Seven organizations focused on diversity in tech have announced the formation of the Diversity Data Alliance to address funding disparities faced by underrepresented groups. The alliance comprises All Raise, Diversity VC, BLCK VC, StartOut, 2Gether-International, Vets in Tech, and Somos VC. Standardizing Data for a Unified Approach The Diversity Data Alliance has agreed upon a set of standardized demographic data points to be collected across each member organization. This initiative, which began in the spring of 2023 and saw its implementation in 2024, focuses on capturing demographic information, such as race, gender identity, sexual orientation, educational attainment,
