The Biden-Harris administration and the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) have granted $51 million to the Tulsa Hub for Equitable and Trustworthy Autonomy (THETA). Led by Tulsa Innovation Labs, the initiative aims to enhance the region’s capabilities in autonomous systems through advanced manufacturing and technology deployment. Tulsa’s Legacy of Innovation Tulsa is one of 12 regions awarded funding from the 31 designated “Tech Hubs” last fall. This federal investment leverages Tulsa’s strong history in aerospace and manufacturing to push U.S. leadership inequitable and trustworthy autonomous systems. The city’s focus areas
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards recently unveiled a plan to establish a new diversity tech and innovation center in Long Island City, slated to open in early 2025. Empowering Minority-Owned Startups Partnering with Pursuit, a Queens-based non-profit, the Queens Diversity Tech Hub will occupy a 7,000-square-foot space in the Pursuit building at 47-10 Austell Place. This state-of-the-art facility will serve as a launchpad for up to 50 emerging startups, targeting minority-owned businesses seeking seed and Series A funding. The initiative is set to address the funding challenges faced by startups
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
