Black-owned startup Robin AI has raised $10.5 million to transform the legal industry with its AI-driven contract editor. What is Robin AI? Robin AI is the brainchild of former Clifford Chance lawyer Richard Robinson and former machine learning research scientist James Clough. The startup trained its machine learning model on data from 4.5 million legal documents with input from in-house lawyers to create a ‘lawyer bot’ that can draft and edit legal contracts. On average, users can draft and negotiate contracts up to 80% faster, saving up to 75% on
Kanarys, Inc. has raised $10.5 million in a seed funding round, making co-founder and CEO Mandy Price one of fewer than 20 Black woman founders to receive over $10 million in funding. Making history isn’t anything new to Price. In 2021, the entrepreneur became one of 93 Black women to raise $1 million in capital funding. The recent funding round brings Kanary’s total capital to date to approximately $10.5 million. The series A funding round was led by Seyen Capital and included Portfolia Rising America, Rackhouse Venture Capital, Revolution’s Rise
Former Facebook employees Meena Harris and Helen Min have come together to launch their first-ever VC firm, Phenomenal Ventures. Meena Harris, who just so happens to be a lawyer, author, and the niece of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, is no stranger to the journey of building a brand from the ground up. Before the launch of her latest venture, Harris turned her side hustle into a global empire by selling activist statement T-shirts. The brand’s hero product was a T-shirt with the words “Phenomenal Woman” printed across the front. Some of the hottest celebrities, including
According to a new survey from Shopify, Black businesses contribute significantly to the company, yet they still struggle to get funding. The barriers Black-owned businesses face Black-owned businesses face many barriers that limit their growth, including a need for more access to capital funding and investments. Not only does this make it harder for them to succeed, but it also limits their growth potential. Despite racial and social justice movements catalyzing public support for Black businesses over recent years, minority founders have been left with unfulfilled promises of investments from banks,
New data has revealed that there has been an uptick in the amount of capital funding Black founders in the U.S. raised in Q4 of 2022. Although this shows that the tide may finally be turning, founders have yet to receive adequate funding to scale their businesses successfully. According to Crunchbase, Black startup founders raised around $264 million out of the $33.6 billion allocated in Q4 of 2022. This may seem small, but a slight increase from the $178 million raised from July to September 2022. What did last year
Now more than ever, Black VCs deserve to be celebrated – which is why RISE InVC couldn’t have come at a better time. Hosted by Included VC, RISE InVC will take place from January 17 to 19 and will be the first-ever global gathering designed to spotlight and celebrate the work Black VCs have been doing over the years. Venture capitalists from South Africa, Singapore, Australia, France, and the UK will come for three days to meet, connect, and inspire one another. Across the days, Rise InVC will hold a
What a year! Many of you who have been following our tech coverage closely have embarked on a journey that has been both stimulating and inspiring. Over the past year, we’ve ventured into a world of immersive technology that has seen a popular AI platform takeover of the internet and new life formed on the metaverse. It is hard to predict what 2023 has in store for the world of technology, but it is bound to be a rollercoaster – so get strapped in! To commemorate the end of this
Black-owned fiber and material science firm Aja Labs has raised $2.5 million to commercialize its first product, hair extensions made from plant material. The seed funding round, led by Impact America Fund, included Better Ventures, SOSV’s IndieBi, and a range of leaders across different sectors, including public health, cosmetics, business, and beauty. Aja Labs, co-founded by Osahon Ojeaga and Mary Moore, is an innovative company is working to build a better-for-you and better-for-the-planet product focusing on sustainability and human wellness. Their patent-pending hair extensions will be sold under the consumer brand Nourie and will include
The African tech ecosystem has taken a significant hit in Q3 2022 due to a lack of funding from investors. In 2021, fintech startups successfully raised $2 billion in funding and once dominated the African startup funding space, but the significant increase signifies a problematic time for African startups – so why is that? Several factors have contributed to the slowdown, from the economic downturn which has forced many investors to deploy less capital to the decline in venture capital funding for crypto startups together this has caused global fintech
In a recent Twitter thread, Brandon Bryant, partner at the early-stage investment firm, Harlem Capital, broke down the steps every startup should know about VC fund returns. Venture capitalists (VCs) buy a stake in a founder’s idea, investing in their company’s balance sheet and infrastructure, before exiting. What VCs are aiming for are sufficient returns at an acceptable level of risk. This is because they, too, have investors whose money they need to multiply. Why should founders care about this? Bryant explains that by running the math, founders can understand
