Amira Rasool, founder and CEO of The Folklore, has just launched a new index that highlights the first 200 Black women founders to raise $1 million in venture capital funding. Alongside the index is The First 200 Podcast, featuring interviews with founders about their experiences as entrepreneurs. “As the Founder & Host, I will sit down with founders from the Index to explore what it really takes to raise capital, build venture-backed companies, navigate setbacks, and create lasting impact,” Rasool said in a LinkedIn post. Rasool raised $6.2 Million for her
The feeling of seeing one of your favourite artists performing live is indescribable. For that hour, it feels like you’re transported to a different place. Other people cannot describe that feeling, but the other fans in the room can. So much of the concert experience is meeting and speaking to other fans. But after the concert finishes, that’s it. Sometimes socials or numbers are exchanged, but you probably won’t see those people again. This is where CRWD comes in, an app designed as a social layer for live events launched by
$942 million — or just 0.32% of total US venture funding went to companies with a Black founder or co-founder in 2025, according to Crunchbase data. The tide has turned slightly in 2025, with US-based startups founded or co-founded by a Black founder raising $643 million. Most of this funding was raised in the first quarter of the year, marking it the most raised in a single quarter since Q2 2022, when $653 million was raised by a Black founder or co-founder. However, Crunchbase highlights that this is still a
Uncle Nearest receiver Phillip G. Young Jr. has rejected a request to provide an emergency bankruptcy appeal filed in Uncle Nearest’s name, according to the Moore County Observer. Fawn Weaver filing for bankruptcy Fawn Weaver tried to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions for Uncle Nearest Inc., Nearest Green Distillery Inc., and Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings LLC. on March 17. But the bankruptcy court dismissed the cases two days later, stating that Weaver lacked the power to file them because the receivership order vested that power in Young. Farm Credit
The event and ticketing platform Posh has raised $37 million in Series B funding, according to Fortune. The round was led by FirstMark Capital, with participation from Causeway Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Companyon Ventures, and Epic Ventures. New York University students Avante Price and Eli Taylor‑Lemire founded Posh in 2019 after experiencing the limitations of Eventbrite. Speaking to Fortune, Price said, “I was using Eventbrite and other products to manage events, and then realized that the technology components were missing a ton of the capabilities that I needed.” About Posh Price and Taylor-Lemire, both rooted
Steven Bartlett’s Flight Story has partnered with Dr Raphael Sofoluke, founder of the UK Black Business Show, to launch Legacy Black. The 50/50 joint venture aimed at building a global media brand focused on Black business and wealth creation. The partnership targets over £100 billion ($134 billion) of economic impact over the next decade. It emerged after Bartlett spoke at the UK Black Business Show in 2023, evolving into a media business designed to convert community into a sponsor-backed revenue model. Flight Story And UK Black Business Show Join Forces
Sula Labs, a beauty research and development lab for melanin-rich skin, and UFarmX, an AI-powered agri-fintech platform tackling Africa’s agricultural financing gap, have been named the $100,000 Co-Grand Prize Winners of the Black Ambition Prize. Black Ambition’s fifth annual Demo Day, held November 14–15 in Miami, marked the culmination of its three-month accelerator for underrepresented founders. Featuring conversations with Pharrell Williams and investor Mellody Hobson, and a surprise performance from Chance the Rapper, the event spotlighted 27 prize winners selected from more than 2,500 applicants. Sula Labs: Pioneering Science-Driven Beauty for Melanin-Rich Skin
Trying to get your foot in the door in the corporate world as a Black woman isn’t easy. This becomes way more difficult when you’re also disabled. In 2023, the employment rate for people with disabilities in the US reached just 22.5%, and the numbers are even lower in tech. A global AWS community survey found that only 11% of respondents identified as having a disability or neurodiversity. Additionally, the unemployment rate for disabled people is reportedly twice as high as that of the general population, even though companies that are inclusive
Join our Patreon for extra-long episodes and ad-free content: https://www.patreon.com/techish Techish host Michael Berhane and TechCrunch reporter Dominic-Madori Davis unpack what’s really going on with funding for Black founders — and why so many are heading back to the 9-to-5. They also get into Elon Musk’s clash with X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, Meta’s smart glasses and the end of privacy, and why academics need to step out of the ivory tower. Follow Dom on Instagram (@dominicmadori) and subscribe to her Substack, The Black Cat. Chapters 00:28 Black Founders Are
On Friday, October 9, Black Tech Fest (BTF) hosted its fifth annual festival, which brings tech professionals, creatives, and academics. BTF hosts a range of workshops and talks by some of the biggest names in the tech and creative industry. For the first time since its existence, the UK government declined BTF’s invitation to speak at the festival. BTF planned to ask the UK government questions related to biases in AI, mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting, and the DEI pullback. As a festival that champions diversity and inclusion, it was
