POCIT. Telling the stories and thoughts of the underrepresented in tech. POCIT. Telling the stories and thoughts of the underrepresented in tech.
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Black Founders

This Black Blockchain Engineer Just Raised $3.3M Seed Round For Mueshi, Her Fine Art NFT Marketplace

Ariana Waller — known as Ariana The Techie — is a Miami-based blockchain engineer and the owner and founder of Mueshi, Inc. The company launched to be a marketplace where users will be able to buy, sell, and fractionally invest in fine art NFTs. The 26-year-old has just raised a $3.3 million seed round for Mueshi led by Harlem Capital to establish its place in the industry. Presight VC, CapitalT VC, music luminary and investor, Ted Lucas, Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Black Venture Capital Consortium, and a cohort of additional strategic angel investors also participated. “I was

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Greenwood, Inc. Acquires ‘The Gathering Spot’ Creating The Largest Combined Fintech And Community Platform for Minorities

Greenwood, the digital banking platform for Black and Latino individuals and business owners, has announced the acquisition of The Gathering Spot, a private membership network focused on the Black community. Greenwood and The Gathering Spot (TGS) share the same mission of supporting financial freedom for minorities through community building, entrepreneurship, group economics, and wealth-building. The combined company has a community of over 1 million people. Together, they will continue to deliver features including community building, personal finance content, and banking services. TGS was launched in 2016. It offers spaces for

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She Left Her PhD To Launch A Finance Startup That’s Now Worth 7 Figures: Meet The Black Women Entrepreneurs Killing It

The face of female entrepreneurship overall is becoming less white. Black women represent 42% of new women-owned businesses—three times their share of the female population—and 36% of all Black-owned employer businesses. Majority Black women-owned firms grew 67% from 2007 to 2012, compared to 27% for all women, and 50% from 2014 to 2019, representing the highest growth rate of any female demographic during that time frame. But there are deep inequities in access to the financial resources needed to create businesses that become sustainable, which is widely recognized as past the five-year mark which is why

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Slutty Vegan Founder Pinky Cole Raises $25M In Series A Funding Round

Founder and CEO Aisha “Pinky” Cole has raised $25m through a Series A funding round that values her four-year old brand at $100m. Cole intends to open 10 Slutty Vegan venues by the end of this year and another 10 in 2023. Her intention is to hire a Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer to help manage the company’s growth. She has long believed that Slutty Vegan will be a billion-dollar brand — “bigger than McDonald’s and Burger King and Chick-fil-A,” she says — and wants to make it a household

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Black CEO Gives Tips On Mobile App Engagement And User Retention

After winning $1.3 million in scholarships himself, Christopher Gray founded Scholly, an app that helps students easily find scholarships for college. Scholly was featured on ABC’s Shark Tank, landing a deal with Daymond John and Lori Greiner and sparking the biggest fight in Shark Tank history. Scholly has over 4 million users and has helped students raise over 100 million dollars. It was first launched in 2015 with the simple goal of matching students with available scholarships: Input your age, interests, and other demographic information and Scholly would find potential fits. The idea,

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Here’s How This Black Founder Raised 93% Of His Funding From Black Investors

Oregon-based ‘A Kids Company About’ secured 93% of the funds from Black investors. He managed to raise a $1 million seed round, where the smallest check was $1,000. A fund headed by Barack Obama’s financial advisor led the Series A round. Backstage Capital and Emerson Collective, both of which invest in underrepresented founders, also participated in the round alongside several Black angels.  Jelani Memory, who launched the business in 2019 when it was known as A Kids Book About, also accepted a range of investments as small as $5,000 from

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Husband And Wife Duo Set To Launch Black-Owned Animation Network This Summer

Doing it for the culture. Husband and wife duo Jermaine and Whaketa Hargrove plan to launch streaming animation network, Animation TV, later this year and it’s set to offer a range of exclusive content. A subscription and linear channel model will also be available for ease of access to viewers. Animation TV will also work in collaboration with Small Town Animation Studios to deliver original, exclusive animation content. This includes the highly anticipated diabetic superhero movie Gumshe: The Type 1 Protector, or faith-based series The Sunday Schoolers, and other originals like Animate My Life, Welcome to

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Google Opens Product Development Hub In Kenya, Two Years After It Launched An AI Centre In Ghana

Google has opened its first product development center in Africa. Located in Nairobi, the center is designed to build “transformative” products and services, company officials have said. It comes after the tech giant revealed plans to invest $1 billion over the next five years in October last year. The center is Google’s second major research and development investment in Africa after the tech giant set up an AI and research center in Ghana in 2019. The firm will reportedly hire more than 100 tech talent including software engineers, researchers, and

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Black-Owned Insurtech, Etap, Secured $1.5M Pre-Seed To Make Buying Car Insurance Easier

Insurtech Etap is now on a mission to expand its services across the West African country following a $1.5 million pre-seed funding round led by Mobility 54; the venture capital arm of Toyota Tsusho and CFAO Group. Founder and CEO Ibraheem Babalola started building Etap last year when he found himself frustrated by the complexities and delays involved in purchasing insurance. “The idea itself is from being a frustrated customer; my insurance would expire and I wouldn’t get a notification to renew it…I always had to make a call to a guy

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When Researching Women In Tech, Don’t Forget About Minority Women And Don’t Just Chunk Us Together Either

Despite growing conversations about gender equality in tech, the numbers show that women are still undervalued, underrepresented, and discriminated against. There’s no doubt that all women face challenges in the office – not just in tech or media but across the board in almost every field. Whether it’s sexual advances, belittling, lack of promotion, or microaggressions. But – there’s been a growing number of research studies being published that fail to highlight the additional barriers faced by minority women and the other factors that may come into play such as

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