Jenna Wills, a former vice president at Afresh, filed a lawsuit against the company in April. Wills, who is Black, alleges she faced racial discrimination at the grocery-software startup. But an Afresh spokesperson said that Wills’ race was not taken into account in her termination. Here’s what happened. Wills joined Afresh in June 2021. Joining the startup was an easy decision for her because she was inspired by what they were building and their “incredible” mission to use artificial intelligence to help grocery stores order just the right amount of
Last year Google for Startups launched a $2 million grant fund to help tackle the racial inequality in the European tech industry. That Google for Startups Black Founders Fund ended up doubling to $4 million (£3 million), and now 40 Black-led tech startups across Europe will receive grants from the fund. Prior to the fund’s launch in 2021, less than 0.25% of venture capital (VC) funding went to Black-led startups in the UK. How does the fund work? Each startup will be given $100,000 in non-dilutive cash awards, up to
Small businesses are feeling the pressure of economic challenges, from navigating inflation to supply chain management and beyond, placing an increased need for financial relief. According to a survey conducted in January 2022, Black-owned businesses hit record levels of lower sales, with more than half reporting lower sales than in the previous year. To combat the issues experienced by their businesses, the Coalition to Back Black Businesses (CBBB) was established by American Express and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation in September 2020 to support the long-term success and resilience
Religion of Sports, the media production company founded by Gotham Chopra, Michael Strahan and Tom Brady, has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Shamrock Capital and joined by Elysian Park Ventures and Cerro Capital. The Series B funding round brings the company’s total to $66 million raised over three rounds. Chopra told The Hollywood Reporter that the raise will be used to help “grow the company from the production company model, which is what we have operated in for a long time, to really controlling our own destiny. To really bet
Access to credit is a big problem in Africa. Indicina is building the infrastructure to unlock it. Indicina, the digital lending platform providing analytics-driven credit decisions for lenders based in Lagos, Nigeria, has announced its seed round of $3 million. Berlin-headquartered and pan-European venture capital firm Target Global led the round with participation from Kuda, Kippa, and Edukoya. The firm’s partner Ricardo Schäefer will join Indicina’s board. Greycroft also participated in this round, and so did RV Ventures. What does Indicina do? It builds products using Open Banking so credit providers can approve more people,
Grammy award-winning artist, Miguel, has just been announced as the newest Global Creative Director for T3MP0, a digital studio that creates web3 communities for A-List talent and brands. He is reportedly the first musical artist of “his stature” to be involved in creating a web3 studio from the ground up, according to the company’s press release. As T3MP0’s creative director, Miguel will extend his extensive collaboration history into partnering with the world’s biggest talent and brands in the web3 space. “We are very excited to support Miguel’s creative vision for the
South African educational technology (edtech) startup FoondaMate has secured $2 million seed funding in a round led by LocalGlobe, a UK-based venture capital firm, to drive uptake of its WhatsApp and Facebook-based learning chatbot across the globe. How does it work? Foondamate helps students with their revision by giving them immediate answers to questions and access to revision papers, while also guiding them in responses to questions. It aims to level the playing field in education by empowering the 345 million+ students who currently have limited access to internet-enabled education
Wells Fargo employees conducted “fake interviews” with diverse job candidates, The NY Times reports, with one former executive claiming he was fired after complaining about the practice, which Wells denied. Seven current and former employees, including one former executive, told The Times that they were instructed to interview women and people of color for roles that had already been filled. These efforts, they said, appeared to be a way to show a record of diversity efforts rather than actually hire diverse candidates. The current Wells Fargo employees also told The Times
Back in April 2021, João Gualberto, the district mayor of Mata de São João, held an in-person auction letting Brazilian technology companies bid for a contract to supply facial recognition technology for the public school system. The $162,000 tender was won by PontoiD, and in July that year, two public schools — João Pereira Vasconcelos and Celia Goulart de Freitas — began secretly rolling out the facial recognition system, without informing parents or students in advance, according to research by Rest Of World. Students were registered on the system, which
StockX has appointed Damien Hooper-Campbell as its first-ever chief impact officer and this is the first time the streetwear resale marketplace has brought diversity and inclusion strategy to the C-suite. The newly created role comes as the streetwear resale marketplace expands its diversity, inclusion, and social impact efforts. A significant component of his work will reportedly include managing how the company thinks about sourcing and hiring and how StockX approaches community partnerships and investments. Hooper-Campbell has over 20 years of experience leading culture, community, and social impact, primarily at companies
