Black Women Talk Tech, a worldwide collective of Black women tech founders, celebrates its longstanding relationship with Microsoft and continues collaboration with a host of new projects for 2022. BWTT seeks to identify, support, and encourage all women to build the next billion-dollar business. Its next event, Face of a Founder Summit, is set for Feb. 24, 2022. In the fifth year of the relationship, Microsoft has supported Black Women Talk Tech’s Roadmap to Billions Conference, which took place at the company’s New York City headquarters in 2018. In addition, Microsoft
Black Girls Breathing and BlackFem are among the dozens of Black-led startups receiving a new set of philanthropic grants from Goldman Sachs’ ‘One Million Black Women Initiative. Black Girls Breathing is focused on addressing systemic issues impacting Black women and girls’ access to health care by providing free and accessible mental health care resources. While BlackFem is set on transforming school-based learning so that girls of color have the skills, habits, and resources to build and sustain personal wealth. The news was revealed via a press release where Goldman Sachs’ ‘One Million
Rebundle, a hair-focused startup based in St. Louis creating and selling hair extensions made from plant-based materials, has announced that it has raised $1.4 million in a pre-seed round. The idea came from Ciara Imani May’s passion for living more sustainably, which she had been trying to do even before she launched the startup with co-founder Danielle Washington. Speaking to media, she explained that in 2019 she wanted to look for a solution to the itchiness on her scalp as well as the waste associated with hair extensions. Rebundle launched
Black Women Talk Tech, a worldwide collective of Black women tech founders, is broadening its reach. The firm has formally announced the acquisition of Black Female Founders (#BFF) for an undisclosed amount. “This acquisition will help us reach and support more Black women on their entrepreneurial journeys,” Black Women Talk Tech co-founder Regina Gwynn tells EBONY. “We are so excited to connect with those who are new to Black Women Talk Tech and power their companies to billion-dollar growth,” she added. Esosa Ighodaro-Johnson, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Black Women Talk
The Open Source Afro Hair Library, set to launch on Juneteenth 2023, will be the gaming world’s first free database of 3D-modeled Black hairstyles. Last year, Oakland-based artist and UC Santa Cruz assistant professor A.M. Darke started recruiting Black artists for the Open Source Afro Hair Library after she began to get frustrated with the lack of effort some artists put into ensuring Black characters had realistic Black hair. For example, Monster Hunter World players didn’t see any Black hairstyles added to the game until the release of a paid expansion nearly two years
The Black Female Duo That’s Taking Mentoring To Another Level: Black Girls In Tech Founders Tell-All
Black Girls In Tech is a European-based organization focused on supporting and uplifting young women from the Black community interested in getting a foot in the tech industry. It was launched by two women, Karen Emelu and Valerie Oyiki, who admit that growing up they were never exposed to a range of industries, and instead, they were encouraged to take on the “traditional” routes, such as medicine and law. The organization was launched during the pandemic at a time when the challenges experienced by Britons and those in Ireland, where
Alhaji M. Sow, an 18-year-old sophomore studying aeronautical science at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT), was shot and killed during a confrontation with officers on December 3. Now his family is reportedly questioning the use of force on their son. Here’s a breakdown of what we know so far: Around 10 p.m. on Friday, December 3, Melbourne police reported officers were called to the campus after news of the sophomore brandishing a knife and allegedly assaulting students with it. Authorities report Florida tech campus security confronted Sow inside the Roberts Hall, where investigators say he refused
California’s civil rights regulator is investigating Google’s treatment of Black female workers following alleged incidents of harassment and discrimination, according to two people familiar with the matter.
CinetPay has secured $2.4 million in seed funding with venture capital funding from 4DX Ventures and unicorn Flutterwave. The startup, a payment gateway that allows e-merchants and merchants to accept mobile money and other payments in Francophone Africa, was founded by Idriss Monthe and Daniel Dindji in 2016. It acts as an online and point-of-sale payment solution for merchants to process payment from more than 130 payment operators — mobile money, bank cards, wallets. On the platform, merchants have to open an account and upload their KYC, integrate Cinet’s APIs, and collect payments. It came
TechRise, a program from tech organization P33 that’s been hosting a weekly pitch competition this year for Chicago’s Black and Latino entrepreneurs, will return next year after a successful 2021 run. The program was launched with a $ 5 million fund to invest in startups owned by diverse entrepreneurs up and down the city in April. TechRise aims to channel more funds to minority-owned startups, which receive just 1.9% of all startup funding in Chicago, according to P33. In addition, corporate sponsors like Verizon, Discover, and Valor Equity Partners have
