Relevance Ventures and Skoden Ventures have announced the launch of the Native American Capital and Investment Alliance (NAICA) to bridge the gap between Native American founders and capital providers. Relevance Ventures is one of the only privately owned and operated Native American venture capital firms in the US. They provide strategic venture assistance and guidance to entrepreneurs who foster balance and harmony while delivering a positive societal impact. Skoden Ventures is a boutique venture fund investing in early-stage startups with Indigenous, Black, Brown, and women founders. Native American Founders For
A recent study by Lendio has highlighted the extent to which location can impact the success of Black and Latine-owned businesses, ranking the best and worst states for minority-owned companies to succeed. The POC-owned business boom U.S. entrepreneurship is more diverse than ever, with people of color owning 1 in 5, or 1.2 million, of the nation’s businesses in 2020. Black and Latine Americans are also the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs but continue to face challenges such as limited access to venture capital funding and a lack of networks and mentorship programs, all while facing discrimination
Dealing with a co-founder breakup can be the most challenging experience business owners face on their entrepreneurial journey. According to Noam Wasserman, a professor at the University of Southern California, 10% of co-founders end their relationship within a year of starting a business, and an additional 45% within four years. Although co-founder splits are normal, they can be emotionally taxing for all parties involved. Regardless of what might have led to the co-founder’s divorce, both parties must reach a mutual understanding before choosing to go their separate ways. In a recent post,
Earlier this week, Calendly announced the acquisition of recruiting operating platform, Prelude to help further accelerate the platform’s vision of solving external scheduling challenges for individuals and members of the company. Prelude, co-founded by Will Laufer and Alexander Soto, is a recruiting operation platform focused on improving the recruitment process to help improve the candidate’s experience. Over the years, Prelude has transformed how companies approach hiring, from communications and prep to scheduling and logistics. In addition, by increasing transparency, Prelude’s enterprise has made the hiring process a lot more seamless for customers. Prelude and Calendly joining forces
Talent x Opportunity has announced the launch of its third cohort. The initiative, designed to support artistic geniuses with the tools they need to scale and grow, welcomed a new set of founders for this year’s program. The TxO program, founded by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (known as “a16z”), works to help accelerate the growth and impact of upcoming tech companies. They select elite entrepreneurs and prepare them with the ideal tools to build and expand their companies. Here are five founders joining the TxO community in Fall 2022.
POC-led embedded integration platform, Paragon, has raised $13 million in a Series A funding round led by Inspired Capital Partners. The funding round also included investors FundersClub and Garuda Ventures. Paragon, founded in 2019 by Ishmael Samuel and Brandon Foo, provides customers with a seamless, self-service experience that fits within the users’ existing workflow. The program, which is still relatively new in the market, has helped several companies integrate with different SaaS apps in a matter of minutes. The platform’s vision is to build a connecting layer for all software
Tech giant, Apple, has launched its inaugural Entrepreneur Camp for Hispanic/Latinx founders and developers. This year’s program will specifically focus on supporting Latinx founders and will encourage leaders and developers from nine app companies in the US, Brazil, Guatemala, and Portugal to build the next generation of apps. “We are so excited to bolster the impact of Entrepreneur Camp with the addition of this new cohort for Latin technologists,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. “It’s an honor to support these founders and
The Judee von Seldenec (JVS) Philadelphia Fund for Women has invested $500,000 in Black-owned hair product line, Naturaz. The investment fund, which marks JvS’ commitment to investing $2 million in women entrepreneurs, will financially support nine technology-based ventures based in Philadelphia. The extra funding aims to help close the funding gap, disproportionally impacting Black and Hispanic women founders. Naturaz, founded in 2017 by Mumbi Dunjwa, is a hair product line based in Philadelphia that manufactures and sells vegan hair products for curly hair. Dunjwa uses her experience in chemistry, health,
American rapper and lead MC of hip hop group The Roots, Tariq Luqmaan Trotter, also known as Black Thought, recently announced his journey into venture capital. According to HipHop DX, the lyricist has joined early-stage tech venture firm Impellent Ventures as a general partner. Black Thought will work alongside the team to help recruit and encourage entrepreneurs to help them continue growing their new business while giving them the tools they need to build a longstanding business. His role as a partner at Impellent Ventures will help him elevate Black entrepreneurs
Financial giant, Mastercard, has officially announced the class of this year’s Start Path program, an award-winning engagement program aimed at providing global support and mentorship to the brightest late-stage startups. According to a press release, Mastercard selected three early-stage startups led by underrepresented founders and four late-stage fintech innovators looking to scale their businesses for this year’s program. “As we continue our eight-year legacy of successful collaboration with startups around the world through Start Path,” said Blake Rosenthal, executive vice president, Fintech & Segment Solutions at Mastercard. “The companies we selected are on
