Breakr, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) alumni-founded music platform, has raised an additional $1.9 million. Breakr is reshaping influencer collaboration through its SaaS platform designed explicitly for record labels, artists, and brands. By enabling creator-to-creator relationships at scale, labels and brands can move at the speed of culture, and creators can get paid fairly for making it happen. The Three-Sided Marketplace Breakr’s unique selling point is that it effectively treats the basic concept of connecting creators to build influencer campaigns as a programmatic opportunity. The company recently came
Black-owned fintech startup Conduiit has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding to save entertainment companies time and money by centralizing their production finance operations. Disrupting the production finance space Conduiit is the brainchild of former Amazon and Netflix employees Shawn Hamilton, CEO, and Jason Thurman. The New York and New Jersey-based tech company provides users with digital workflows, SaaS, and DaaS solutions. It also offers budgeting, scheduling, cost tracking, and cash flow management guidance at project and corporate levels. Hamilton worked as a production accountant at Amazon from 2015 to 2017 when
Every.io has announced it’s coming out of stealth alongside $9.5 million in seed funding. Every is the first all-in-one finance and HR suite that combines Banking, Cards, Bill Payments, Corporate Treasury, Bookkeeping, Tax, HR, Payroll, and Benefits in one platform. It was founded by Rajeev Behera, who previously raised $100 million in his last venture, Reflektive. The inspiration came from Behara’s experience as the founding CEO at Reflektive. “When I started my last company, I made a lot of costly errors setting up my back office. Founders just want to
Black-owned fintech startup Mozaic has raised a $20 million Series A round to make it easier for creators to split payments with each other and get paid for their work. Helping creators get paid Marcus Cobb, CEO, and Rachel Knepp, SVP of Growth, founded Mozaic (previously Jammber) in 2015. The platform initially aimed to make it easy to handle different parts of the music business from your mobile phone – from songwriting credits and rights to ticketing and touring. However, Mozaic decided to pivot away from the B2B side of
Nigerian venture capital firm Aduna Capital has announced the launch of a $20 million fund to invest in Northern Nigeria startups and Africa. Aduna Capital Aduna Capital is a registered investment advisor startup with a new wealth management advisor experience. The firm provides investment management services where clients can utilize discretion in managing their accounts. This includes advice with various asset classes, including equity, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, fixed-income instruments, and options. Specifically, the client grants the firm full power to direct, manage, and change the investment and reinvestment of
Female Founders Fund has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise $75 million for its fourth fund. Female Founders Fund Female Founders Fund was created in 2014, becoming the leading source of institutional capital for female, women of color, and LGBTQ+ founders, raising seed capital with over $3 billion in enterprise value. Anu Duggal, founding partner of the fund, has been praised for her impact in diversifying venture capital over the last decade. A serial entrepreneur, Duggal began her tech career as a co-founder of Exclusively.In,
Aphonzo Terrell, who was laid off from Twitter last year, confirmed that his app Spill, which gained popularity within the Black community, has recently raised a $2M extension round and had celebrity investments. The Spill App Terrell and DeVaris Brown – CEO and CTO of Spill – are both former Twitter – now known as X – employees. The two met on their first day working at Twitter after noticing they were the only Black guys on their team. However, when Elon Musk bought Twitter, Terrell was laid off from
MM, a dating app that merges technology with real-life experiences, has raised £600K ($750K) in seed funding. The Dating App MM MM, launched in 2019, is a dating and events technology app merging AI with real-life events designed to help singles connect both in the app and in person. The company hosts events and experiences tailored for members to meet and network in person while doing the things they enjoy. MM is available to and has members from all races and genders but considers key cultural nuances within African, Caribbean,
Northwestern Mutual, a financial services organization, has announced this year’s fall cohort of five Black-owned tech startups to its Black Founder Accelerator program for the third year. Now in its third year, the accelerator is one of the core components of Northwestern Mutual’s Sustained Action for Racial Equity (SARE) initiative. SARE was created to advance bold, sustainable change that accelerates the company’s commitment to fight racism, prejudice, and social injustice, focusing on the Black and African American community. The Black Founder Accelerator The accelerator invests in up to 10 companies
Okra Solar, a technology startup working with local utilities to transform communities, has closed its Series A funding round. Mesh grid technology With 770 million people living without clean, reliable access to power, the tech startup aims to transform off-grid communities with mesh grids. Mesh grids are the fastest-growing technology solution for electrifying off-grid households. With a mesh grid, neighbors are connected, sharing renewable energy 24/7, which allows them to consume more than they would on their own. Each house contains a solar panel, battery and an Okra Pod, ensuring
