San Francisco-based fintech company, TomoCredit, has raised $122 million in funding and debt financing. The funding round was led by Morgan Stanley’s Next Level Fund and included Morgan Stanley’s Next Level Fund, MasterCard, and debt from Silicon Valley Bank. The funding will help the platform expand its credit product offerings to help support immigrants with no credit history in the US. TomoCredit, co-founded in 2018 by Kristy Kim and Dmitry Kashlev, is a fintech platform dedicated to providing the next generation with a credit card designed to help millennials boost
Mexico City-based fintech platform, Arrenda, has raised $26.5 million in a pre-seed funding round of equity and debt. The funding round, which Fasanara Capital and Kube Ventures led, also included ODX Ventures, Toehold Ventures, Wharton Fintech, Lightspeed Venture Partners Scour Fund, PRMM Inmobiliaria, and a range of angel investors. Arrenda, founded in 2022 by Joe Merullo, is a revenue-based startup that works to provide market-specific insurance and financial products to the real estate markets and landlords of Latin America. Not only does it offer advance payments to landlords, but it
Black-owned cardiovascular telehealth provider, Moving Analytics, has raised $20 million in Series A funding. The funding round, which Wellington Access Ventures and Seae Ventures led, also included investors Philip Ventures, Aphelion Capital, Nueterra Capital, SteelSky Ventures, and Citi Ventures. Moving Analytics, co-founded in 2013 by Ade Adesanya, Harsh Vathsangam, and Shuo Qiao, has partnered with cardiology offices and cardiac rehab facilities to expand access to secondary prevention for all patients. The platform specializes in cardiovascular prevention and uses a virtual cardiac rehab program, Movn, to support patients who have recently
Black-founded startups recently saw record amounts of investment, with quarterly funding commitments nearing or even topping $1 billion. But according to new data from Crunchbase, venture capital funding has dropped significantly in the second quarter of 2022, down to just $324 million. So far in 2022, only 100 U.S. startups with a Black founder have received funding, with $100 million invested in seed rounds, $591 million in early-stage rounds, and approximately $876 million in later-stage rounds. Startups with at least one Black founder received 1.9% of deal counts and 1.2% of
NFL Star Jonathan Taylor has invested $6 million into Sports Tech company Strive in a Series A funding round. The funding round, led by venture capital firm, Future Communities Capital, included a range of investors, including SeaChange Fund and Seed to B Capital. NFL quarterback Troy Smith and Jonathan Taylor were new investors who also participated. Strive, founded by Nikola Mrvaljevic in 2016, aims to provide accurate muscle data to athletes and teams. Mrvaljevic decided to launch the company after seeing that college coaches welcomed his ideas on using data
London and Kenyan-based educational entertainment company, Kukua, has raised $6 million in its latest investment round. The funding round was co-led by world-leading technology company Tencent and Italy-based VC Alchimia and included participation from EchoVC, Firstminute Capital, and Auxxo Female Catalyst. Kukua, co-founded by Alexandre Terrien and Lucrezia Bisignani in 2015, uses technology to create magical learning experiences for children centered around a universe of superhero characters. The company is best known for creating the first-ever African animated superhero series, ‘Super Sema,’ and aims to empower the children of the
Black-owned venture capital firm, MaC, has raised $203 million for its second fund, building on the initial $110 million they secured in seed-stage funding last year. The firm focuses on investing in underrepresented founders of color. The highly resourceful team uses their skills and knowledge to support the next generation of tech companies, focusing on reshaping the culture and providing resources to underrepresented communities. MaC was launched in 2019 by four founding partners: former Washington D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty, former talent agent Charles D. King, VC veteran Marlon Nichols, and
Over in Los Angeles, Jonathan Moore, 25, left his Wall Street career to work as an analyst at TCG Capital Management. He pitched the idea for the firm to launch a crypto fund, believing the intersection of web3 and the creator economy could tap a generation of untapped talent. Since launching the fund in September 2021, he has closed over 20 deals and says the outlook for this year is equally promising. He’s not the only young person getting into the VC scene. Gen Zs are getting into the space
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
Back in 2020, Black Founders Matter made its first investment in a company called A Kids Book About, founded by Jelani Memory but since then it has invested in one of the most-decorated track star in US history and many others. Here’s the back story. Despite his best effort, Marceau Michel could not secure venture funding, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. What started off as a small T-shirt line that hosted the slogan, Black Founders Matter, to generate revenue for his own company has now turned into an ambitious
