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
London-based venture capital firm, Octopus Ventures, has launched its first £10 million ($12 million) pre-seed fund to support fresh startups in the fintech and health sectors. The firm, founded in 2007, works to fill the growing gap in early pre-seed funding for European founders. Kirsten Connell and Maria Rotilu, veterans of Seedcamp and Uber, will lead the company’s first-ever investment fund. They will bring their extensive experience and knowledge of growing firms from the beginning to the job, enabling them to work closely with start-ups in their early years. Octopus
After opening a pop-up in Westfield London last year, Black Pound Day is now set to open a permanent store in the shopping center. Black Pound Day founder, Swiss of So Solid Crew, announced the opening of the permanent store on social media. “This is an absolute special one for us because we are proud to officially say, we have signed a permanent lease to trade at Westfield London, the biggest shopping center in Europe, and we couldn’t have done it without You!!!!” Swiss wrote. The launch of the pop-up
Northern Commerce, a web development and digital marketing firm that was founded in 2015 and has about 190 staff, is giving $150,000 to the Lead to Change Foundation, a Toronto-based agency that supports black youth in arts and culture. The money is a one-year commitment and will be used to offer youth workshops in garment and print design, podcasts and broadcasting, photography and video, and audio recording and engineering. Northern staff will also work with youth in developing digital marketing skills. The firm has presented Lead to Change with an
Tower Hamlets has successfully secured £250,000 of funding on behalf of the four borough LIFT initiative to deliver a Digital Hub as part of the Mayor’s Academies Programme, which aims to support Londoners hardest hit by the pandemic. The funding, which has been awarded to organizations across London, will help establish hubs to support residents into good work across a number of long-term economic growth sectors including digital. The LIFT initiative, which includes Camden, Islington, and Hackney, has allocated this funding to establish a digital hub in Tower Hamlets that
Ashleigh Ainsley was one of three Black workers at a London startup and he experienced what many would describe as uncomfortable situations – which eventually drove him to leave and use his experience to launch a social enterprise for Blacks in tech. The Oxford University graduate from Lewisham said he felt he couldn’t be his true self and struggled to navigate the London office, which consisted of 300 employees. He claims he was also asked to shave his beard while working at a startup and felt that he was being
