NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo has launched a venture capital firm. According to Bleacher Report, the Milwaukee Bucks player has introduced Build Your Legacy Ventures (BYL). The venture capital firm, backed by institutional investors and tech veterans, aims to funnel investments into the sports and entertainment sectors. As noted in a press release, the firm will be “driven by the Antetokounmpo family’s dedication to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.” “I’m incredibly energized to launch BYL Ventures as a way to give back and support the next generation of visionaries,” Antetokounmpo, founder and general partner of BYL Ventures, said in the release. “This fund is not just about capital; it’s about forging partnerships and opening my network to accelerate the growth trajectory for companies. I want to help other entrepreneurs, especially those who have faced barriers, to grow and succeed. BYL Ventures will be focused on finding people with big dreams and helping them make...

Gold, one of the oldest and most valuable assets in human history, holds a significant position in global finance. Unlike traditional companies with shares traded on stock markets , gold’s market cap refers to the total value of all gold in circulation worldwide. How Gold’s Market Cap Is Calculated The market cap of gold is derived from its above-ground supply, which includes gold stored in central banks, private reserves, and jewelry. Current estimates place this supply at around 244,000 metric tons . Bear in mind, however, that the total amount fluctuates from source to source by as much as 20%. We arrive at the market cap figure by multiplying this quantity by the current gold price per ounce (approximately $2,600 per ounce in 2024). Gold’s market cap fluctuates based on two primary factors: changes in the global supply of gold and shifts in its price due to demand dynamics. Various economic conditions, including inflation, currency strength, geopolitical uncertainties, and...

Michael Jordan has invested in a VC firm aiming to align itself with multiple unicorns. Sportico reports that Jordan has invested an undisclosed amount in the fourth fund of Courtside Ventures, a firm focused on the sectors of sports, media, entertainment, technology, and gaming. According to Crunchbase, the firm was founded by Deepen Parikh and Vasu Kulkarni. With over $200 million in assets under management, Courtside Ventures’ portfolio includes companies such as Veo (hardware and software subscription); Winzo (social gaming); The Athletic (sports media brand); and Betty (social casino platform), among others. “When we started Courtside in 2016, we did so out of desperate market need,” a statement from Courtside Ventures’ blog post reads . “Not only was there no venture fund that focused on sports, but existing VCs would run to the hills every time they saw a sports deal. This left entrepreneurs constantly having to look for alternate sources of funding, mostly from the very...

Socium has raised new funding to expand its reach within Francophone Africa. The company, founded by Samba Lo (CEO) and Serigne Seye (chief operating officer), began as a recruitment website before scaling to offer HR solutions for businesses, notes TechCrunch. Per its LinkedIn, company offerings include: Payroll management Workflow management Performance evaluation Document management “Our customers started to ask us if we had solutions for payroll, time management, and performance management. So, we decided to build a global HR platform to help HR teams manage all their processes,” Lo told TechCrunch. Thanks to Socium, more Africa-based companies can now launch their businesses within a matter of weeks in the French-speaking countries. The company also leverages artificial intelligence to vet CVs and create job descriptions, TechCrunch notes. “Focus on people means focus on performance, their evaluation and competence, and career path for each individual,” Lo added. “And for this...

After co-creating the beauty app Beautified, Hannah Bronfman recognized the importance of investing in startups, which are often the last to receive funding or the resources needed to scale. Today, she takes pride in her work as an angel investor, helping to advise and raise venture capital for budding businesses. As a former DJ, content creator, and now trusted angel investor, Bronfman’s desire to help companies achieve their goals by putting investments behind them began when she joined Annie Evans and Peter Hananel as a co-founder of Beautified. This app allows users to book beauty services, including haircuts, manicures, facials, massages, and more, with various salons and spas offered on the platform. Since the inception of Beautifed in 2013, Bronfman has also become an expert in marketing. She’s advised companies on building a strategic online presence well before the rise of today’s influencer-driven marketing landscape. In 2017, she became an investor. “I started actually to...

It could be the end of an era for budget-friendly travel — at least for now. On Monday, Nov. 18th, low-fair flight company Spirit Airlines confirmed that they’ve filed for bankruptcy protection after making efforts to cut costs all around. Some of their recent steps have included selling 23 Airbus jets and delaying future aircraft deliveries. Sadly, Spirit has also had to furlough hundreds of pilots with plans to cut additional staff in January. In their filing, they confirmed 13,000 full-time and part-time employees, plus 8,000 independent contractors and temporary workers. Things might look dire now, but as CNN notes, American Airlines , United and Delta have all gone bankrupt within the last 25 years, only to bounce back stronger on the other end of negotiations and hard work. What We Know About Spirit Airlines’ Bankruptcy So Far Photo Credit: Forsaken Films / Unsplash CNN cites, “ mounting losses, unaffordable debt, increased competition for bargain-seeking airline passengers...

New changes are underway at LeBron James’ media company. Bloomberg previously reported that the SpringHill Co., owned by James and Maverick Carter, had been in talks for several months with Fulwell 73, a British television, music, and film company known for “The Kardashians” and “Carpool Karaoke .” Sources close to the discussions mentioned plans for unscripted and live programming, with both parties aiming to leverage their resources across Europe and the United States. Now, it has been confirmed that the two companies will merge, however without any money being exchanged. The merger will instead be supported by a $40 million investment toward future growth from entities such as Fenway Sports Group, RedBird Capital Partners, UC Investments, Nike, Epic Games, Main Street Advisors, and Eldridge Industries, according to Variety. “We didn’t want to stand still and ultimately just be a production company where more and more you are in the services business. We’re producers for hire,”...

An observation Amber Hill made as a medical researcher jumpstarted her founder journey. In conversation with TechCrunch, Hill notes that she found manual administrative tasks tedious and felt that the time could have been put to better use. “I was spending so much time doing manual tasks that didn’t require any medical expertise. It’s a process that’s completely broken, and I knew it could be fixed,” she told the outlet. In 2020, Hill launched London, England-based Research Grid. The artificial intelligence (AI)-driven platform is intended to increase efficiency in clinical trials by automating manual processes, its website mentions. It currently offers two products: Inclusive and Trial Engine. Inclusive is described as a “community engagement sourcing and management platform” to support early trials through smart automations and patient engagement. This feature has grown a network of over 300 million patients across at least 90,000 communities. Its second product is Trial Engine, a...

Dr. Elizabeth Clayborne is gaining traction in the investment world for her medical device known as the “Band-Aid for nosebleeds.” As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Dr. Clayborne is the founder of NasaClip, which was inspired by her time in residency in Washington, DC. Various patients were coming into the emergency room for an issue professionals in the medical field described as a “lower acuity issue.” “Nosebleeds are most common in kids age 2 to 10, older adults 55 to 80, who might be on blood thinners, it’s really the least likely population to manage it well. So when they can’t get that bleeding to stop, they show up to me in the ER, and they want me to treat them right away. They’re bleeding all over the waiting room demanding to be seen. But for us as ER docs, this is a lower acuity issue, but it happens to be really kind of time-consuming and cumbersome to deal with,” she said over a Zoom webinar held on Oct. 31, 2024. She continued, “I was frustrated as a resident. Often...

Raphael Akinsipe has secured new funding for his startup, SocialCrowd. Launched in 2022, SocialCrowd allows workers to track their goals and receive reminders for remaining tasks. According to their website, users are also rewarded for meeting their objectives. Akinsipe describes the company as the “Fitbit for work,” as noted by TechCrunch. “For example, we had a restaurant incentivize their staff by rewarding them $1 for every five daily specials sold,” Akinsipe told the outlet. “And in 90 days their sales grew 490%.” Initially, SocialCrowd targeted restaurants, but it later expanded its focus to blue-collar industries such as retail and manufacturing. As a result, the company has seen a monthly growth rate of 20%, TechCrunch also reported. After a recent $2.5 million funding round led by Bread and Butter Ventures and Augment Ventures, with additional investors including  FullCircle, Serac Ventures, and VC414, SocialCrowd plans to expand into new industries. This comes after a $1.6...

Former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe continues to champion the future of STEM. In 2020, Bowe founded LINGO, a company that offers kits allowing individuals of all ages to engage with projects that promote problem-solving and coding. The goal is to increase exposure to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pathways. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lingo (@stemlingoco) What’s more, LINGO has been well received in the education sector and among Fortune 500 companies, its LinkedIn notes. It is also faring well among investors, raising $2.3 million in a November 2024 round led by Pinnacle Private Ventures, according to a news release. 1863 Ventures, Sequoia Capital via the Scout program, and Dr. Joy Johnson also participated in the round. “This funding round highlights LINGO’s potential to reshape the future of STEM education,” Sean McCurry , founder of family office-owned private investment firm Pinnacle Private Ventures, said in the news release. “We...

Wall Street day traders found themselves shocked and confused last week when Reddit’s stock price climbed to heights of 58 percent, surpassing the expectations of even the most liberal investors on r/WallStreetBets. The social media site , which is primarily used for sharing opinions, discussing niche topics and delivering daily news to millions of user-generated in-groups, reported $348.4 million in Q3 revenue according to data on Yahoo Finance . While these sky-high figures would be a bit surprising to most financial analysts, they were especially shocking to Wall Street insiders , who were reportedly planning to short the RDDT stock based on their expectation that the site would lose money during the most recent earnings report . In order to understand why and how the Reddit stock was able to surpass expectations, we’ll have to take a brief look at what’s changed in the site’s business model in recent months, watch similar stocks such as META and NVDA, and study the industry...

MaC Venture Capital has closed its third fund. According to a press release shared with AFROTECH™, the venture capital firm, launched in 2019 by former Washington, DC, Mayor Adrian Fenty and seed-stage venture capitalist Marlon Nichols , has raised $150 million in its third investment fund. Returning investors in this round include Boston College, Fairview Capital, the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension, the Michigan Department of Treasury, Stepstone, the Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois, and the University of Michigan. This investment brings MaC Venture Capital’s assets under management to $600 million, making it one of the largest seed-stage firms in Los Angeles, CA, and North America, per the release. “We’re grateful that we’ve grown so quickly in recent years, emphasizing that our investment framework succeeds in finding untapped potential in dynamic founders,” Fenty said. “During a time when the fundraising market looks troubling for early-stage startups, we continue to...

Mike Tyson has invested in the plant-based food sector. According to a press release, Carma HoldCo , the parent company of cannabis brand Tyson 2.0, has made an investment in Mr. Charlie’s Told Me So (TMS), a quick-service plant-based restaurant. Co-founded by Aaron Haxton and Taylor McKinnon, the restaurant offers “Not a Hamburger” patties, Tindle-based nuggets, and “Frowny Fries,” among other menu items. Thanks to the investment, Mr. Charlie’s TMS, which already has locations in Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco, CA; and Sydney, Australia, is set to reach even more customers globally as part of the plant-based movement. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mr.Charlie’s Told Me So (@mrcharlies) Furthermore, Tyson views the investment as a prime opportunity to promote healthy alternatives, aligning perfectly with his personal values. As a longtime follower of a vegan lifestyle, he is especially excited about this venture. “Mr. Charlie’s is a natural choice for Carma Holdco, as...

When it comes to investment, one of the first key tips you’re likely to receive is the importance of diversification. Usually, there’s a sweet spot of 20-30 different types of stocks spread out over various industries, with other assets like bonds, real estate, and CDs on top of that. Private equity investing can be an excellent way to diversify your portfolio and access opportunities not available in public markets. However, it can also be more complex and risky than traditional investments. In this article, we’ll break down what private equity is and how you can get started with it. What Is Private Equity? Private equity refers to investments made directly in private companies, or in the buyout of public companies, to take them private. These investments typically involve purchasing shares in a company that is not listed on a public stock exchange. Private equity investors aim to increase the value of these companies over time and eventually sell them for a profit. Types Of...