Black-Woman-Led Growth Warrior Capital, Which Invests In Early-Stage Enterprise AI Companies, Secures $26M For Its First Fund

The Trump administration has repealed a Biden-era policy that guaranteed a baseline wage for workers on federal contracts, cutting the federal contractor minimum wage down from $17.75 an hour. However, the move still leaves an Obama-era rule in place that puts the minimum at $13.30 an hour. With that single change, hundreds of thousands of private-sector workers employed by federal contractors are at risk of wage reductions up to 25% — a shift that will disproportionately affect workers without college degrees and those already earning near-poverty wages, the Center for American Progress reports. The Federal Contractor Minimum Wage: A Lifeline Now Lost The now-defunct regulation, established under Executive Order 14026, raised the federal contractor minimum wage in 2021 to $15 and indexed it to inflation, bringing it to $17.75 in 2025. It was designed to ensure that janitors, cooks, maintenance workers, and other federal contract laborers earned a livable wage. More than 327,000...

Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA) is mobilizing support for Black maternal health. Black Maternal Health Week April 11–17 is Black Maternal Health Week (BMHW), an initiative created by the Black women-led, cross-sectoral consortium Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA), with the intent of raising awareness and fostering community around the experiences of Black mothers and birthing people, according to information shared with AFROTECH™. Atlanta-GA-based BMMA traces its origins to 2013 when the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) and SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective (SisterSong) began constructive research on the obstacles Black mothers face in accessing health care. Once it had become its own independent entity in 2018, BMMA established Black Maternal Health Week and began working with up to 18 community-based organizations. That number has since grown to nearly 50. Black Maternal Health Week also intentionally coincides with National Minority Health Month,...

Being a founder is not an easy journey. James Oliver who is currently behind Kabila, a company connecting underserved founders to co-founders, capital, and community, had his fair share of challenges prior to the venture. In fact, his first startup, WeMontage, failed while he was also navigating the early days of fatherhood — his twin children were born prematurely at just two pounds each via an emergency C-section. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, some of his difficulties were launching his company as a non-technical founder creating software. Two days after his children’s births, he had to attend an accelerator, led by gener8tor, which was a two-hour drive from where he lived in northeast Wisconsin. Ahead of a presentation on demo day, Oliver was greeted by an angel investor group, and they were willing to invest $250,000. “I dropped to my knees and thanked God because everything I was going through at that time was really hard. So that was my introduction to being a parent and...

Dove wants increased representation in the digital world, leading the global personal care brand to launch a guide to help designers create characters with Black hair textures and protective styles for video games. “Code My Crown” — created with the help of Black game developers, artists, academics, and stylists — features instructions, personal insights, detailed references, and complete open-source code. “In the real world, there is an incredible variety of Black hairstyles. But this is rarely reflected in the gaming world,” said Lead Guide Contributor and Founder of the Open Source Afro Hair Library (Osahl) A.M. Darke in the guide.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Prof. A.M. Darke (@prettydarke) Recent research indicates that 85% of Black gamers believe video games poorly represent Black hair textures, according to Dove. Additionally, around 80% of Black gamers report feeling excluded, discriminated against, or inadequate when they do not see accurate...

Rosalind “Roz” Brewer is a trailblazer. While Brewer has proven to be a corporate catalyst through her various high-ranking positions, it was her parents who set an example of excellence, both working at General Motors. In particular, her father worked several jobs simultaneously to support her education along with that of her siblings. “He didn’t have the choice to pursue even his high school diploma, but eventually achieved a significant management role in the auto industry. He displayed so much discipline and dedication to excellence,” Brewer, a Michigan native, explained in a Q&A with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, where she is part owner.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by AFROTECH (@afro.tech) Brewer would go on to display the same characteristics she admired about her father. She attended Spelman College, graduating in 1984 with a degree in chemistry, before pursuing further education at the Director’s College at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business,...

Will Packer knows a thing or two about spotting a good story. With films like “Ride Along,” “Think Like a Man,” and “Stomp the Yard,” he’s turned everyday moments into box-office gold, built characters we root for, and created cultural blueprints that stick. But when the call came offering a confidential shot at owning a piece of an NFL team — no details, no guarantees — this wasn’t a plot twist in a film. This was real life. And it didn’t come with a pitch deck or press release. It came with a non-disclosure agreement and the vaguest of possibilities. “I said, NFL? National Food League?” Packer joked. “Because I know the NFL doesn’t just let people in.” The terms? Mysterious. The team? Unknown. The risk? High. But Packer signed the NDA anyway. That moment — unflashy, uncertain, but undeniably bold — set off a chain of events that would lead him not just into the NFL ownership circle but into a growing movement to rewrite what power and equity look like in professional sports. Fast...

The Global Gaming League (GGL), a professional gaming entertainment organization featuring celebrity team owners, has successfully raised $10 million in its SAFE round, led by the private equity group Solyco Capital, according to a news release. Founded by multi-platinum music producer and entrepreneur Clinton Sparks, in collaboration with Grammy Award-winning artist T-Pain and tech visionary Jeff Hoffman, GGL is building the first entertainment system that monetizes the world’s largest and most engaged audience: the more than 3 billion people who play video games. “There are over 3 billion gamers around the world,” Sparks said. “But there’s still no centralized platform that gives everyday players the spotlight—while authentically connecting brands, celebrities, and competition in a way that’s truly entertaining. That’s where GGL comes in.” Each GGL team has four players — including high-profile influencers , actors, athletes, artists, and casual and professional gamers — competing...

Beyoncé haircare line is shattering projections at Ulta Beauty. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, in early 2024 the “Cowboy Carter” artist launched Cécred, a science-backed and self-funded haircare brand that was six years in the making, with inspiration from her mother Tina Knowles’ salon. Its products cater to all hair types and include a clarifying shampoo, scalp scrub, moisturizing deep conditioner, and r estoring hair and edge drops, which reached its first-year projections in just one month, WWD reports. View this post on Instagram A post shared by CÉCRED (@cecred) Cécred secured a retail deal with Ulta Beauty, bringing its products to 1,400 Ulta Beauty stores starting April 6, 2025. A party was held at Ulta Beauty’s Westwood location in Los Angeles, CA, to celebrate its launch with Beyoncé sharing kind words. “I grew up in a hair salon, as most of you guys know, with my mother, and this was [our] dream,” Beyoncé said at the event, according to Glossy. “Our team worked so...