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In honor of International Women’s Day, we here at AfroTech thought it was only fitting to recognize the work of 31 Black women in tech. Too often, Black women’s accomplishments, especially in the technology field, are overlooked or overshadowed. We encourage you not only to check out these women’s profiles and businesses but also to help shine a light on other Black women in tech this month and throughout the rest of the year. Check out the list of 31 Black women in the tech sector below: Asmau Ahmed, CEO of Plum Perfect, an app that helps women find beauty products in line with their skin tone Sheena Allen, Founder and CEO of CapWay, which works to service the underbanked Shellye Archambeau, Current Board member of numerous tech companies, former President of Blockbuster.com, and CEO of MetricStream Angela Benton, Founder and CEO of Streamlytics, which helps make transparent what users are consuming on streaming services Jean Brownhill, Founder and CEO of Sweeten, which helps to...
Women’s History Month is all about uplifting generations of hard-working women who are becoming pioneers in their own right every single day. This year, AfroTech is amplifying the famous firsts of Black women today who have defied the odds to open doors and break glass ceilings for us all. Here are all the Black women who have and continue to inspire the next generation of young Black women to be the leaders of tomorrow: Kamala Harris Photo Credit: Chris Carlson/ AP Kamala D. Harris made history as the first Black, first Asian-American, and first woman to ever be elected Vice President of the United States of America. She accomplished this historic feat after serving as the District Attorney of San Francisco, California Attorney General, and a U.S. Senator. Stacey Abrams Photo Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images Stacey Abrams — a political strategist and former minority leader of the Georgia state House — is the reason the state of Georgia turned blue for the first time in 30 years to...
Planet FWD is a climate-friendly food startup that specializes in developing a regenerative food platform. According to TechCrunch, Planet FWD — founded by Zume co-founder, Julia Collins — just launched its first product, Moonshot Snacks, a climate-friendly plant-based, kosher, organic, carbon-neutral snack that has no added sugar. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Julia Collins (@juliaecollins) In addition to the new product, Planet FWD also announced an additional $2.5 million in funding led by Concrete Rose, MCJ Collective, Arlan Hamilton, and Emerson Collective, as well as existing investors which includes January Ventures, Kapor Capital, and BBG Ventures, among others. The funding is in addition to the $2.7 million already raised by the startup earlier this year. “We want to engage customers and show them they have the power to address climate change just with the way we eat,” Collins told TechCrunch. “We can use our food choices as a way to promote better farm...
It can’t be said enough: Black women are leading the charge in entrepreneurship. Access to capital is still extremely low, but Black female founders are maintaining successful startups through continuous hard work and innovation, especially in tech. From Silicon Valley to tech’s newest mecca, Atlanta , Black women are using a wide range of technology to shift the culture across all industries — beauty, health, food, agriculture, economy, you name it. In celebration of Women’s History Month, here are seven Black women founders spreading their magic to make a difference in and through tech. Jessica Matthews, Uncharted Power Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon The self-proclaimed mashup of Bill Nye the Science Guy and Beyoncé, Jessica Matthews founded renewable energy startup Uncharted Power in 2011. The smart tech company addresses the generation, transmission and storage of power in underserved communities. In March 2020, Los Angeles Lakers legend and business magnate Magic...
Zume Pizza — the billion-dollar robotic pizza company founded in 2015 by Julia Collins and Alex Garden — has reportedly shut down its robotic pizza-making operations and laid off 360 employees , which amounts to over 50 percent of its workforce, according to CNBC. As reported by TechCrunch, this is just the latest in a string of layoffs that have occurred across SoftBank’s portfolio of companies over the past few months. In 2018, SoftBank — investor in the embattled WeWork and Uber — funded Zume to the tune of $375 million. In November 2019, it was announced that Zume would be entering another fundraising round at a $4 billion valuation, according to Vox. However, it appears that the latest round of fundraising didn’t go as planned. On Jan. 6, Reuters reported a source close to Zume indicated that the company planned to layoff 80 percent of its staff. While best-known for its delivery pizza service which featured pies made by robots, not humans, Zume has actually diversified its...
It’s hard for Black entrepreneurs to launch startups, but these six companies are killing the game. Their amazing products are getting rave reviews from customers and impressive investments from industry leaders. 1. LISNR Founded by Rodney Williams, Chris Ostoich, and Josh Glick, LISNR is on a mission to completely disrupt the digital payments industry. According to their website, LISNR’s “proprietary ultrasonic data-over-sound technology enables modern checkout experiences globally across the customer journey for merchants, financial service providers and mobility enterprises.” If their recent investment from Visa is any indication, they are well on their way to achieving their goal. Learn more about Rodney Williams and LISNR here . 2. Calendly Calendly is a scheduling app that helps people organize their time better. Founded by Tope Awotona in 2013 and headquartered in Atlanta, Calendly helps its users increase their revenue and provide exceptional customer service by streamlining...
When it comes to the tech industry, Black women still deal with a lot of unique barriers. According to Project Diane, Black women-led startups have only received a total of .0006% of the $424.7 billion in total tech venture funding raised since 2009. This percentage is alarming considering Black women are doing great work in tech and have unique value to bring to the market through their ideas and products. Ever resilient and resourceful, however, Black women have begun taking matters into their own hands and are starting companies regardless of adequate funding. In fact, the amount of Black-women led startups has more than doubled since 2016. These seven Black-women led startups display the diversity of ideas we bring to the table. Eth el’s Club Coworking spaces have seen a recent spike in popularity. In her Brooklyn neighborhood, Naj Austin realized there was a glaring gap and opportunity to capitalize. “What’s missing generally in the landscape [of coworking spaces] is there...
Over the past decade, scientists have warned that the effects of climate change are imminent. The world’s temperature has already increased by 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880 — according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) — with most of that taking place during the last 35 years. Some communities are already seeing increased drought or flooding, stronger and more frequent storms, and other signs of world climate change. With climate change standing as one of the world’s most pressing issues, people often put pressure on individuals, but there’s a lot that tech as an industry can do. Tech workers have called upon their employers to drastically reduce their carbon emissions, with a special focus on companies like Amazon, whose free one-day shipping has a huge carbon footprint . In April, 4,500 Amazon employees published an open letter to CEO Jeff Bezos on Medium, writing: “Amazon has the resources and scale to spark the world’s imagination and redefine what...