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Black Ops Ventures, a Black-owned VC fund, has announced that it has closed its first fund with investments totaling $13 million. And, thanks to this fund closing, the company has announced its intent to exclusively back outstanding Black tech founders in the United States and Canada. According to a press release, “In securing investments for this initial close, Black Ops relied upon long-standing relationships with some of the most respected names in the tech industry.” Some of those names include Blavity, Inc. CEO Morgan DeBaun, Drew Houston, Jacob Gibson, Ben Horowitz, Union Square Ventures and Jeff Bussgang. Bank of America and Northwestern Mutual led the fundraising round, according to the press release. “We are part of this community of Black founders, with better access to deal flow than other venture investors, regardless of their cultural background,” said James Norman , partner, in the press release. Norman is also the founder of Pilotly and co-founder of Transparent...
Damilola Olokesusi — the founder of Shuttlers — has joined the small percentage of women who have received major funding from venture capital in Africa during 2021. After experiencing her own trouble securing transportation in Nigeria, Olokesusi would later become driven to find a solution to combat transportation insufficiencies. Her startup Shuttlers was created in 2016 to transport professionals and organizations from buses to work and combat the continent’s transportations costs in Lagos, Nigeria. Now, the company can further its mission with the help of a successful seed round totaling $1.6 million from investors housed in Nigeria and beyond, TechCrunch reports. The round was led by VestedWorld, a venture capital firm based in Chicago, IL, and Africa. Other investors included Rising Tide Africa, Launch Africa, EchoVC, Consonance Investment, CcHub Syndicate, CMC 21 & Alsa, ShEquity, Five35, Sakore and Nikky Taurus. Olokesusi acknowledges the interest for these investors was due...
As part of Harvey Ventures, Steve Harvey and his daughter Lori Harvey have invested in a variety of Black-owned businesses. The company’s website explains that in addition to investing in such companies as Wish and 23andMe, they’ve invested in Black-owned businesses like Brotha Bakes. Now, too, Harvey Ventures has added MOON Ultra to their investment portfolio. Co-founded by Edward Madongorere and Dishen “Dixon” Yang, this Black-owned business has invented a product that was named one of TIME Magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2020.” For Lori Harvey, though, the investment in the company was a natural one. “With the fast-paced growth that digital innovation continues to bring into our creator economy, it was important to me to align myself with a company that prides itself on empowering not only its internal team, but its direct consumers to be the best versions of themselves,” she told AfroTech exclusively. “And for me, that is MOON Ultra.” Based in Austin, TX, MOON Ultra has created a...