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Pindrop, a voice security and authentication startup, announced Wednesday that it closed a $90 million Series D funding round. The Atlanta-based company is set to expand globally to provide additional products and partnerships with telecommunications companies. Allegion Ventures, Cross Creek, Dimension Data, Singapore-based EDBI, and Goldman Sachs contributed to the funding round. “At Pindrop, we are bringing trust and security into voice-based interactions to enable the evolution of voice as the next computer interface,” said Executive Chairman and Cofounder of Pindrop Dr. Paul Judge said in a press release. “This investment allows Pindrop to grow globally and expand into securing voice-based IoT devices.” Pindrop isn’t Judge’s first rodeo —t he Morehouse alum co-founded two other startups before creating his latest company in 2011. Judge also co-founded consumer WiFi company LumaHome, which was acquired earlier this year and web security company Purewire, which was acquired in...
Understanding the resilience required to raise capital can create a high level of empathy for upcoming founders. Before becoming chairman of SoftBank’s Open Opportunity Fund, a fund for Black- and Latino-founded tech companies, there was a time when Dr. Paul Judge faced countless rejections while looking to raise money for his cybersecurity company, Pindrop Security.
Panoramic Ventures — a joint venture by Paul Judge and BIP Capital co-founder, Mark Buffington — has announced its formation with a $300 million fund, according to a press release that dropped today. The fund, according to the founders, will be used as a way to help “ overlooked geographies, ” racial and gender diversity of founders and teams, and opening more doors for often underrepresented founders. “After years of building companies as an entrepreneur and angel investor, I felt that I could have a greater impact by working with more founders, which is why we created Panoramic Ventures,” said Paul Judge, in the press release statement. “As a minority who has built companies outside of the traditional tech hubs, I know what it is like to be an overlooked founder. From Atlanta to Miami, from the Southeast to the Midwest, Panoramic wants to back promising founders and extend capital opportunities that may not have previously existed.” As stated in the press release, Black founders...
Tanya Sam of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” had an unconventional start in the tech world. Now, she’s launched her own investment company focused on leveling the playing field in an industry that disproportionately rewards straight white men. With Ambition Fund , she wants people from various backgrounds to have the courage to start their own business by assisting women and minority founders across industries. “Technology companies have impacted everything from the way we shop, how we eat, and how we get our groceries,” Sam said. Sam originally joined the workforce as a nurse following the path of family members in successful medical jobs. Sam’s mother also worked as a nurse, while her father served as an obstetrician-gynecologist in Toronto. Sam has worked in Atlanta and New York assisting in bone marrow transplants. She began dating her now-fiancé Dr. Paul Judge in the Big Apple, which sparked her interest in the startup industry. Judge is a co-founder of Pindrop, a...