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WeWork is taking another hit and this time for good reason. According to the New York Post , the company is being sued by Ayesha Whyte, on the grounds of racial discrimination and gender bias. Whyte left her high paying job at Disney and headed to WeWork in 2018 under the assumption that she would hold a director position with an annual salary of $200,000 at the company’s New York location. She relocated her entire family, only to find out she would be working in Washington D.C. and for 20 percent less than promised. If that wasn’t enough, it gets worse. According to the filed lawsuit paperwork, Whyte claims that her non-Black counterparts and men were making more than her all while less qualified employees got promotions ahead of her. Whyte was fired on Oct. 27 for bringing the discrimination she faced to the surface. If she went against their wishes of private arbitration, the company threatened to come after her with legal fees. “WeWork keeps people of color out of leadership...
SoftBank Investment Advisers and WeWork Labs have announced their Emerge Program for diverse entrepreneurs. The program is open to tech startups with at least one founder who is Black, Latinx, Native American, female/non-binary, a veteran, refugee, and/or LGBTQ+. The program aims to enhance the innovation of tech by incorporating founders from all backgrounds thus supporting companies that represent an inclusive world. The customized eight-week program will provide startups with educational sessions, access to SoftBank’s portfolio companies and professionals as well as WeWork’s global labs. Startup participation is equity-free and will also provide dedicated desk space and a WeWork Labs manager for the duration of the program. The program will allow founders to showcase their business to key investors and SoftBank Advisors at a showcase event on June 18. Other requirements for eligible participants include having a working product at Seed or Series A stage, at least one founder who...
Joey Womack , co-founder and CEO of Amplify 4 Good and Goodie nation, was recently named manager of Atlanta’s first WeWork Labs . The position will help startups to cement and expand their businesses. The appointment comes at a pivotal time for Womack, who has long been at the forefront of helping startups chart a course for success. In the more than five years since he founded Amplify 4 Good to assist tech entrepreneurs in solving socio-economic disparities, Womack has impacted millions through his consulting work with several companies, including the United Negro College Fund, Google, and the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. For many of his clients, he has developed hackathons , or short-term sessions during which software and leadership development are explored to leverage a company’s resources and drive its success. Through Goodie Nation, Womack galvanizes change agents to team up with other entrepreneurs in an effort to use partnerships to solve problems, drive innovation, and...
WeWork Labs has its eyes set on food tech startups, according to TechCrunch . The innovation program was relaunched by WeWork, the coworking space giant, about a year ago. Now, it is hoping to grab the attention of early-stage startups from across the world. Currently, WeWork Labs has locations in Washington, D.C., New York City, Houston, and Seattle, along with various other international locations. The labs feature workshops, introductions to VCs, mentorship and pitch events to help founders grow their businesses and skills. WeWork Labs’ food tech initiative comes as more investors lean into food tech and other food-focused businesses. According to a report by Food Tech Connect , $1.08 billion in venture capital investments were made to 99 beverage and food industry agreements in 2017. “I do have to say, food carries a disproportionate amount of weight and attention,” Global Head of WeWork Labs Roee Adler said to TechCrunch. “We think it is one of the most exciting areas in the...
Landit , the platform helping users get ahead in their careers, has ended its $13 million Series A funding round. WeWork led the funding round. Other investors include Connectivity Partners, Morgan Stanley, and Gingerbread Capital. Connectivity Partners focuses on early-stage founders of technology companies, while Gingerbread Capital invests in high-growth, women-led companies. Lisa Skeete Tatum created Landit after spending time as a venture capitalist at Cardinal Partners, a $350 million firm. Now she’s on the other side of the deal, securing funding for her own company. Landit is a platform that helps individuals and companies improve their corporate experiences. Landit provides a professional playbook, goals and other tools to help employees solidify raises and promotions. Landit Founder, Lisa Skeete Tatum On the company-focused side of Landit, the platform assists businesses in improving retention and diversity rates. According to a Landit spokesperson, the company increased...
Finding a space that allows you to be your most productive self is essential. Having the right setup can be the difference between getting that proposal you’ve been working on squared away, or continuing to leave it on your to-do list. It’s well known that the right workspace can impact your peace of mind and serve as the inspiration you need to get your big break. That’s where WeWork comes in. WeWork is here for you whether you from WIFI or are looking for an affordable space to start your small business. The global network of workspaces has a presence in 270 locations, including Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Chicago, Milan, and AfroTech’s very own San Francisco / Bay Area . And if you’re joining us for AfroTech 2018, you can test out WeWork’s one-of-a-kind workspaces in your area for free! Photo: Courtesy of WeWork All AfroTech attendees will be able to visit WeWork’s booth to pick up a 1-day pass giving them access to work from any WeWork space in the San Francisco / Bay Area or in...
If you’ve been following the stock market in recent days you may already be familiar with SoftBank, a multinational internet services and investment firm operating out of Japan. The business has received a ton of press since Monday morning after CEO Masayoshi Son announced a proposed $100 billion in investments over the next four calendar years. This plan, which was developed in collaboration with the incoming Trump administration , is projected to create 100,000 new jobs within the United States, particularly in artificial intelligence and similar internet-based infrastructure. Per the Wall Street Journal , SoftBank’s stock (SFTBY) received a massive bump in the day following the announcement, accounting for a 4.4 percent rise in the Japanese market and a 1.3 percent rise on the New York Stock Exchange . To better understand exactly what this means for our country, infrastructure and the stock market of today, we’ll have to take a moment to examine SoftBank’s business model and...
Starting your day off meaningfully and productively can set you up for success. The “success” doesn’t need to have a traditional definition of achieving more sales or closing out more projects. Success is and always will be personal . Similarly, morning routines are specific to each person and determined by physical, mental and spiritual steps. Here’s the surprising truth about morning routines and what successful people do differently. The Truth About Morning Routines Establishing a morning routine may seem like a step out of your comfort zone, but it can provide organization and relief. It’s about prioritization of what steps would have the most impact on your day in a positive way. These steps can look different than those of folks around you, but ultimately it’s about what sets you up for success personally. This could look like preparing the night before or giving yourself enough time to slowly implement your morning routine rather than rushing into it. Celebs have spoken about...
eqtble, a data analytics platform designed to create what they’re calling a “healthier workplace,” has announced that it has raised $2.7 million in its initial seed funding round. TechCrunch says that the company — which was founded by Joseph Ifiegbu, the former human resources technology head at Snap who also has a bit of history at WeWork — raised its $2.7 million with help from Initialized Capital, who led the funding round. The funding was also completed with participation from SB Opportunity Fund, RS Ventures and other venture capital firms and angel investors. The seed funding will reportedly be used to grow eqtble’s engineering team and its platform’s machine learning and visualization capabilities, and user acquisition. eqtble solves the problem of what’s known as “data fragmentation” amongst companies. When a new employee joins a company, his or her data is usually found in all different parts of the computer system at the company. As a result, companies can often miss...
Megan Gray — a former Google employee — has established herself and her startup, Moment AI, as respected names in the (Artificial Intelligence) AI startup world. Gray and the Moment AI team are on a mission to integrate health monitoring into the driving experience so that drivers can be alerted to potential deadly health episodes even before they begin to feel ill. Moment AI has participated in the Softbank and WeWork-backed Emerge accelerator . Gray has also spoken at NVIDIA’s GTC DC and several conferences about the work she and the Moment AI team are doing to make the roads safer for everyone. Moment AI also holds a patent for the technology they’ve developed. For Gray, Moment AI’s mission is all too personal. Where It All Started For The Former Googler When Gray suffered a seizure on a flight one day, she was left completely confused. Up until that day, she had been a healthy young woman with no medical issues. “It felt like something was kicking me in my head,” she explained...
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...
This piece originally published on November 19, 2018. The future of work looks like freelancers, creatives, and entrepreneurs designing and innovating in shared spaces that offer reliable WiFi, networking and events on how to drive growth and revenue for your business. There are more than 4,000 coworking spaces (and growing) in the United States and overall membership is expected to increase by 5.1 million by 2022. Despite this rapid growth in shared working spaces, only a handful of co-working spaces are black-owned and cater to black professionals. Black entrepreneurs across the country are stepping up to create workspaces offering a safe haven for a community of Black creatives and freelancers who seek shared community spaces built around the idea of inclusion. Check out a list of five innovative Black-owned co-working spaces: Femology — Detroit This co-working space catering to Black female entrepreneurs was founded by Detroit native Meagan Ward last year. Over 100 women-owned...
Entrepreneurs generally have three things on the brain: product, scale, and profit. We generally believe these two principles go hand-in-hand. The more customers we pull in, the more profits we make, right? Well, sometimes. However, developing a viable product and producing large quantities of it often require lots of upfront capital, which young entrepreneurs generally don’t have. Here’s where venture capital (VC) comes in. Investopedia defines “venture capital” as “a form of private equity and a type of financing that investors provide to startup companies and small businesses that are believed to have long-term growth potential.” It might seem like every startup worth its salt has raised some VC along the way. However, for Black entrepreneurs, the truth can be a bit bleaker. Black startups generally have a harder time raising VC, and it only gets worse the better they perform. Here are some reasons you probably shouldn’t pursue VC funding for your startup: Diluted Ownership...
Since entrepreneurs of color come from so many different backgrounds and sexual orientations, we need spaces where we all feel comfortable and welcomed. With the development of inclusive coworking spaces — like New York’s Ethel’s Club — on the rise, =SPACE is doing just that plus more by adding another layer of inclusivity to its coworking space. “I decided to create an environment that subliminally and very intentionally affirmed marginalized voices, so I created =SPACE for Black, Brown, immigrant voices, and LGBT enterprises,” Citi Medina, the Founder of =SPACE, said. Tone Woolfe Going into its fourth year of operation, =SPACE — located in Newark, New Jersey — isn’t your average coworking space. It has all the ingredients of a grassroots movement backed with innovative business acuity. =SPACE is powered by Medina’s passion for empowering and equipping this generation of overlooked and underserved entrepreneurs, in addition to positive representation of entrepreneurship amongst...
Hair care products have been flying off the shelves ever since Black women came together as a collective to start embracing their natural locks. The Black hair care industry was even valued to be worth over $2.5 billion in 2018, according to Mintel. Now, these Black entrepreneurs are taking the motto “For Us, By Us” to the next level by creating natural hair care lines that are tailored to their own. Afrocenchix Created by Rachel Corson and Joycelyn Mate, Afrocenchix is a London-based Vegan natural hair care company. According to the Afrocenchix site, it all started with the co-founders’ frustration with natural hair care products that didn’t live up to their hype. Although the founders were turned down by a lot of wholesalers, it didn’t stop them from raising funds from Angel investors. Corson and Mate even gained funds from their WeWork Global Creator award. Camille Rose Naturals Founder Janell Stephens started Camille Rose to provide customers with safe and natural hair and skin...