Chris Bennett’s childcare management platform Wonderschool is ready to tackle the national childcare crisis. According to a press release, $25 million was raised in a Series B round led by Goldman Sachs for Wonderschool. Citi Impact Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Uncork Capital, Unusual Ventures, Imaginable Futures, and Gaingels also participated in the round. The funds will help Wonderschool’s childcare program provide flexible and top-of-the-line care for children and families with the help of its childcare entrepreneurs. “Child care is, perhaps, our most important public investment. And yet, we have historically relied on a fragmented, outdated system to make good on its promise,” said Bennett , co-founder and CEO, of Wonderschool in a press release. “Policymakers have precious little data to understand where public funds are having an impact. Empowering providers to serve families and children and providing state leaders with better data to understand what’s happening are two sides...

Ben Horowitz, co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), has shifted his personal political support for the presidential election, now pledging donations to Kamala Harris’ campaign after previously backing Donald Trump. In an email update to a16z supporters about “political activity,” Horowitz said Harris has been a “great friend” to him and his wife, Felicia — who is Black — in the 10 years they’ve known her. He noted the vice president’s support for their firm in its early days, mentioning her involvement in events that helped establish the Cultural Leadership Fund network, which supports Black cultural leaders and organizations. “As a result of our friendship, Felicia and I will be making a significant donation to entities who support the Harris Walz campaign ,” Horowitz wrote, per Business Insider. However, he added that a16z remains committed to positions aligned with its “Little Tech Agenda,” focusing on candidates who advocate for a strong startup...

When the Andreessen Horowitz firm launched in 2009, they put a focus on hiring black people and backing black entrepreneurs like Tristan Walker of Walker & Company Brands, Donnel Baird of BlocPower and Chris Bennett of Wonderschool. And although those bets paid off, their newest venture makes sure that diversity in tech is prioritized on a wider scale. The newly created Cultural Leadership Fund has two basic goals: Connect the greatest cultural leaders in the world to the best new tech companies and enable more young African Americans to enter the tech industry. In an announcement on the firm’s website, firm co-founder Ben Horowitz explained that while backing black founders and hiring black people within their own firm was a step in the right direction, it didn’t address diversity widely enough: “Still, we felt that we were leaving opportunity on the table in two important dimensions. First, we had not systematically partnered with the established cultural leaders and second, we...