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DryMerge has raised $2.2 million to make automation easier with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The company was co-founded by Edward Frazer and Samuel Brashears. The pair, who first met in elementary school, made sacrifices to focus their full attention on the company. University of Wisconsin graduate Brashears walked away from a role at Hive AI while Frazer dropped out of Yale University to pursue the venture, a press release mentions. The founders recently participated in the Y Combinator Winter 2024 Batch startup accelerator program. “…I’m a pretty young founder – I dropped out of Yale to build the company and my cofounder Sam had just graduated from the University of Wisconsin,” Frazer wrote on LinkedIn . “I knew very little about how people worked, what problems they had, or how to solve those problems — and importantly, I didn’t care — I figured it’d be enough to build cool technology and watch the users appear out of thin air.” He continued, “It wasn’t until midway...
Kevin Burnett has transitioned from the football field to help families create wealth. Burnett, an Inglewood, CA native, was drafted in 2005 as a 42th draft pick in the second round to the Dallas Mavericks, according to ESPN. He was signed to a 4-year deal valued at $3.31 million with the team, which included a $1.15 million signing bonus and $1.15 million guaranteed, Spotrac notes. Burnett played for four teams throughout his career, ultimately retiring with the Oakland Raiders in 2014. He earned a total of $20.57 million. In retirement, Burnett took some time to water into his wife and four kids, per Equities.com. He became more immersed in his children’s worlds, which also included sports. This led him to coach his older kids’ football and baseball team, sparking a newfound purpose. “Hey, this is where I see my purpose,” Burnett explained. “It’s where I see my angle.” In 2020, he secured a position at McArthur High School in Hollywood, FL, as a football coach. With poverty and...
Fearless Fund is claiming victory following a settlement that dissolved one of its grant programs. What Happened As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Fearless Fund had been in a legal battle with legal activist Edward Blum and his American Alliance for Equal Rights group over the firm’s Strivers Grant program — a Blum-led group had earlier challenged race-based affirmative action policies and won in the Supreme Court. The grant program, backed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Mastercard, supported Black-owned women businesses with $20,000 in funding, per information shared by “CBS Mornings.” The lawsuit, filed August 2023 in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, GA, argued it was in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to launch a grant program “open only to Black females,” labeling the move as “explicit racial exclusion.” As a result, several rulings and appeals have been issued. First, the grant program was permitted to continue operating under U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash on...
Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman now holds a stake in the league where he once played. Bridgeman was drafted to the NBA in 1975 and selected by the Los Angeles Lakers as an eighth pick in the first round, Basketball Reference reports. Bridgeman continued his career in the league with nine seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks, followed by a two-year stint with the Los Angeles Clippers, before returning to the Bucks for his final season and retiring in 1987, Sports Illustrated mentions. At his highest, he earned $350,000 in a single season, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. However, his fortune greatly increased beyond the NBA, amassing a reported $600 million. His business portfolio has included Wendy’s and Chili’s restaurant franchises, although he later sold his stakes in 2016 and soon after became a Coca-Cola distributor. The basketball veteran is also the owner of Ebony and Jet Magazine as of 2020. He purchased the publications for $14 million after they filed for bankruptcy. In a...
A controversial conspiracy theory reportedly led Shaquille O’Neal to lose a $20 million deal. O’Neal has a track record of hitting gold in business. It’s why he has supposedly amassed $500 million, per Celebrity New Worth. Some of his wise moves include his Big Chicken restaurant franchise, which can be found in California, Nevada, New York, Texas, Washington, and on the seas thanks to two Carnival Cruise ships, a press release notes. Most recently, Big Chicken celebrated its grand opening in the Dallas, TX, area in Fort Worth, now marking its fifth franchise location in Texas. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Big Chicken (@bigchickenshaq) One can also look to his success in the investment world. He invested in Google and unintentionally struck gold. In fact, it was by “accident” that he even invested in the tech company. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, he spoke with a prominent investor who was talking about Google at the Four Seasons. The conversation led to a...
50 Cent is making major real estate moves in Shreveport, LA. G-Unit Studios As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the entrepreneur opened G-Unit Studios in the city, now the second-largest Black-owned studio behind Tyler Perry. The 985,000-square-foot property is being used “to operate a production studio and/or activities and uses related to the promotion or development of the film, sound, light, movie, television, broadcasting, recording, and arts industries.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by 50 Cent (@50cent) “Founding my own studio is the next step in my plan to expand G-Unit Film & Television’s output of premium, diverse content across all media and to provide more opportunities for artists, crew members and more jobs within the community,” 50 Cent told KTAL-6 News. Housing Project 50 Cent’s plans for Shreveport also extend beyond his studio. He is rolling out a three-phase plan to transform the city through areas including housing. “We start building houses, and we...
Meghan Markle has been intentional about investing in female-led companies over the years, The New York Times reports. Markle, a former actress and Duchess of Sussex through her marriage to Britain’s Prince Harry, has taken advantage of the limelight to provide greater visibility to brands. A bag she wore from Scotland brand Strathberry after her engagement in 2017 was sold out in 11 minutes. She said that moment “changed everything in terms of how I then looked at putting an outfit together.” It has led her to become more intentional about what brands she aligns with and wears. Markle also mentioned, “Times where I know there is a global spotlight, and attention will be given to each detail of what I may or may not be wearing, then I support designers that I have really great friendships with, and smaller, up-and-coming brands that haven’t gotten the attention that they should be getting. That’s one of the most powerful things that I’m able to do, and that’s simply wearing, like,...
History is being made in the 2024-2025 NFL season. Diverse Representation shares on Instagram that the current season, which kicks off Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, reportedly has the most Black team minority owners in league history. The list is filled with various trailblazers across entertainment, sports, and business, which you can find below. Venus And Serena Williams Kicking things off are trailblazers Venus and Serena Williams, who made history as the first Black women to become minority owners in the NFL. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, they became minority owners in 2009 when the team was reportedly worth $1.02 billion, per Statista. “I am honored to be a partner in the Miami Dolphins franchise and thankful to owner Stephen Ross for allowing Serena and I to be part of Miami Dolphins history,” Venus said at the time, according to People. Serena added, “I am so excited to be part of such a renowned organization. Having spent so much of my childhood in the area, being involved...
Myles Garrett has invested in an energy company owned by a former NASA engineer. Boardroom reports the Cleveland Browns defensive end has invested in Johnson Energy Storage. Per the company website, it is on a mission “to transform the way the world stores energy; to more safely and efficiently store energy; to leave a softer footprint where we tread.” Through years of research, Founder Dr. Lonnie Johnson holds more than 140 patents and is widely known as the inventor of the Super Soaker water gun as well as an all-solid-state battery (ASSB) that was created using a glass electrolyte separator. “Our ASSB is 2 times the energy density of lithium ion batteries in the same size and weight package,” a description on the company website reads. “Our ASSB withstands higher and lower voltages than lithium-ion batteries and is designed for significantly lower self-discharge. Due to our unique, proprietary manufacturing process, the cost to manufacture our ASSB is 25% that of the current...
Magic Johnson now has five teams in his investment portfolio. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the NBA-legend-turned-serial- entrepreneur has ownership in the MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, MLS’s Los Angeles Football Club, WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, and NFL’s Washington Commanders. Now, he is announcing his involvement with a fifth team. “CBS Mornings” reports he joined the investor group for the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team Washington Spirit , which is led by Michele Kang, the first woman of color to have majority ownership in the NWSL. The pair first met in Los Angeles, CA, and immediately connected over a shared excitement for the growing popularity in women’s soccer in the U.S. “I’m so excited to join the Washington Spirit’s investor group at such a pivotal time in the club’s history! Partnering with a visionary like Michele Kang and her team to advance the growth of the Washington Spirit and the NWSL is an incredible opportunity,” Johnson wrote on Instagram. View...
Slauson & Co., a venture capital fund that prides itself on investing in anyone, has raised substantial funding. TechCrunch reports Slauson & Co. was established by Ajay Relan and Austin Clements in 2020 with interests around SaaS and consumer tech. They were interested in investing in any early-stage founders. Slauson & Co. had previously been supported by its first fund with $75 million at the time, exceeding its initial funding goal by $25 million. The funding helped to support 38 companies, with the majority led by people of color and women. “We invest in everybody,” Relan told the outlet. “We’re investing in a way that’s a bit more representative of the shifting demographics in this country.” Now, Slauson & Co. has received additional funding in its second fund, valued at $100 million from the support of nearly 40 investors. “What we really wanted was just for people to look at us for the merits of what we can achieve and the opportunity that we’re going after,” Clements said....
Deion Sanders, “Coach Prime,” has become an investor in one of Iowa’s fastest-growing companies. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, BLK & Bold achieved this feat for the past three years for being disruptors in the coffee industry, making it onto the Inc. 5000 list. The company was founded in 2018 by Pernell Cezar and Rod Johnson and prides itself on delivering customers high-quality and freshly roasted specialty coffees and loose leaf teas such as chai, matcha, and lemon ginger, among others. View this post on Instagram A post shared by BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages (@blkandbold) “Accessibility to premium coffee and quality products go hand in hand, but it is important to normalize that experience in coffee,” Cezar told AFROTECH™ at the time. “When we talk about both, it’s easy to let go of the vision of the conscious consumer, especially in something as high commodity as coffee — the second-highest consumer beverage in America — but this does not have to be the case. When you...
Chpter, an AI-powered company based in Kenya, has secured significant funding. Chpter Launched in 2022 by Mesongo Sibuti (chief technology officer), Kuria Kevin (chief product officer), Mark Kiarie (chief operating officer) and Tesh Mbaabu (CEO), the conversational commerce company allows businesses to scale their revenue — on platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok — by up to five times through features that include automated abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase chat messages, and automated responses through chatbots, per its website. “We are thrilled to pioneer the social commerce revolution, starting in Africa, as more and more consumers turn to social channels such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to communicate and purchase from the brands they love.” Mbaabu, co-founder of Chpter, said in a post shared on Medium. “Specifically, WhatsApp’s role in business communication cannot be overstated. With more than two billion active users, it offers an...
Former Yale University students are making it easier to spot counterfeit drugs. Per TechCrunch, Adebayo Alonge, Amy Kao and Wei Lui launched healthcare startup RxAll in 2016. The inception of the company was in response to their own experience with counterfeit drugs. For Alonge, it was nearly fatal after he took a medicine that contained a dangerous amount of diazepam, while Kao’s experience left her hospitalized. “I survived a 21-day coma in Nigeria 15 years ago. My co-founder, Amy, was hospitalized in Thailand after taking counterfeit medicine. And Wei lost a family member due to contaminated drugs,” Alonge told TechCrunch. While students they were able to pick each other’s brains during a research and development project and found further information to validate their concerns. “100,000 Africans die from this problem every year. One million people die across the world from this problem,” Alonge mentioned . This led to RxAll’s inaugural product RxScanner, a device powered by...
A burger vending machine caught the attention of “Shark Tank” investors. RoboBurger is described as the “world’s first burger chef in a vending format,” and it can reportedly prepare a hamburger in less than four minutes, per CNBC. The multi-patented idea was created by Dan Braido, Audley Wilson, and Andy Siegel who presented the idea on “Shark Tank.” “The RoboBurger provides a restaurant quality experience. The RoboChef grills the patty, toast the buns, adds the condiments, and delivers it all piping hot,” Braido said while pitching to “Shark” judges Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner, Barbara Corcoran, and Mark Cuban, along with guest judge Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin. Wilson added, “The vending machine brought us beverages more conveniently. The ATM, money on the go. And now RoboBurger brings us hot fresh delicious food anytime anywhere.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by RoboBurger (@roboburger) The founders were seeking a $1.5 million in exchange for 5% stake in the company,...