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Women-led hair startup Parfait continues to champion Black women. As AFROTECH™ previously mentioned, Parfait is reportedly the first to integrate facial recognition and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide buyers with customizable wig products. It previously raised $5 million in April 2022, backed by a funding round led by Upfront Ventures and Serena Ventures. “It’s widely understood that facial recognition systems perform less well for women and people of color,” said Parfait Co-Founder Isoken Igbinedion, a former Target and Amazon executive . “Training models used in facial recognition technology are largely unbalanced, often relying on training datasets that are similar in makeup, and do not represent the visual composition of faces worldwide. This often results in poor performance for users who do not fit into that dataset, often represented by white faces and male features.” She continued, “Parfait seeks to be the first to make major progress in improving product and service...
Justine Skye is tapping into the $13 billion wig industry with the help of Parfait, a Black-owned artificial intelligence wig brand. The singer will be launching a line in partnership with Parfait to bring you the best wigs in the game. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Justine Skye (@justineskye)
Life can change at any given moment, and this was the case for entrepreneur Parker Barbee. In 2022, Barbee was laid off from his job just before the Christmas holiday. This moment of uncertainty led him to jumpstart his passion for a staple dessert in his family — banana pudding. KSL News reports Barbee is the founder of dessert sweet shop Parfé Diem, located in Salt Lake City, UT’s Sugar House neighborhood. According to its website, it features a variety of pudding parfait flavors, including banana, strawberry cheesecake, pistachio, and chocolate. It also offers shortbread cookies and a creative twist on the classic ice cream sandwich, using pudding as the filling. View this post on Instagram A post shared by parfé diem 😋 pudding parfaits (@parfediem) Now, just in time for the holiday season, Barbee’s venture has received a significant boost through the NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant, established by investor Daymond John of “Shark Tank.” The grant is $25,000 and is funded with...
When Lawrence Phillips set out to create Green Book Global, he wanted a platform that would increase confidence and reduce anxiety for Black travelers. After working with Accenture for eight years, Phillips shared how he felt burned out and needed a mental health break filled with traveling. During the 2023 AFROTECH™ Conference, the founder and CEO recalled his experience of traveling to over 30 countries across all seven continents, sparking his drive to create his travel review site. Haven’t gotten your ticket for AFROTECH™ Conference 2024 in Houston, TX? Click here. “It was really that in-depth travel experience as a Black traveler,” Phillips said during a panel titled “ Black and Well-Traveled: Centering Black Travelers Through Technology, Presented By Expedia Group.” “ I was going to certain places like, ‘Oh shoot, should I go here? I don’t really know.’ You ask that question, ‘Is it good for us ?’ I would go to blog here or there, and you might have one person say [something],...
Ehime Eigbe has successfully landed her sweet treats in a major retailer. As previously reported by AFROTECH™ , the Nigerian-American entrepreneur is the founder of Sweetkiwi, a yogurt brand launched in 2020. Inspired by her battle with uterine fibroids, which, at 22, she was advised might require surgery, Eigbe sought holistic alternatives. This journey led her to adopt a stricter diet and ultimately to create Sweetkiwi, a brand offering flavors such as vanilla bean, cookies & cream, mango passion fruit, hibiscus & ginger, chocolate hazelnut, and lemon blueberry parfait. “All disease starts in the gut so at Sweetkiwi we continue to work purposefully in our mission to utilize the nutritional power of food to create healthier guts, good health, and wellness,” said Eigbe in a news release shared with AFROTECH™ . View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sweetkiwi (@sweetkiwiusa) Sweetkiwi has been supported through a $250,000 deal from Shark Tank investor, Robert Herjavec, which...
NiJaree Canady’s new beginnings are also being rewarded. The former Stanford Cardinal softball ace pitcher is heading to Texas Tech’s Red Raiders team next spring, per The Athletic. Canady is the 2024 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and has led her team to consecutive appearances in the Women’s College Series in 2023 and 2024, ESPN notes. She upheld a 0.67 ERA (earned run average) with 555 strikeouts in 365⅔ innings during her initial two years with the Stanford Cardinal softball team. Canady took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to confirm her transition to the Texas Tech Red Raiders team. “These past two years have been amazing and I thank @StanfordSball for the ride of a lifetime. Excited for what’s ahead! @TexasTechSB,” she wrote on X. Canady has also cemented a name, image, and likeness (NIL) deal. She reportedly signed a one-year deal valued at $1.1 million with Texas Tech’s collective Matador Club, a source familiar with the deal confirmed to The Athletic. “I could...
After dedicating years to researching Black women’s health, Dr. Leeja Carter has developed a device to assist them. As a professor and a scholar, C arter had a desire to do more work within the community beyond the standard work on publications and presentations. Even in her academic role at Long Island University in Brooklyn, NY, she said she felt like a spectator to the issues that were important to her. That all changed in 2020. “My research and work were really social determinants of physical activity and its impact on Black women’s health,” Carter told AFROTECH™. “And being in academia for 15 years as a Black woman researching Black women’s health, while I definitely had spaces of comfort, care, and support, I would say there were greater experiences where I still definitely felt like an outsider and felt that it was still an uphill battle to gain support to do the work that was so close to my heart.” She added, “When you’re in an academic space, what is currency is...
Not having a chance to invest in major players in tech ultimately catapulted Serena Williams into the investment ring. During an interview on Bloomberg’s “The Deal,” Williams recalls a time in her tennis journey when she could have faced less pressure to win on the court if she had placed dollars in companies such as Facebook, Airbnb and Google — all companies valued at more than $100 billion today. “Tennis is all sponsor based, and I would see like some of these sponsors come up, but I’m like, ‘Well I have some little cash, like how did I not invest in Facebook? How can I invest in Airbnb or how did I miss Google? Or like, you know, all these companies,'” Williams said on “The Deal.” “ And I started to ask these questions like, ‘Why am I out here breaking my neck and sweating when I could have invested in these companies and I could still be doing the same thing, but it wouldn’t have to be such dire needs, ‘I’ve gotta win this U.S. Open this year. I’ve gotta pay these bills.’ So, I...
Serena Williams’ legacy extends far beyond her greatness on the tennis court. Following her retirement in September 2022, Williams focused more of her attention on the investment arena. With over a decade of investment experience, she took a pivotal step in 2014 by establishing Serena Ventures, a venture capital fund specifically designed to champion women and underrepresented founders, according to its LinkedIn profile. “I invest in a lot of companies, early companies, and I’ve always done this. I’ve actually been investing for over 14 years and just been an entrepreneur while I was playing tennis. It’s super important for me to make a plan B while I was doing my plan A,” Williams explained in a TikTok video. The VC endeavor resulted from Williams discovering the evident absence of venture capital directed toward certain demographics, which prompted her to become a vessel for change. As noted on its website, the company’s portfolio comprises 79% underrepresented founders, 54% women...
You should never underestimate the power of technology. Artificial intelligence (AI) has found its way into homes, businesses, and pretty much anywhere that it sees fit, and when it comes to gaming systems, the technology used is no different. Now developers have unveiled a first-of-its-kind AI personality that will allow users to have conversations within their game console through TRDR Series 2. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gianni O’Connor (@kingtrad3r)
After raising $5 million in funding, Parfait is on its way to disrupting the wig industry with the help of technology. The women-led startup is said to be the first to integrate facial recognition and artificial intelligence to provide buyers with customizable wig products. According to a press release sent to AfroTech, the seed round was spearheaded by Upfront Ventures and Serena Ventures. Ulu Ventures, Unshackled Ventures, Contrary Capital, Visible Hands, TRUE Capital’s Culture Fund, Omar Johnson, Chamillionaire, Tristan Walker, and Upland Workshop participated in the round. “Parfait’s mission to leverage Al to solve core issues for both the tech industry and communities of color is something we, at Serena Ventures, have believed in since the beginning,” said Serena Williams, Managing Partner at Serena Ventures, in a statement. “She went on to say “It’s been inspiring to witness their incredible achievements so far, and we’re proud to invest in this next phase of Parfait’s...