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Cameron Sadler wants to help mold the future of work through a carefully crafted learning experience that innovates the way we acquire new skills online. The founder is on a mission to help people learn a new craft and hone their skills through the Y-Combinator backed startup NewCraft , a platform designed for anyone interested in discovering, sharing and building learning experiences. NewCraft evolved as a space for people to learn how to freelance their work, collaborate on projects, and search for contract workers. Sadler and his team developed two iterations of the product before landing on the current version of the platform. The founder first toyed around with the idea of freelancers subcontracting work to other freelancers and also built a product delivering instant payouts to freelancers. Both products served thousands of users while ensuring customers learned how to become master freelancers. Now, the former computer information systems teacher is taking his education...
Sheena Allen has announced the closure of a venture supporting unbanked communities. Since 2018, Allen has been the founder of CapWay, a mobile bank inspired by her upbringing in Terry, MS, a small town near Jackson, where there was only one bank at the time. “Jackson has some of the highest rates of unbanked residents in the United States,” Allen previously told AFROTECH™ . “I was very familiar with people not having fair or proper access to mainstream financial services and products.” Creating a solution, CapWay offered savings tools and allowed users to cash checks, establish checking accounts, and send money from their phones, as AFROTECH™ reported. Allen also believed the fintech company’s offerings geared for underserved communities were essential back in 2018 given that she felt this area had been overlooked by Silicon Valley. “Silicon Valley’s definition of real-world problems and everyone else’s definition of real-world problems are not the same,” Allen said. “They live in...
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...
There is very little pride like the one connected to the neighborhoods people are from. Whether you are from Los Angeles, CA, New York City, or across the waters in Lagos, Nigeria – many people have a unique sense of pride in the deep points of connection that they have with the places they call “home.” While every home is unique, what exists as a universal truth is some of the challenges that tend to exist in those communities. No place is without its share of issues, from disparities in communal resources to the lack of safe and affordable housing. It is at this intersection that Esusu finds its purpose. Esusu is an institution created to help bridge the wealth gap. A core part of the mission is to alleviate barriers families have to access housing. With the belief that “housing is a fundamental right, and we envision a world without delinquency, housing evictions, and ultimately, homelessness,” the organization is actively working with government and community partners to bring...
Individuals interested in investing in exclusive markets in the continent of Africa now have the chance. daba , an abbreviation for “Democratizing Access to Business in Africa” and pays homage to a shovel-like tool used for agriculture in Ivory Coast, was co-founded by American-based entrepreneurs – Boum III Jr and Anthony Miclet. Established as Africa’s first social investment application, daba’s mission is to make investing in Africa possible for investors of any level. Based on a press release, Boum and Anthony realized that much of the world’s fastest-growing economies but has a significant lack of investment avenues for retail investors creating a solid foundation for increased interest in Africa as an investment destination . “Now is truly an opportune time to invest in Africa,” said Anthony, who serves as the Head of Product and co-founder of daba alongside Boum. “With recent cultural and economic trends, a lot of eyes are on the continent. It’s safe to say the world is...
Better.com continues to show the world why it is imperative to have a proper strategy in place when it comes to a shift in the structure of the business because this is not it! As previously reported by AfroTech, the mortgage company has recently been under fire after laying off thousands of employees in two rounds of layoffs with some not even aware that their positions had been cut until seeing their severance packages show up in their bank accounts. Fortune now reports that the startup company is asking for voluntary resignations as they continue to work to scale down within the organization. In a newly implemented voluntary separation program, existing employees are being asked to step down on their own. And if so, those based in the U.S within the corporate and product sectors will receive 60 days of both severance and health insurance. While it has not been noted how many employees will be eligible for the package, Better.com did announce in yet another email that “eligible...
People don’t refer to her as Mother Africa for nothing. The home of some of the world’s greatest natural resources is getting an economic boost with 24 African startups chosen to receive funding for startups. As released by Tech Crunch, Y Combinator released its most recent batch of awardees – W22 – that will receive seed funding for new businesses. Of the 414 startups representing over 80 sectors that are a part of this batch, the continent of Africa has received notable funding with Nigeria ranking third, having delivered 18 startups. Per the company’s norm, the United States has the most representation and India ranks second with 32 startups a part of this most recent batch. Although the United States has the largest amount of representation from a single country each year, about 50 percent of Y Combinator’s awardees come from countries outside of the country. Based on previous award batches, this is the first time an African nation has appeared this high on the list. With 24...
It’s time to invest in our future! When it comes to investments and shares, the Black community does not always have the upper hand. However, thanks to this platform, building a portfolio of stocks just got a bit easier. After experiencing growth over two years along with raising $2.4 million, TechCrunch reports that Bamboo has now closed on a $15 million financing round. Led by U.S. -based Greycroft and co-led by Tiger Global, the Series A round includes other investors like Motley Fool Ventures, Saison Capital, Chrysalis Capital, Y-Combinator CEO Michael Seibel, and more.
Minority founders are getting a special kind of support from one of the most successful startup accelerators in Silicon Valley. Y Combinator — a business accelerator — has launched a new feature on its website called the YC Directory to help investors, customers, and prospective founders discover all Y Combinator-backed companies created by Black founders. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Y Combinator (@ycombinator) According to a company blog post , the directory lists over 2,000 publicly launched startup companies from the accelerator with three new built-in filters to highlight Black-founded companies, Latinx-founded companies, and women-founded companies. Courtesy Photo The idea for the new directory was inspired by internal conversations during the aftermath of the recent Black Lives Matter protests, according to the blog post. The consensus from the community was to then create landing pages to amplify Black, Latinx, and women founders in the Y Combinator fixture....
Next week, Instacart workers are participating in a scheduled set of activities to protest company policies. The food tech giant’s practices related to wages and tips have created angst for many of its contractors. As TechCrunch reports, dissatisfied Instacart workers who were unable to secure a raise in base pay looked to the company to increase their tips. Hopes that the suggested default 5 percent tip could be doubled were also dashed. In response, last month, workers went on a national, three-day strike . They now plan to engage in a nearly weeklong protest to address practices they deem unfair, including compensation and safety issues, with federal and state regulatory bodies. While Instacart declares that it supports its customers , a Washington Post article notes, “ The uprising from Instacart workers demanding fair pay is just one facet of a wider reckoning by regulators, labor activists and workers themselves over the responsibilities of companies to independent contractors .
Y Combinator , a California-based investor that provides initial funding to startups, is offering a new schedule for the new year. According to TechCrunch, Y Combinator’s modified calendar will reflect updates to the once annual Startup School, which will now be offered several times per year . The move has the potential to push more startups through the investor’s online training process, which ultimately grooms them for Y Combinator’s accelerator program. Startup School is true to its name, offering startups video chats, lectures from industry leaders and company staff, access to other founders, and the ability to network with other startups. School culminates with a founder project demonstration, attended by investors and media representatives. Program alumni benefit not only from tutelage they receive, but also from their ability to apply to Y Combinator’s grant program. The program, which is currently being reassessed, has recently offered founders grants of $15K. Y Combinator...
Missed 2018’s AfroTech conference? We’ve got you covered. We’ve partnered with Evernote to bring you video and notes from our some of our favorite sessions. Check them all out below! AfroTech 2018 | Fireside Chat: Baron Davis AfroTech 2018 | Y Combinator AMA AfroTech 2018 | Strong Black Lead: A conversation with Netflix AfroTech 2018 – A Fireside Chat with Valerie Jarrett AfroTech 2018 | Criminal Justice and Tech AfroTech 2018 – Sounds of Blackness: Staying authentic in a digital age AfroTech 2018 | The Future of AfroTech Hopefully you enjoy these as much as we enjoyed giving you the best, blackest tech conference in the world. See y’all in Oakland in 2019!
Cameron Sadler is an expert on freelancers and wants to help mold the future of work. The founder is on a mission to help people learn a new craft and hone their freelancer skills through the Y-Combinator backed startup NewCraft. The platform is designed to help freelancers access opportunities with top companies and learn the skills needed to be successful in their role. NewCraft—the internet’s learning management system—evolved as a space for freelancers to learn how to freelance their work, collaborate on projects, and search for contract workers. Sadler and his team developed two iterations of the product before landing on the current version of the platform. The founder first toyed around with the idea of freelancers subcontracting work to other freelancers and also built a product delivering instant payouts to freelancers. Both products served thousands of users while ensuring customers learned how to become master freelancers. “Over the last two years, I’ve seen just about...