Latest from Dominic-Madori Davis
Fundraising
After a 30-year career in IT, Protexxa founder raises $7.2M for cybersecurity employee hygiene
McGowan said she founded the company due to the rapid rise in cyber attacks these past years and the increased fears people have about cybersecurity.
Featured Article
Some Black startup founders feel betrayed by Ben Horowitz’s support for Trump
Trump is an advocate for a number of policies that could be harmful to people of color.
Fundraising
Female-founded startups have raised $15.5 billion so far this year, but that’s not really good news
The reality of the situation is that startups with all women founders will still probably raise 2% of venture capital funding this year.
Fundraising
A VC told Keely Cat-Wells to get a male, non-disabled co-founder — she balked, nabbed a $2M pre-seed round
Cat-Wells said she started this platform because traditional hiring processes are exclusionary and often overlook skilled, talented disabled people.
Fundraising
Shark Tank-backed Kudos raises another $3M for healthier, cotton-based disposable diapers
Kudos founder says her company makes a disposable diaper lined with 100% cotton, unlike the major competitors.
Sarah Bitamazire is the chief policy officer at the boutique advisory firm Lumiera.
When Paul Hedrick left his private equity career to launch Tecovas in 2015, he knew he wanted to sell the brand’s signature cowboy boots a…
Startups
Fearless Fund’s founder has resigned, and it’s a sad reflection on the VC world for Black women
Fearless Fund’s co-founder and COO Ayana Parsons has announced that she was stepping down. The firm is being sued by a politically conservative group.
As of today, nearly all of the world’s most popular website homepages are not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
The firm said that it will source talent who can solve health problems like depression, cancer, eczema and neurodegenerative diseases.
Anika Collier Navaroli is working to shift the power imbalance. She is known for her research and advocacy work within technology.
Featured Article
Silicon Valley leaders are once again declaring ‘DEI’ bad and ‘meritocracy’ good — but they’re wrong
Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang set off another debate with an anti-DEI post. It revealed a lot about the current state of DEI in tech.
Charlette N’Guessan is the Data Solutions and Ecosystem Lead at Amini, a deep tech startup leveraging space technology and artificial intelligence to tackle environmental data scarcity in Africa and the…
Loop, the car insurance company co-founded by Harlem Capital co-founder John Henry, has laid off staff as the company struggles with fundraising. Henry took to Instagram to post the email…
Featured Article
Black founders are creating tailored ChatGPTs for a more personalized experience
ChatGPT, one of the world’s most powerful artificial intelligence tools, struggles with cultural nuance.
Diversity Spotlight is a feature on Crunchbase that lets companies add tags to their profiles to label themselves.
Perhaps it is not surprising to hear that many of the pots and pans we use are coated in a poisonous chemical called Teflon that…
TechCrunch has kept readers informed regarding Fearless Fund’s courtroom battle to provide business grants to Black women. Today, we are happy to announce that Fearless Fund CEO and co-founder Arian…
There is estimated to be 40 million acres of lawn or turf grass in the U.S., making the grass in people’s backyards one of the…
Featured Article
DEI backlash: Stay up-to-date on the latest legal and corporate challenges
It’s clear that this year will be a turning point for DEI.
Venture
An appeals court rules that VC Fearless Fund cannot issue grants to Black women, but the fight continues
The court ruling said that Fearless Fund’s Strivers Grant likely violates the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which bans the use of race in contracts.
Featured Article
After raising $100M, AI fintech LoanSnap is being sued, fined, evicted
The company has been sued by at least seven creditors, including Wells Fargo.
Featured Article
The women in AI making a difference
As a part of a multi-part series, TechCrunch is highlighting women innovators — from academics to policymakers —in the field of AI.
Sanil Chawla remembers the meetings he had with countless artists in college. Those creatives were looking for one thing: sustainable economic infrastructure that could help them scale rather than drown…
Pinterest announced today that it is evolving its Creator Inclusion Fund to now be called the Pinterest Inclusion Fund. Pinterest teamed up with Shopify’s Build Black and Build Native programs…
What’s one to do after creating a billion-dollar startup? Well, if you’re Rubrik co-founder Arvind Jain, you simply start another one. Jain co-founded Glean, an…
Chinasa T. Okolo researches AI policy and governance in the Global South.
If raised, this new fund, the firm’s third, would be its largest to date.
Crowdaa is an app that allows non-developers to easily create and release apps on the mobile store.
Featured Article
Meta’s new AI council is composed entirely of white men
Meanwhile, women and people of color are disproportionately impacted by irresponsible AI.
