Inaugural Issue, For Colored Girls Who Tech
A weekly newsletter for Black and Brown women highlighting venture capital in the tech ecosystem.
Hello! Welcome to the inaugural issue of For Colored Girls Who Tech. With each passing day, there are increasing numbers of Black and Brown women in the tech ecosystem. We are founders, investors, engineers, operators, media professionals, and students. We live and work in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Paris, Lagos, Nairobi and everywhere in between. We are eager to connect physically and digitally and accelerate the success of women of color in tech, particularly as it relates to venture capital.
For Colored Girls Who Tech is a curated weekly newsletter that aims to bring greater visibility to the content and resources which will help us do business and grow our businesses. Our goal is to build a centralized and highly engaged and active community, online and offline, by sharing pertinent news, insights, funding opportunities, new startups, and events.
Happy reading! :)
A few important lists and reports came out this past week. First up is the 2020 Midas List, which is an annual ranking of the top VCs in the world. Unfortunately, no Black women (or men) made the list. 11 women appeared on the list this year, one less than in 2019.
Mary Meeker, the Venture Capitalist best known for her annual “Internet Trends” report, published a 28-page coronavirus trends report with her team at Bond Capital.
African tech startups raised about $350 million in funding in the first quarter of 2020, according to the quarterly bulletin released by Briter Bridges.
USA
SheaMoisture launched a $1 Million Fund to help women entrepreneurs of color impacted by COVID-19.
Dorm Room Fund is launching its third cohort of Female Founder Track, a hands-on masterclass program to help female and non-binary students scale their projects into companies and raise their first capital. Apply by May 8, 2020.
Applications for the 2020 PitcHER™ competition are open! Women entrepreneurs gather annually at the Grace Hopper Celebration – the world’s largest gathering of women technologists in early fall in Orlando, Florida, with the goal of supporting, encouraging, and providing new funding opportunities to these entrepreneurs. Applications close May 18, 2020.
AFRICA
Alithea IDF, a joint venture fund between Nigerian firm Alitheia Capital and South African IDF Capital, focused on supporting African female entrepreneurs to scale their businesses has reached its second close at $75 million.
Global Innovators can apply for the 2021 edition of the Zayed Sustainability Prize. $3 million dollars will be divided up across five sustainability categories. African innovators, in particular, being encouraged to apply. Submissions are open until May 21, 2020.
Enygma Ventures, has launched a $1 million fund to support African startups, entrepreneurs and innovators that are building solutions for the post-pandemic world.
EUROPE
#10x10VC, the UK’s black VCs, will be hosting office hours to support black female founders currently raising pre-seed and seed rounds to ask any fundraising questions. Apply here.
The 2020 Vogue UK Beauty Award nominations are out. There are a slew of Black owned companies nominated in THE TEXTURED HAIR HERO category. If you know of, and have used these brands, please vote.
Minority founders and business owners with new ideas to make the world a better place are invited to apply for the MSDUK Innovation Challenge. The deadline is May 29, 2020.
Applications are now open for the GSMA Innovation Fund for Mobile Internet Adoption and Digital Inclusion. Start-ups and SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa and/or Asia helping people get online for the first time using mobile internet can apply for an equity-free grant of between £100,000 and £250,000 to scale your innovation over a 15- to 18-month period.
WOC STARTUPS
Ureeka, a San Francisco-based platform connecting female and minority entrepreneurs to resources to scale their business, raised $8.6 million.
4D Healthware-A Black and woman-owned, Chicago based healthcare startup has developed a monitoring platform to help treat COVID-19 patients at home.
Actress Tika Sumpter and Media Exec Thai Randolph Launch Sugaberry Media Startup for ‘Modern Moms of Color’
UPCOMING (VIRTUAL) EVENTS
"Ask Me Anything" how COVID-19 impacts venture capital investment strategies with Helena Krusec, Venture Associate at Capital Factory, and Rachel West from RevTech Ventures!
Women in Finance: Olivia and Justine Moore - Venture Investors at CRV--April 23, 2020
Extra Crunch Live with Charles Hudson, Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures, April 23, 2020.
ESSENCE To Host Entrepreneur Virtual Summit & New Voices $100K Pitch Competition-Friday, April 24, 2020
#EUvsVirus Hackathon, an event hosted by the European Commission inviting participants to develop innovative solutions for current challenges such as business continuity, digital finance, and remote work. Register now to help #HackforEurope on April 24-26, 2020.
Black Angels Miami presents BAM Talks with Marlon Nichols, Founding Managing Partner at MaC Venture Capital. April 29, 2020.
ON OUR RADAR
People Are Paying Real Money to Get Into Virtual Zoom Nightclubs
How Erykah Badu Created Her Own Livestream Company for ‘Quarantine Concert Series’
Clubhouse is the new Club Quarantine. The new social networking app, “blew up” among Silicon Valley types this weekend however, it's invite-only. Don’t worry, we got you!!
The Wing Aimed to Build a Business on Values. It Was a Struggle Even Before Coronavirus Hit.
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Recently found out about this newsletter and I love it. Catching up on prior editions and this is very much needed. I will share w/ my other communities 🙌🏾