The aquatic movie craze; Paris snubs Bird; Racist VCs; Applications open-Techstars Accelerators.
A weekly newsletter for Black and Brown women highlighting entrepreneurship and venture capital in the tech ecosystem.
It’s Sunday!
Twitter might become a subscription service. Amazon copied startups it invested in. AT&T’s 5G network is now available nationwide in the US. Tesla lawsuit accuses electric vehicle rival Rivian of trade secret theft. TikTok is launching a $200 million creators fund.
USA
Chowbus, an Asian food delivery app, raised $33 million in Series A funding.
Misfits Market, a food delivery company competing with Imperfect Foods in the "ugly produce" category, raised $85 million Series B.
Religion of Sports, a sports media company co-founded by Gotham Chopra, Tom Brady and Michael Strahan, raised $10 million in funding.
HBO Max acquired 4.1 million subscribers in its first month.
SpaceX is in talks to raise up to $1 billion at a $44 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg.
EUROPE
Belgian electric bike startup Cowboy raises $26 million.
Paris has chosen Lime, Tier, and Dott as its electric scooter operators. It snubbed Bird, which was planning to hire 1,000 people in the city.
AB Tasty raised $ 40M in Series C funding.
Quorum, an Ireland-based mobile chat startup, raised $2 million in seed funding for ‘WhatsApp with community management’.
Revolut raises another $80 million at $5.5 billion valuation in latest fintech funding round.
Slack filed an EU antitrust complaint against Microsoft.
Please remember to contribute to our survey of Diverse VCs in Europe list.
AFRICA
BabyBliss Nigeria and MumsVillage Kenya have merged into the Bliss Group to create a pan-African entity, providing what they say is an “unparalleled omnichannel commerce, community, and content offering”.
Rwandan food logistics startup GET IT raised a Series A funding round to expand its operations.
Ugandan Ride-hailing startup Ori Rides launches, providing a safer option for women customers.
Global free music streaming platform, Audiomack expands to Nigeria.
Giraffe, a South African mobile job matching platform, has closed a grant funding round from Unicef’s innovation fund.
INSIGHTS
The ascent of women-founded venture-backed startups in the United States
-Center for American Entrepreneurship
Black start-up founders say venture capitalists are racist, but the law protects them.
-Washington Post
Even at “Inclusive” companies, women of color don’t feel supported.
-Harvard Business Review
25 Black Women Executives with Successful Exits & 25 Who May Be Next
-The Plug
Micro, Solo And Vocal: The New Million-Dollar Lone-Wolf VCs
-Biz Carson / Protocol
Know Your Edge As A VC, Part One: Informational Edge
-Ha Duong / Cambrial Capital
FUNDING & COMPETITIONS
Techstars Accelerators open applications for nine programs that will take place in 2021 Term 1. Apply by October 11, 2020.
Annual Black Venture Capital Consortium (BVCC) National Summer Pitch Competition! Apply by July 27, 2020.
Cornell University, Fall 2020 Product Challenge Application, Apply by July 31, 2020.
The International Publishing Association has made $200,000 in grants available to fund African remote learning projects. Apply by July 31, 2020.
Applications Open: On Deck Fellowship #5 & #6. On Deck is the first place world-class talent goes to explore what’s next. Deadline, August 2, 2020.
UPCOMING (VIRTUAL) EVENTS
WIE Masterclass: Making The Business Case For Investing In Diverse Founders, July 28, 2020.
Female Founders Fund and First Republic Bank host "Insights from LPs Committed to Diversity & Inclusion." July 29, 2020.
Pitch Your Project! South Africa Investment Competition, July 30, 2020.
Apply to attend Founders + Funders Digital, Presented by Seneca VC and SheWorx (Powered by Republic). July 30, 2020.
NPower 2020 Summer Kick-Off: Jumpstart Your Career In IT From Home! August 5, 2020.
ON OUR RADAR
NBA is using Microsoft Teams to bring virtual fans into its real-world games.
Facebook ignored racial bias research, employees say.
The All Raise Summer 2020 Reading List.
15 Black Travel Writers To Read Now.
PEOPLE
Kirsten Green’s Forerunner Ventures raises a new $500 million fund.
Twilio announced Michelle Grover as its first CIO.
Serena Williams and Natalie Portman are investors in a majority woman-founded group bringing women’s soccer to LA.
A heartfelt thank you for reading and see you next week!
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