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A new venture has launched to amplify Caribbean founders. Caribbean Venture Collective Caribbean Venture Collective — founded by Daniel Smith (Keepingly) and Mita Carriman (Adventurely), both Techstars alumni of Caribbean descent — has launched to help founders realize their full potential, a ccording to a news release shared with AFROTECH™ . Entrepreneurs will be supported across eight impact verticals: travel/hospitality tech, logistics and supply chain, proptech, agritech, climate tech, fintech, healthtech, and edtech. The move will also help to improve a region that spans over 30 countries and territories, with a combined population of more than 40 million. “Having been a founder in Trinidad and then moving to The U.S, realizing that one of the biggest issues that most founders face is around funding and being able to have access to funding and understand the market sizes, etc… What we’re doing is to ensure that we build a pipeline,” Smith told AFROTECH™. “One of the biggest...
Being a founder is not an easy journey. James Oliver who is currently behind Kabila, a company connecting underserved founders to co-founders, capital, and community, had his fair share of challenges prior to the venture. In fact, his first startup, WeMontage, failed while he was also navigating the early days of fatherhood — his twin children were born prematurely at just two pounds each via an emergency C-section. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, some of his difficulties were launching his company as a non-technical founder creating software. Two days after his children’s births, he had to attend an accelerator, led by gener8tor, which was a two-hour drive from where he lived in northeast Wisconsin. Ahead of a presentation on demo day, Oliver was greeted by an angel investor group, and they were willing to invest $250,000. “I dropped to my knees and thanked God because everything I was going through at that time was really hard. So that was my introduction to being a parent and...
Serial investor Tré Baker says relationships are the secret weapon for Black investors to scale and produce greater impact. Baker is an investor in nearly 160 startups, including Groundfloor Finance and TribeVest. Reflecting on the venture capitalist space, he admits he wants to see a systemic shift in the investment landscape, particularly concerning Black venture capitalists (VCs). This desire for change also prompted his exit from Techstars Accelerator in November 2024 after nearly three years with the organization, serving as Managing Director. “I’m no longer the managing director of Techstars Tulsa. And part of the reasons that platform is not operating at a systemic enough level, it wasn’t big enough,” he explained during an episode on the “Black Tech Green Money,” hosted by AFROTECH™ Brand Manager Will Lucus. Baker believes Black VCs can operate more effectively, suggesting they move away from the idea of “meritocracy,” which prioritizes talent over wealth or status. In...
A startup dedicated to preserving African languages has secured new funding. Founded in 2022 and backed by Techstars, Lingawa was established by siblings Frank Akinwande Williams (CEO) and Yvonne Williams (COO), along with third co-founder Uche Azinge (CTO). Previously operating under the name TopSet, its inception was driven by Frank’s and Yvonne’s difficulties in learning their native language, Yoruba. “As Nigerians growing up in the UK, my sister Yvonne W and I always felt a deep connection to our heritage—but also an uncomfortable distance. We struggled to speak our native tongue, Yoruba, fluently, and with that came a sense of loss and even shame,” Williams said on LinkedIn. “There’s an unspoken belief that understanding your language is tied to understanding yourself, your culture, and your place in the world. It was a feeling we carried with us for years.” He continued, “As we grew older, we realized that this experience wasn’t unique to us. Millions of Africans, Asians, and...
Techstars tapped Detroit entrepreneurial leader Monica Wheat to lead its Equitech Accelerator as managing director (MD). Wheat is the co-founder and executive director of Venture Catalysts, a nonprofit ecosystem development group focusing on programming, funding, strategy and business development for entrepreneurs. Since its inception in 2016, the nonprofit has been putting on large-scale events and strategic programs. Most notably, Venture Catalysts helped Backstage Capital launch their global accelerator program in Detroit, Los Angeles, and London. Wheat told AfroTech it’s been a challenge running an events nonprofit during the pandemic. While she was grateful for all the new business rolling in, Wheat said her team did get overwhelmed. “We doubled and tripled down on our deal flow and connections and did strategy sessions and programming throughout 2020 and 2021,” Wheat said. “We are mostly a volunteer organization and I must hype the praises for my team who did so much to help...
TalentQL — a Nigerian talent outsourcing and incubator company — announced today its entry into Techstars Toronto’s class of 2021 to kickstart its operations in East Africa as it eyes plans for global expansion, Techpoint Africa reports. TalentQL will join the accelerator alongside nine other tech startups and also receive $120,000 in funding to support their business. TalentQL — founded by serial entrepreneurs Adewale Yusuf, Opeyemi Awoyemi and Akintunde Sultan — was officially launched last November in an effort to strengthen Africa’s developer talent space to assist international companies in search of new talent. According to the startup, its efforts were fueled by its desire to help democratize opportunity for Africa’s top tech talents to get noticed and offered more prime job opportunities. You heard the news! We’re excited to be part of @techstars Toronto Accelerators 2021 Cohort. More than ever, we are committed to providing innovative companies with top vetted tech talents...
The tech industry is increasingly supporting more and more innovative Africa-based startups. Techstars Seattle — a local accelerator a part of Techstars’ worldwide network — is now among the bunch giving these companies a push in the right direction. Back in January, Techstars Seatlle announced its 2021 class of companies joining its programming — including for the first time ever a Zimbabwean startup called AfriBlocks, TechCrunch reports. AfriBlocks is a global pan-african freelance collaboration platform that helps vet African freelance professionals. The startup was founded by entrepreneurs Tongayi Choto and Roger Roman in July of last year in an effort to address the high unemployment rate that plagues many African countries today. “It can be very hard to find African freelancers,” CEO Choto told TechCrunch. “If a customer is lucky enough to get past those hurdles and find a freelancer to work with, they often don’t have the proper collaboration tools to complete the project in...
Now in its second year, the Cox Social Impact Accelerator — powered by TechStars — has just announced its newest cohort of businesses that will receive their support. Many Black-led companies have made the list this year! Of particular note is the Empowrd app, an app that personalizes and guides civic engagement experiences that inspire, inform, and enable civic participation. Other recipients of the Cox Social Impact Accelerator include the Legal Equalizer (which connects people with five eyewitnesses, shares legal information, and alerts loved ones in real-time during law enforcement encounters), Acclinate (which educates and engages diverse individuals to make informed decisions about genomic research and clinical trial participation — making it especially useful for those who distrust or otherwise have questions about vaccines and scientific research), and Minwo (which, most saliently for our purposes, connects venture capital firms and incubators with minority and women-owned...
Growing up, Rodney Williams always yearned to see technologists, creatives and world-changers who looked like him. A would-be innovator himself, he recalls his less-than-ideal childhood environment in Baltimore as a credit towards forcing him to think outside the box and inspiring his ingenuity. This outside the box thinking would work in his favor as he would go on to co-found LISNR, a data-over-audio software company based in Cincinnati. LISNR develops technology that can be used to power transactions from short-range, making his technology the perfect tool for retail customers. Over the past three years, Target has helped startup companies like LISNR through its growing portfolio of accelerator programming. The portfolio of programs includes their U.S.-based Retail Tech Accelerator, Target Takeoff, Target Incubator, and the India-based Target Accelerator Program, which focuses on Bangalore-based startups. Targeted teamed up with German retailer METRO AG — one of the world’s...
Target Retail Accelerator and Techstars are teaming up for another year to help startup companies in retail. The program is usually US based, but this year it’s going international. Target will be working with METRO, a Germany-based wholesale company, to conduct a 14-week program for founders abroad. Each startup in the program receives $120,000 and will split time between Germany and Minneapolis. Target and METRO are sharing the cost of the investments for the companies. The first three weeks of the program will take place in Berlin and the following three weeks will be in Minneapolis. Founders can choose which location to work from for the remaining weeks of the accelerator. The program is from May until August and application are due February 24. For more on how to apply check out the application here.
Accelerator program Techstars is bringing underrepresented tech talent together for a weekend of brainstorming and prototyping in New York City. Techstars Startup Weekend is a 54-hour long event for participants of diverse backgrounds to form teams and pitch new business ideas to a panel of judges from the startup and VC industry. Startup Weekend organizers are using the weekend to create a space for women and minority innovators to access resources in the startup world. Through targeting this underrepresented audience, Techstars hopes to address the gaps in funding and opportunity in tech. “Once we bring everyone together and they get to work, we have no doubt that the outcome will be a display of capable and qualified entrepreneurs of all types– with ideas that can shape tomorrow,” they wrote on the event site. Last month, the accelerator announced its partnership with digitalundivided—an entrepreneurship incubator for Black and Latinx women founders—to increase support for women...
digitalundivided—an entrepreneurship incubator for Black and Latinx women founders—just announced its partnership with accelerator program, Techstars, to increase support for women entrepreneurs. The new partnership will help increase access for women of color to resources in the Techstar network including Techstars startup accelerators, Techstars Startup Weekends, and Techstars Startup Weeks, according to Hypepotamus . “This year Techstars has expanded our focus on diversity and inclusion, and our partnership with digitalundivided is one of the ways we will achieve on that commitment,” said Jason Thompson, VP of diversity and inclusion at Techstars, in a company blog post. “We are thrilled to work with digitalundivided to further our engagement with Black and LatinX women entrepreneurs and provide the Techstars network as a resource to support their growth and success.” The ProjectDiane2018 released by digitalundivided reported Black women-led startups have raised $289 million in...
What happens when TikTok energy collides with food delivery? You get BiteSight — a new, Black-owned app rising fast in the Apple App Store rankings. It all started with a viral trend: a sister playfully “bullying” TikTok into supporting her brother’s startup. The internet listened — and now, BiteSight is taking off. As of June 24, 2025, the app holds a rating of 4.9 stars out of 5 from over 1,200 reviews. @realeater.flou It’s called BiteSight and it’s really fun I promise 🙂 #foodelivery #nyc #founder ♬ original sound – Lucious ~ Building BiteSight🍔 “I built this because I wanted to see all of my friends’ favorite food delivery spots,” founder Lucious shared. “Now, I can, like, go to their profile, see the places they like and what they rated them… and everything you see, you can get it delivered in like 15 minutes. It’s really cool.” On BiteSight, users scroll through short videos and photos from some of the best real spots in New York City, according to its description on the App...
Shaquille O’Neal has settled the FTX investor lawsuit. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, the former NBA player, who is now a serial entrepreneur, had been named alongside FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, Tom Brady, Stephen Curry, Naomi Osaka, and others, as defendants in an $11 billion class action lawsuit that was filed in Florida. The defendants had all been featured in FTX ads. For their involvement, they were being accused of promoting the cryptocurrency exchange, which ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections and went defunct. The suit stated the defendants endorsed a “fraudulent scheme” that was “designed to take advantage of unsophisticated investors from across the country, who utilize mobile apps to make their investments.” O’Neal had attempted to distance himself from FTX. “People know I’m very, very honest,” O’Neal explained, according to CNBC’s Make it. “I have nothing to hide. If I was heavily involved, I would be at the forefront saying, ‘Hey.’ But I was...
