All results
Tyra Banks is introducing her “Hot Mama” hot ice cream to the United States, with the dessert’s debut planned in New York City this winter, Parade reports. The product, part of Banks’ SMiZE & Dream ice cream brand, was first released in Australia, in late September. Unlike traditional ice cream, “Hot Mama” is served warm and designed to be sipped rather than scooped, according to the outlet. The dessert’s smooth, creamy texture and unexpected temperature quickly gained attention online following its international debut. View this post on Instagram A post shared by SMiZE & DREAM (@smizeanddream) “At first, we tried just heating standard ice cream bases, but they turned sticky, gloopy, or too thin,” Banks said in a press release, per Business Insider. “The breakthrough came when we found the perfect viscosity — not too thick, not too thin — where hot ice cream still felt as dreamy as cold ice cream.” Parade notes that Banks and her team are working with several partners across...
Emma Grede did not fold to imposter syndrome. Now she is the driving force behind billion-dollar brands. Grede was seemingly born with confidence, the British entrepreneur told Fortune. By the age of 12, she was delivering newspapers. Before becoming a businesswoman, Grede worked at a deli and several clothing shops and was interested in theater. In under two years, she had spent time at various small designers and PR agencies in London and then joined a fashion show production company. Changing titles and doing whatever gave her experience was nothing new for Grede, leading up to the launch of her entertainment and talent agency, Independent Talent Brand, in 2008, which had a presence in London and Los Angeles. “I knew every manager, agent, publicist, lawyer in Hollywood, that was my job,” she said, according to the outlet. Grede displayed grit that not even the fear of rejection or impostor syndrome could shake. She did not let dropping out of high school or college hinder her...
Black-led venture capital is showing signs of growth, but progress remains uneven, according to the newly released “2025 State of Black Venture Report” by BLCK VC. “Black investors continue to lead, despite constraint, despite backlash,” Kareema Thomas, chief strategy officer of BLCK VC, wrote in the report. The report found that the median fund size for Black-led firms is $20 million, with an average of $59 million, both below the broader industry median of $50 million–$100 million. The average is skewed by a single $500 million fund, underscoring obstacles that continue to affect how Black general partners (GPs) raise and deploy capital. Notable wins stand out. In 2024, Slauson & Co. raised a $100 million second fund to support women- and people-of-color-led companies in SaaS and consumer tech, AFROTECH™ previously reported. In addition, in February 2025, Cherryrock Capital, founded by Stacy Brown-Philpot and Saydeah Howard, launched a $172 million fund for growth-stage startups...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Being the CEO means you are the face of the company. Not only when talking to prospective clients, partners, investors or employees, but to the public as well. This is especially the case today, where consumers want to trust decision-makers for the brands they interact with. As a result, founders and CEOs often must maintain a public-facing presence on social media. That visibility can sometimes become a distraction from the business they are building. The recent controversy with Fawn Weaver and Nearest Green Distillery highlights just that. As AFROTECH ™ previously reported, on Aug. 14, a Tennessee federal judge ordered Uncle Nearest to be placed into receivership. This means that a third party is given the power to manage the business’s finances to ensure that creditors are paid. In the case of Fawn and Nearest Green Distillery, the creditor is Farm-Credit Mid America, which has filed a lawsuit...
Building on the work she did at six previous funds, Himalaya Rao-Potlapally is now leading one with a focus on Black entrepreneurship. Black Founders Matter Fund Founded in 2019, the Black Founders Matter Fund is an early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to investing in Black and diverse founders building solutions across a variety of sectors, including health, wealth, and economic mobility. The fund gained traction one year later following the racial justice movement caused by the murder of George Floyd. At the time, the Black Founders Matter Fund invested in A Kids Company About (founded by Jelani Memory), which launched a series of books co-authored by experts to help children navigate challenging topics such as autism, trauma, and racism. “It was a really cool business model, a really cool impactful model, and so we had invested in them. And then post-George Floyd’s murder, that book [“A Kids Book About Racism”] actually took off as one of the things that people were...
Yale University students Nathaneo Johnson And Sean Hargrow have launched what they call “the first AI social network.” Business Insider reports that the duo was inspired to found Series because vanity metrics, such as likes and follower counts, were becoming a barrier to connection on platforms such as LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. “I see it within our generation, the FOMO, the ‘I’m not good enough, I won’t reach out to that person, he’s better than me,'” Hargrow told Business Insider. “Forget your likes, forget your followers, let’s focus on who you are and what you can bring to the table and what you need, and what somebody else can bring to your table if it makes sense.” In 2024, Series was founded with a focus on student entrepreneurs . The platform allows people to chat with an “AI Friend,” whether they’re using an iPhone or Android, to gauge what kind of connections they’re looking for. From there, the AI agent matches them with another Series user who fits...
Nothing is more significant in this life than the love of a mother. Renowned musician will.i.am took a moment to shed light on how his mother’s sacrifices led to his success today during the AFROTECH™ 2024 Conference, Nov. 13-16. The innovative producer, visionary artist, and founding member of the Grammy Award-winning music group Black Eyed Peas opened up about his humble beginnings in a session on the main stage titled “CollaborA(I)te: Empowering Creative Connections.” “I remember my mom was like, ‘Wait, put your clothes on. You go up here to get our food stamps. Sit in this line to get this cheese.’ When you’re in the projects, and that’s your reality, standing in line to get government services, and you’re there and you’ve got dreams and you’re like one day, I want to move my mama out of these projfts, and you come outside, and your best friend that you grew up with is no longer with you because he got shot and you want to dream different — that’s where I get ambition from.”...
Fanbase is on a mission to get creators paid, and the company’s latest news is proof. According to information shared with AFROTECH™, the social media platform has officially reached its $10 million equity crowdfunding goal. It’s a historic feat as Fanbase Founder Isaac Hayes III is now reportedly the first Black man in history to raise this amount of money in a seed funding round on StartEngine in a Regulation Crowdfunding campaign. “We have a plan, and we’re going to be able to scale and build the business in real-time without having to stop and start and stop and start,” Hayes told Will Lucas on “Black Tech Green Money” podcast. “This is a scale-up opportunity because there are so many things that people want out of Fanbase, and I myself do not like to not be able to deliver on what I want to give to the community.” He added, “This raise is definitely putting us in a position to not only catch up to the current apps that are out there but surpass them because of my understanding...
Canza Finance’s co-founders are leaning into Web3 to financially empower the African continent. Pascal Ntsama IV and Oyedeji Oluwoye are looking to create “the world’s largest non-institutional-based financial system” through the creation of Canza Finance, the company website mentions. They both share distinct journeys on how they arrived to the company’s inception. For Chief Technology Officer Oluwoye — born in Nigeria, Africa, and raised in Sydney, Australia, before moving to the United States at 14 — he began taking various CompTIA Certifications, early-career data analytics certification, during his senior year of high school. After graduation, he headed to the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science. While in college, he was able to secure a position with Adtran, a networking and telecommunications company based in the U.S., as a co-op engineer. He then transitioned to work at AT&T as a senior specialist-network...
When we talk about wealth, sometimes it can feel like Black people are excluded from the conversation. Thanks to systemic and systematic discriminatory practices, countless Black Americans are often shut out of the surest path to personal wealth — property ownership. And often, when Black wealth is touted, it’s almost exclusively limited to celebrities from actors and directors like Tyler Perry to media moguls like Oprah Winfrey, and of course countless entertainers and athletes . More importantly, when the conversation turns to billionaires , the number of Black folk, whether that be male or female, shrinks even further. But Black wealth isn’t limited to people that travel in celebrity circles: there are several Black entrepreneurs that are influencing the U.S. economy that have also accumulated quite a nest egg and reputation. In particular, the story behind the richest Black man in America is an inspiring one that shows you that our community is amazing whether they’re in the...
Imagine being in an audience and waiting to hear from your favorite speakers. The house lights go dim, the spotlight cranks up and from the silence emerges the sounds from “This is Me,” the inspirational and audacious track from the 2017 film, “The Greatest Showman.” This setup is the dream of the COO and co-founder of StartupStarter, Lorel Scott. Scott has unapologetically busted into the business sector to change the narrative around business education and level the playing field for people of color seeking to advance their businesses. Proudly representing the intersectionality of being a Black gay man, Scott understands the nuances and challenges that exist for business leaders of historically underrepresented communities. This is where StartupStarter enters the chat.
Solo Ceesay is the CEO & Co-Founder of Calaxy. — Since I was a boy, I wanted to be a successful businessman. I vividly remember trying on my father’s oversized pastel suits, donning the ubiquitous business look of any dapper-dressed African man of the ’90s. Even before I could form full sentences, I was primed and driven to work in business. With motivation and determination aplenty, my actions were encouraged by relentless sideline cheering from my mother yelling, “You’re a king, Solo!” Just over a year ago, I took a bet on myself. A bet that a then-26-year-old Black kid could make something out of nothing. And while you could call this journey just about everything but easy, the reality is that raising $26 million with Calaxy was the easy part. The sacrifices I’ve made, the friends I’ve lost, the lack of idols to look up to, and making the decision to take a nose dive into a world of uncertainty are all invariably more difficult for those who look like me. From having to...
Destiny’s Child may have set the tone for a whole new wave of independence for women like Wilglory Tanjong. According to CNBC Make It, Tanjong is a full-time MBA student at the University of Pennsylvania and serves as the founder and CEO of a luxury purse brand, Anima Iris, all at the tender age of 25. Upon launching in 2020, the brand has reportedly raked in more than $725,000, catching the likes of Beyoncé herself. But, how does one manage to achieve such success at a young age? Well, first, Tajong did not start her business for financial gain but instead wanted to use it to honor her personal and ancestral background. “[Anima Iris] was a therapeutic project that was just making me happy,” Tanjong shared with CNBC Make It. “I’ve always been a very fashionable person. People always ask me, ‘Where’d you get this? Where’d you get that?’ And then I realized, ‘Hey, maybe people will just buy [products] from me.’”
Apple is remaining committed to bringing Black-led platforms to the main stage for the world to see. The tech giant recently pledged $30 million in new commitments to our communities including the masterminds behind Kickstroid, the app deemed “the smartest sneaker app ever.” Founders David Alston and Nicco Adams created the platform to serve as the ultimate tool for sneakerheads using machine learning to bring sneaker culture straight to users’ fingertips through its mobile iOS app. It is designed to be used by everyone. Whether you’re the ultimate sneakerhead or someone who is taking their first dip into sneaker culture. The easy-to-use tool helps anyone using the Kickstroid app to stay up to date with the latest sneaker news and of course the latest sneaker drops. As Apple continues to build on its original investment as a part of its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI), which supports students, innovators, and advocacy organizations that are leading the charge in creating...