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Cherryrock Capital has raised $172 million to support diverse founders. The venture capital firm, founded in 2023 by Stacy Brown-Philpot (Managing Partner) — head of Alphabet Inc.’s online sales and operations in India and board member at HP Inc., StockX, and Noom Inc. — provides Series A and B funding to underrepresented founders of software companies driving innovation, according to its website. The VC firm, backed by a team with over 60 years of operating experience, has closed its first fund at $172 million, Bloomberg reports. “Today, I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Cherryrock Capital, the first fund focused on investing at the Series A & B stages in underinvested entrepreneurs …Cherryrock Capital is about being the foundation of success for the next generation of entrepreneurs…We’re on a mission to change the face of wealth creation and build an enduring institution. We are looking for founders who have the courage to be audacious in their vision, accountable to their...
Black Unicorn Factory has set a historic precedent in equity crowdfunding. Black Unicorn Factory (BUF) is a business development accelerator and equity crowdsourcing platform established by Johnny Stewart in 2012. Through BUF’s Follow Me for Equity app, it uniquely allows individuals to secure stock in pre-IPO companies by simply becoming a follower of a company through the app. “Stop following for free and earn equity,” actor Anthony Anderson said in a promotional video for the company. BUF’s target audience is underserved communities who are being left out of opportunities in the venture capital space. “It is disheartening to observe that the venture capital industry only allocates funds to a mere 1% of businesses led by individuals from underrepresented communities. At BUF, we firmly believe that this disparity cannot persist, and we are committed to providing an alternative to the discriminatory practices prevalent in the traditional venture capital landscape,” a statement on...
The Black-owned water bottle brand SUPLMNT welcomes NBA player Gary Payton II as its latest investor. The brand was founded in 2020 by South Philadelphia, PA, native Jairus Morris, who aims to improve hydration in Black and brown communities. His journey as a founder was inspired by his mother, who took on multiple jobs to support the household of five children. “I grew up in a South Philly single-mother household with four siblings. My mother was my first inspiration and motivation to want to be an entrepreneur,” he said in an interview shared on Medium. “She always tried side hustles to bring in extra income for my family; whether it was selling Mary Kay or braiding hair, she did it. Moving us out of the ghetto in South Philly to a suburb in New Jersey was the best thing she could have done. It exposed me to see that there was so much more to life outside of the hood.” As an adult, he also mentioned recognizing disparities around health and wellness, which further inspired his...
Breakr continues to find new ways to improve the creator economy. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the platform was created by Historically Black College and University (HBCU) alums and brothers Anthony and Ameer Brown to ensure artists can connect with brands and agencies and establish creative campaigns they are compensated for. With an early focus on music, Breakr partnered with BMG and Sony Music and built a roster of clients that included Ye (formerly Kanye West), Young Thug, Megan Thee Stallion, Rick Ross, Future, and Gunna. Additionally, Nas is involved not only as an artist on the platform but also as an investor. He participated in a $4.2 million seed round led by Slow Ventures in 2021. Breakr has expanded its scope beyond the music industry, adding partners such as Hershey, Billboard, Celsius, Samsung, and UMG, information shared with AFROTECH™ notes. In 2022, 30,000 creators had onboarded onto its platform. In 2025, that number has more than doubled, reaching a community...
Giannis Antetokounmpo is expanding his portfolio with a new investment tied to sports. Sportico reports the Milwaukee Bucks superstar is an investor in ScorePlay, an artificial intelligence -powered sports media management platform launched by Victorien Tixier (CEO) and Xavier Green (CTO) in 2021. Its solutions streamline sports organizations’ essential digital workflows by automating the management of photos and short video clips, its website mentions. Features among all its tiers include: Automated ingestion of photos and short videos Unlimitied AI tagging Usage analytics “The idea is to maximize the distribution, both on your own social channel, but also distributing the content to your athletes, who are your best storytellers,” Tixier told CNBC. ScorePlay had already attracted the attention of Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s 35V family office, as well as Eli Manning, notes the outlet. Most recently, it has closed a $13 million Series A round led by Harry Stebbings’ 20VC, which...
Fintech platform Raenest has raised new funding to support African businesses. The company, founded in 2022 by Victor Alade, Sodruldeen Mustapha, and Richard Oyome, offers a range of services, including virtual and physical dollar cards, international transfers, invoicing for global payments, the ability to create USD, GBP, and EUR bank accounts, and currency conversion, among other features listed on its website. Raenest’s original platform was structured as an Employer of Record (EOR), helping foreign companies pay employees on the continent while remaining compliant, TechCrunch reports. The founders recognized a deeper-rooted issue, leading them to update Raenest to assist the continent’s gig economy and businesses directly. “A U.S. company might not care if a payment is delayed by five days, but for someone in Nigeria or Kenya, that’s a big deal — especially when converting to local currency becomes another hurdle,” Alade told TechCrunch. Looking ahead, Raenest intends to secure...
A group of HBCU students were awarded during the week of Super Bowl LIX for their innovative pitch in sports technology. Diverse Representation, a company focused on increasing the number of Black agents, attorneys, managers, and publicists across sports, hosted its inaugural HBCU Sports Business Pitch Competition in New Orleans, LA, in partnership with the talent agency William Morris Endeavor (WME) on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, during Super Bowl LIX week. According to information shared with AFROTECH™, the competition was launched to provide local HBCU student entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch sports-related concepts for a chance to receive funding and connect with decision-makers in the industry. “When I initially launched Diverse Representation, I’ve always been very, very clear about what our mission is: to help Black professionals in the sports and entertainment industry,” Diverse Representation Founder Jaia Thomas told AFROTECH™. “Not minorities, not people of color—Black...
For the third consecutive year, Atlanta, GA , is the leading hub for Black-owned businesses in the United States. According to a LendingTree analysis, the city boasts the highest percentage of Black-owned businesses in the nation, with 11.3% of all businesses in Atlanta — or 13,766 — being Black-owned. The analysis used the 2023 U.S. Census Bureau Annual Business Survey to rank metropolitan areas by the percentage of Black-owned businesses in 2022. Windsor Jones, co-owner of Sweet Auburn Bread Company in the historic Sweet Auburn district, told Atlanta News First that he was not surprised by LendingTree’s findings. “It’s always been the Black mecca for excellence and resilience and entrepreneurship,” Jones told the outlet, describing Atlanta as the best city for Black entrepreneurs to thrive. As for nationwide trends, the LendingTree report revealed that Black-owned businesses in the U.S. grew by 22.2% year-over-year, accounting for 3.3% of all enterprises in 2022, up from 2.7% in...
Daniel Penny has joined the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) in a move some critics view as a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hire. David Ulevitch, a general partner at the top Silicon Valley investment firm, confirmed Penny’s hiring in an internal statement to The Free Press. He stated that Penny will “learn the business of investing and he will work to support our portfolio companies.” “We believe in Daniel and are excited to have him as part of our team,” Ulevitch said, per The Free Press. There has been criticism regarding Penny’s qualifications, with some perceiving his appointment as a political move after he avoided a 20-year prison sentence for the death of a homeless man. Following his acquittal last year, he was seen attending the Army vs. Navy football game as a guest of then-President-Elect Donald Trump. For this reason, the new hire may be painted as a public relations tactic for a16z rather than a hire based on merit, since Penny has no investing...
OneUnited Bank is launching a new program to increase the Black homeownership rate in Miami, FL. Led by Kevin Cohee, chairman and chief executive officer, and Teri Williams, president and chief operating officer, OneUnited Bank has launched its Lift Up Homeownership program. This will directly benefit first-time Black, Latino, Native American, Asian, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander customers in obtaining funding for a down payment on a home, the Miami Herald reports. “Our homeownership rates are lower, especially in this market,” Williams explained. “It’s too darn high to buy a home.” The bank launched the program in response to a surge in demand for financial assistance in homeownership. “People reach out all the time,” Williams said. “We said, ‘We got to do something different in 2025.’” Program participants who qualify and are accepted can receive up to $50,000 in unforgivable loans. If they remain in the home for five years, the loan won’t have to be repaid . Additionally,...
African fintech company Moniepoint has received strategic funding from Visa. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Moniepoint was reportedly the fastest-growing fintech company in 2023 and 2024. Launched by Tosin Eniolorunda (CEO) and Felix Ike (chief technology officer), the fintech company has a banking app that connects customers to a “debit card that always works,” Eniolorunda said in a YouTube video. Moniepoint’s offerings include: Banking accounts Loans Expense cards Instant payouts Accounting and bookkeeping solutions Moniepoint’s business model has been an overwhelming success. In fact, it processes over 1 billion transactions monthly, with total payments volume exceeding $22 billion, according to a press release shared with AFROTECH™. As it looks to expand its efforts, the company has received a strategic investment from Visa. “We are thrilled to announce Visa’s investment in Moniepoint,” Eniolorunda said, per the press release. “Visa’s backing is a strong endorsement of our...
Black-owned edtech company Beanstack has secured another investment from Mark Cuban. The platform was launched in 2013 by Felix Brandon Lloyd (CEO) and Jordan Lloyd Booke, a husband-and-wife duo with extensive backgrounds in education. Booke served as Google’s head of K-12 education outreach from 2011 to 2013, while Lloyd worked as a teacher and dean at the SEED Public Charter School for seven years. The idea for Beanstack was sparked while they were reading to their 2-year-old son, inspiring them to focus on increasing literacy rates. “The early idea for our company came one night when [me and Jordan] were reading a book to our 2-year-old son and soon-to-be big brother,” Lloyd told AFROTECH™ in a previous interview. “He pointed to biracial characters on the page that looked like him and said, ‘That’s me, and that’s little sister.’ The power of reading was so clear. We immediately decided to put our backgrounds in education to work on a new business idea.” Beanstack initially...
Tyrre Burks’ background in sports gave him an upper hand as a business founder. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Burks is the founder of Player’s Health, a platform offering solutions including insurance, an athlete safety suite with education and training, injury management forms, incident reporting, compliance forms, and tools to support name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals, geared toward sports organizations, teams, leagues, and clubs. The inception of Player’s Health dates back to Burks’ time as a former college athlete who turned pro. Becoming an athlete was a means of escaping the realities of living on the Southside of Chicago, IL. “I had a choice and sports was one of ’em or the streets. And luckily, I chose football; I chose wrestling. I chose every sport that I could choose to keep me out of the streets. And that kept me safe. It kept me out of the streets, and it kept me out of trouble. And that led to college and professional football,” he said during a podcast...
Serena Williams is supporting innovation in women’s health. Teal Health The tennis star has aligned herself with Teal Health, a women’s health startup founded by Kara Egan (CEO) and Dr. Avnesh Thakor in 2020. According to the company website, Teal Health’s inception trickles back to Thakor’s medical experiences over the years. He observed insufficient innovation around cervical cancer screenings and created a self-collect prototype. With Egan’s two decades of experience in finance, health, and technology, the company was formed with the vision to develop an at-home self-collect cervical cancer screening kit, currently under FDA review. A user can start by requesting a kit, which initiates a vetting process to confirm eligibility. Once approved, the kit will be delivered to your home for sample collection. The sample is then mailed to a lab, and results are shared through Teal Health’s application. Users also have the option to speak with a provider for additional support. Teal...
LeBron James’ business partner and Klutch Sports Group Founder Maverick Carter is looking to own an international league. Since 2006, Carter has been working alongside James within the business world. The pair had been playing basketball together in high school, and Carter was a trusted figure in James’ life. For that reason he was tapped by the NBA superstar to assist him on the business side as his sports career was taking off. “He betted on me at a time I didn’t know what I was doing,” Carter recalled during an interview on the “ UNINTERRUPTED” podcast . “And, you know, I’m still learning every day. But he really gave me a shot and was like, ‘I’m gonna empower you.'” Since that time, Carter has been a pivotal player in James’ journey to becoming a billion-dollar athlete today. Carter has served as his manager , and they have launched several business together, including SpringHill Entertainment, which merged with British television, film, and music production company Fulwell 73...