POCIT

"Jewel Burks Solomon is a 31-year-old Black woman heading a key division of Google. She is also the co-founder of a tech company that was bought by Amazon. In her short career, she has already hit more professional milestones than many people twice her age. And beyond her own professional success, she is now committed to teaching, funding and empowering other Black founders." https://buff.ly/3mfh8jJ

Startup Noir NOLA is setting a new standard for empowering Black entrepreneurs and investors in New Orleans.

LeapFrog Investments, a private equity firm with a focus on impact-driven investments, has closed its fourth fund, raising $1.15 billion.

Howard University has announced a record-breaking 36,000 applications for the 2024-2025 academic year. Schools like Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Morgan State University reporting record numbers of applicants and enrollments as HBCU interest soars nationwide.

Google for Startups' Black Founders Fund has helped over 220 startups across Africa and Europe raise $379M in funding and create over 6,000 jobs collectively, according to a new impact report. “The Black Founders Fund is not just about financial support—it’s about creating an ecosystem of innovation, job creation, and opportunity,” Olumide Balogun, Country Director for West Africa at Google for Startups stated at the BFF Alumni Summit in Nairobi.

Early-stage VC firm Cleo Capital has launched a cybersecurity accelerator to tackle the rise in online threats. The 12-week remote program offers pre-seed and seed-stage startups $250k for a 7% equity stake. Cleo Capital's founder, Sarah Kunst, created the program in response to rising fraud across industries like crypto, fintech, and dating apps, with Americans losing $12.5 billion to cybercrime in 2023 alone.? https://buff.ly/3B3WyjC

Frobelles' 12-year-old co-founder and "Mini-CEO," Alyssa Awuah, has made history as the youngest winner at the PRECIOUS Awards, which celebrates the achievements of Black women and girls in the UK. The dress-up game championing afro hair, earned Awuah the Young Entrepreneur of the Year title at the event sponsored by Santander and the Joseph Levy Foundation.

Three former Duolingo executives have raised $13M in seed funding to launch a startup focused on making college more affordable amid rising tuition and $1.6 trillion in US student loan debt. Led by Jorge Mazal, Daniel Falabella, and Gina Gotthilf, the team aims to tackle education accessibility with a personal mission shaped by their own experiences.

More pictures from POCIT's inaugural Senior Tech Leaders Brunch at AfroTech 2024 in Houston, hosted in partnership with Deloitte. I can't wait to do more events in 2025.

Comedian Katt Williams has purchased a former military base in Alabama to develop a state-of-the-art movie studio, following a path similar to Tyler Perry, whose Atlanta studio was also built on an old army base. Williams told GQ, "It’s not fair to put all that pressure on Tyler Perry. He can only do so much.”