Month: June 2020

Many Silicon Valley tech companies released statements recently in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, but their continued lack of Black and Latinx workers tells another story.

“The industry, which prides itself on agility, has failed to move the needle on workplace diversity,” Sam Dean and Johana Bhuiyan wrote in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.

In today’s Plug In South LA Beat, our regular curation of must-read innovation and tech news, we’re seeking answers.

“Tech’s approach to diversity the last few years has been like filling the bathtub with the drain open,” Freada Kapor Klein, a founding partner at the venture capital firm Kapor Capital, told the journalists. Greycroft investor Brentt Baltimore, who will be speaking at Urban Tech Connect 2020 in September, also weighed in.

Here’s what the industry stats reveal:

Why Are Black and Latino People Still Kept Out of the Tech Industry?

Crystal Etienne, founder and CEO of Ruby Love, used to dread pitching. But, as she explained in a recent Q&A, she started looking at the process differently.

“I think it’s such an awkward moment for any, or most, founders,” Etienne told Crunchbase for their Female Founder Series. “It wasn’t until I stopped looking at it as pitching and started looking at it as me telling the story of this great company and opportune market that I started to feel completely comfortable.”

That approach paid off. Her period wearables products company, which launched as PantyProp in 2015 and later rebranded as Ruby Love, secured $15 million Series A funding last year from the global investment fund the Craftory.

For this Plug In South LA Beat, our regular curation of must-read innovation and tech news, we’re finding out how Etienne is paving the way for next-gen entrepreneurs:

Fundraising Success Through Authentic Storytelling: Ruby Love CEO & Founder Crystal Etienne Describes Her Journey

Julia Collins sees a growing consumer demand for climate-friendly foods — and wants to meet it. Her climate-focused snack startup Planet FWD recently announced $2.7 million in seed funding.

That seed round led by BBG Ventures with additional participation from a number of other investors was unique. Collins told TechCrunch that 99.5% of the funds came from people of color and/or women.

In this Plug In South LA Beat, our regular curation of innovation and tech news, we’re learning more about Collins’ approach. “When it came to the regenerative food landscape, nothing had been codified or mapped yet,” she said.

Find out how she went from a “little spreadsheet” to building a regenerative food platform and climate-friendly snack brand:

Zume Co-Founder Goes from Pizza to Climate-Friendly Food with $2.7 Million in Funding

D’ART Shtajio, a 2-D animation studio in Tokyo, is the first in Japan created by Black animators. For today’s Plug In South LA Beat, our regular curation of must-read innovation and tech news, we’re getting to know these pioneering creatives.

As AfroTech’s Njera Perkins explains, Black background artists Arthell and Darnell Isom founded D’ART Shtajio with animator Henry Thurlow.

“The three animators created their studio infusing American culture with Japanese anime, and in the process have worked on some huge anime projects,” Perkins wrote.

Keep reading to find out how D’ART Shtajio is creating more visibility for animators of color in the industry — and why comic book insiders say the studio is attracting fans’ attention:

D’ART Shtajio is Japan’s First Major Anime Studio Owned by Black Animators

Sevetri Wilson recently made history with an $8 million series A funding round for her software-as-a-service company Resilia. The round represented one of the largest investments for an enterprise software company headed by an African American female founder, Resilia reported.

For this Plug In South LA Beat, our curation of must-read innovation and technology news, we’re drawing inspiration from Resilia founder and CEO Wilson, whose New Orleans-based company works to democratize innovation for the nonprofit industry by bridging gaps between those deploying capital and those on the receiving end.

“I wasn’t in the venture world and I didn’t come up in San Francisco. So you could imagine going out to raise money, and you’re not a technical founder, and you’re black, and you’re from the South. I had a lot of ‘ands’ with me,” Wilson told Black Enterprise executive managing editor Alisa Gumbs.

Continue reading to find out how she pivoted to start Resilia:

Black Women Rock at Raising Capital: Sevetri Wilson’s NOLA Startup Raises $8 Million

“Entrepreneurs are the people who are going to get us out of the pandemic and build the future we want to live in,” Adeo Ressi, CEO and co-founder of the pre-seed startup accelerator Founder Institute recently told Crunchbase News.

For today’s Plug In South LA Beat, our curation of must-read innovation and technology news, we’re feeling inspired by Ressi’s advice for new startup founders — and the new opportunities he’s seeing emerge.

Ressi said that Founder Institute is currently enrolling more entrepreneurs than ever, and several graduate companies are flourishing despite the pandemic, business writer Mary Ann Azevedo reported. Find out why Ressi calls this period of time “the great restart”:

Founder Institute CEO: Now Is The Time For Startups To Step Up