Dominic-Madori Davis, Author at TechCrunch

Precursor’s Charles Hudson believes founders should test their investors

Dominic-Madori Davis — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 16:30:00 +0000

Charles Hudson, managing partner of Precursor Ventures, told an audience at AfroTech the basics of knowing when to invest: A company should have product-market fit and some form of traction. But the next thing he said garnered some surprised looks from the audience: Founders should test investors with a small issue to see how they […]

How social app Spill plans to capitalize on the exodus from X

Dominic-Madori Davis — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 15:47:13 +0000

Social networking rivals continue to benefit from the user exodus from X. Spill, the social app founded by two former Twitter employees, released a statement claiming it has also seen a jump in users after the U.S. presidential election, following similar news by Bluesky, which gained more than 2 million users during that time. The startup, […]

Meghan Markle is expanding her consumer portfolio

Dominic-Madori Davis — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 14:11:36 +0000

InStyle reported yesterday that Meghan Markle is an investor in the hair and wellness company Highbrow Hippie, founded by her colorist Kadi Lee and Myka Harris. The company was announcing the launch of a new hair care line and Meghan told the outlet that she was “proud to invest in her as a friend and […]

Angel investor Hannah Bronfman is ready to launch her own fund

Dominic-Madori Davis — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 14:00:00 +0000

Early Thursday morning, excited AfroTech attendees shuffled into a conference room to see one thing: Hannah Bronfman, a noted angel investor who has more than 1 million followers on social media, in conversation with Blavity founder and CEO Morgan DeBaun. Bronfman is a wellness content creator, an author, and an investor in more than 70 […]

Team-GPT raises $4.5M to offer suite of AI tools to companies

Dominic-Madori Davis — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 14:00:00 +0000

To stay competitive, some companies are scrambling to adopt AI, but they are sometimes unsure of the best way to integrate it into their business. Iliya Valchanov, co-founder and CEO of Team-GPT, thinks he has an answer to their worries. In 2023, Valchanov and Ilko Kacharov, Yavor Belakov, Katya Vaptsarova, and Maria Valchanova launched Team-GPT […]

Sam Bankman-Fried is coming to the big screen

Dominic-Madori Davis — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 18:45:57 +0000

Variety reports that Lena Dunham is working with Apple and production studio A24 to adapt Michael Lewis’ book “Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon,” which chronicles the life of Sam Bankman-Fried and the implosion of his company, FTX. She is set to write the script, the outlet said. FTX, once one of […]

Former Raya, Dispo exec has a new fund for the biggest out-of-favor tech: consumer

Dominic-Madori Davis — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 16:01:41 +0000

The idea of one day becoming a venture capitalist always loomed in the back of TJ Taylor's mind. After all, he had an extensive tech background.

SocialCrowd raises $2.5M seed round as interest in future of work software remains

Dominic-Madori Davis — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 14:00:00 +0000

Back in February, when TechCrunch spoke to Raphael Akinsipe, he described his company SocialCrowd as a “Fitbit but for work.” As CEO and co-founder, he explained that the product allows companies to set goals for employees and then reward them when those expectations are met. “For example, we had a restaurant incentivize their staff by […]

Research Grid raises $6.48M to automate clinical trial admin

Dominic-Madori Davis — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 00:01:00 +0000

Amber Hill spent 14 years as a medical researcher. She didn’t mind the work, but there was one thing she consistently hated: administrative tasks. “I think most people do, especially in research,” she told TechCrunch. She would rather be analyzing data or building relationships with patients, she said. “But I was spending so much time […]

Anticipating post-election drama, Meta extends political ad ban past Election Day

Dominic-Madori Davis — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 16:40:47 +0000

Meta announced Tuesday that it is extending its restriction on political ads until later in the week, though it did not specify which day the ban would be lifted. When asked for more information, a Meta spokesperson pointed TechCrunch to the announcement about the company working to “protect the integrity of elections on Facebook and […]

A new app launches to help keep voters informed for elections

Dominic-Madori Davis — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Around the corner is perhaps one of the most important elections this nation has ever seen, yet many people are still unaware of the details needed to cast informed ballots. It’s not necessarily their fault — some voting information can be quite hard to find, especially when it comes to learning about, say, the political […]

BBG Ventures raises new $60M fund to support diverse founders

Dominic-Madori Davis — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 20:16:25 +0000

BBG Ventures raised a new $60 million fund to support founders from “diverse backgrounds,” including gender, race, age, and class, Business Insider reported. The firm is known for backing exclusively women founders, and this new fund is a slight departure from that focus but comes as funding to diverse founders continues to dip. Crunchbase found that […]

Female Founders Fund returns its Fund I

Dominic-Madori Davis — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 20:15:00 +0000

After 10 years, the Female Founders Fund has returned its $5.85 million Fund I, according to Fortune. The news makes FFF one of the few diverse-focused funds to fully return a fund in a move that may boost the image of investing in women founders across Silicon Valley. Any further investments and exits to come […]

MaC VC raised $150M Fund III

Dominic-Madori Davis — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

MaC VC just raised a $150 million Fund III, according to Fortune. The firm, which launched in 2019 and already has $600 million in assets under management, will now cut check sizes between $2 million and $3 million into seed-stage companies. Notable investments for the firm include Chef Robotics and Stoke Space. The firm is […]

How to court — and retain — Gen Z workers

Dominic-Madori Davis — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 16:45:00 +0000

It’s the topic on everyone’s mind: Are Gen Z workers actually different? TechCrunch sought to find out at this year’s Disrupt 2024. We sat down with SignalFire’s Heather Doshay, Comprehensive.io’s Roger Lee, and CapitalG’s Lauren Illovsky to chat about how to hire and retain talent. One topic that came up was how younger workers are […]

Aesthetic launches the ‘Shazam for fashion’

Dominic-Madori Davis — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Aesthetic, a new fashion company looking to be the “Shazam for clothes,” launched this week and is using AI to help people identify and shop for clothing they sourced on social media. The fashion concierge, called Alma, makes it easy for people to buy clothes that might otherwise be hard to find. Say you see […]

NAACP launches $200 million fund of funds

Dominic-Madori Davis — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 23:16:52 +0000

The NAACP announced today NAACP Capital, a $200 million fund of funds to back fund managers focused on issues that impact people of color. The fund was conceived in partnership with Kapor Capital and Kapor Center, along with nine other venture fund managers. Last year, Crunchbase found that Black founders raised less than 1% of […]

49 US startups have become unicorns so far in 2024: Here’s the full list

Dominic-Madori Davis — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 19:11:28 +0000

The list includes Elon Musk’s xAI, which is already valued at a staggering $24 billion, as well as a good number of other AI startups.

AI networking startup Boardy raises $3M pre-seed

Dominic-Madori Davis — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Boardy is an AI that meets you via a phone call and then introduces you to other humans to expand your professional network.

Lending fintech SoLo Funds faces class action lawsuit

Dominic-Madori Davis — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 20:13:32 +0000

Fintech lending startup SoLo Funds is facing a new class action lawsuit according to a copy seen by TechCrunch.