Technology
Tech accelerator receives $1 million grant and plans to increase investment in black startups –
The funds can be used to support diverse business owners in South Los Angeles and surrounding cities and neighborhoods.
Plug In Ventures, a Black-owned tech accelerator, has secured a brand new $1 million grant from the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA). Plug In Ventures will receive $250,000 annually for 4 years. The funding goals to empower Black and Brown early-stage startups in Southern California by supporting a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem through access to capital, mentoring, resources and educational programs.
CEO and Founder Derek Smith says financing will concentrate on supporting diverse business owners in South Los Angeles and surrounding cities and neighborhoods. The grant can be used to enhance his company’s accelerator program and support recent founders beyond this system. This will include tailoring services aimed toward preparing Black entrepreneurs for VC opportunities and connecting them with potential equity investors.
“Our goal will be to equip them with the skills and resources needed to develop business models and ideas to support the venture, especially in the field of software technology,” he says BLACK ENTERPRISES.
Generally, tech startup accelerators are run by experienced entrepreneurs who help early-stage tech firms connect with investors, improve their products, and refine their business plans. Capital injection is essential. Funding for Black founders has declined steadily in the three years since George Floyd’s murder in 2020. It’s been a banner yr of funding, with promised commitments from tech firms. Yet last yr, just 0.48% of all VC dollars were raised by Black founders, based on the research company Crunchbase. This implies that roughly only $661 million of the $136 billion went to black businesses.
Smith founded his South Los Angeles-based company in 2014 with a primary concentrate on supporting Black startups. Since 2019, firms in his company’s ecosystem have raised over $22 million in VC funding in areas including climate/sustainability, the creator economy and sportswear.
But now Smith wants the variety of firms his company helps secure investment to grow conservatively by 10% to 20% by 2025 and expand into recent sectors corresponding to automation, healthcare and digital. Plug In Ventures currently works with over 30 firms, including roughly 20 owned by Black entrepreneurs.
Smith explains that his company has until now provided all of its labor freed from charge to help its founders prosper. But this spring, it’s switching to an equity-based model with the goal of owning 5% to 7% of the shares, which is able to allow founders to participate in the accelerator.
“We also intend to facilitate follow-on investments directly and through our investor community,” he says.
Smith expects his company’s revenue to grow conservatively by 30% to 40% this yr, although he didn’t provide exact amounts. He expects the expansion to come from an increase in the corporate’s programming base and recent financing sources, in addition to expansion into recent markets corresponding to Atlanta and New York this yr.
“With a renewed flow of venture capital into Black and Brown entrepreneurs, the work we do to support these enterprises is now more important than ever,” he explains.
Technology
US medical device giant Artivion says hackers stole files during a cybersecurity incident
Artivion, a medical device company that produces implantable tissue for heart and vascular transplants, says its services have been “disrupted” resulting from a cybersecurity incident.
In 8-K filing In an interview with the SEC on Monday, Georgia-based Artivion, formerly CryoLife, said it became aware of a “cybersecurity incident” that involved the “compromise and encryption” of information on November 21. This suggests that the corporate was attacked by ransomware, but Artivion has not yet confirmed the character of the incident and didn’t immediately reply to TechCrunch’s questions. No major ransomware group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Artivion said it took some systems offline in response to the cyberattack, which the corporate said caused “disruptions to certain ordering and shipping processes.”
Artivion, which reported third-quarter revenue of $95.8 million, said it didn’t expect the incident to have a material impact on the corporate’s funds.
Technology
It’s a Raspberry Pi 5 in a keyboard and it’s called Raspberry Pi 500
Manufacturer of single-board computers Raspberry Pi is updating its cute little computer keyboard device with higher specs. Named Raspberry Pi500This successor to the Raspberry Pi 400 is just as powerful as the present Raspberry Pi flagship, the Raspberry Pi 5. It is on the market for purchase now from Raspberry Pi resellers.
The Raspberry Pi 500 is the simplest method to start with the Raspberry Pi because it’s not as intimidating because the Raspberry Pi 5. When you take a look at the Raspberry Pi 500, you do not see any chipsets or PCBs (printed circuit boards). The Raspberry Pi is totally hidden in the familiar housing, the keyboard.
The idea with the Raspberry Pi 500 is you could connect a mouse and a display and you are able to go. If, for instance, you’ve got a relative who uses a very outdated computer with an outdated version of Windows, the Raspberry Pi 500 can easily replace the old PC tower for many computing tasks.
More importantly, this device brings us back to the roots of the Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi computers were originally intended for educational applications. Over time, technology enthusiasts and industrial customers began using single-board computers all over the place. (For example, when you’ve ever been to London Heathrow Airport, all of the departures and arrivals boards are there powered by Raspberry Pi.)
Raspberry Pi 500 draws inspiration from the roots of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a non-profit organization. It’s the right first computer for college. In some ways, it’s a lot better than a Chromebook or iPad because it’s low cost and highly customizable, which inspires creative pondering.
The Raspberry Pi 500 comes with a 32GB SD card that comes pre-installed with Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based Linux distribution. It costs $90, which is a slight ($20) price increase over the Raspberry Pi 400.
Only UK and US keyboard variants will probably be available at launch. But versions with French, German, Italian, Japanese, Nordic and Spanish keyboard layouts will probably be available soon. And when you’re in search of a bundle that features all the things you would like, Raspberry Pi also offers a $120 desktop kit that features the Raspberry Pi 500, a mouse, a 27W USB-C power adapter, and a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable.
In other news, Raspberry Pi has announced one other recent thing: the Raspberry Pi monitor. It is a 15.6-inch 1080p monitor that’s priced at $100. Since there are quite a few 1080p portable monitors available on the market, this launch is not as noteworthy because the Pi 500. However, for die-hard Pi fans, there’s now also a Raspberry Pi-branded monitor option available.
Technology
Apple Vision Pro may add support for PlayStation VR controllers
According to Apple, Apple desires to make its Vision Pro mixed reality device more attractive for gamers and game developers latest report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
The Vision Pro was presented more as a productivity and media consumption device than a tool geared toward gamers, due partly to its reliance on visual and hand controls moderately than a separate controller.
However, Apple may need gamers if it desires to expand the Vision Pro’s audience, especially since Gurman reports that lower than half one million units have been sold to this point. As such, the corporate has reportedly been in talks with Sony about adding support for PlayStation VR2 handheld controllers, and has also talked to developers about whether they may support the controllers of their games.
Offering more precise control, Apple may also make other forms of software available in Vision Pro, reminiscent of Final Cut Pro or Adobe Photoshop.
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