Last year, we launched the first-ever POCIT Innovators Index to spotlight people driving real change in tech and beyond. Now in its second year, the Index returns with a powerful new cohort.
From closing wealth gaps to exposing discrimination and rethinking entire industries, these honorees are shaping the future.
Congratulations to everyone who made this year’s list!
Find out more about each innovator via the link in our bio. 🔗
Nearly five years ago, Thibault and Simi Launay set out to build a home in Portugal. After 14 months of delays, budget overruns, and mismanagement, they decided to build a better way.
Their startup, Litehaus, delivers eco-friendly, affordable, and customizable construction, including 3D-printed modular homes and sustainable building tech.
The husband-and-wife team has now raised $1.58 million in a pre-seed round led by Cornerstone VC, a Black-owned UK firm, and Explorer Fund, one of Portugal’s largest private equity funds.
🔗 Link in bio for the full story
Howard University and Google Research have released a dataset comprising over 600 hours of African American English (AAE) dialects from 32 states.
As part of Project Elevate Black Voices, researchers traveled across the US to capture commonly used speech patterns in Black communities that AI systems often overlook.
Automatic speech recognition systems (the tech that powers voice assistants) have higher error rates for Black users, leading many Black people to code-switch so they can be understood.
🔗 link in bio for full story
Better Auth, founded by self-taught developer Bereket Engida, has raised $5 million in seed funding from Peak XV, Y Combinator, P1 Ventures, and Chapter One.
Authentication tools manage user logins and permissions, but through his various engineering roles, Engida found most were too limited, inflexible, costly at scale, and stored user data outside the company.
So, he spent six months building the foundations of Better Auth from his bedroom in Ethiopia. Now, the open-source authentication tool is a favorite among early-stage AI startups.
Some are calling it the best authentication tool they’ve ever used.
Byron Allen is buying a controlling stake in BuzzFeed and becoming its chief executive, taking over from BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti, according to The New York Times. The announcement came on Monday, 11 May, when it was also shared that Allen will pay $120 million for a 52 percent stake in BuzzFeed.
Allen shared in the announcement that he will focus on increasing free-streaming video, audio, and user-generated content. “Byron’s vision, operational experience and long-term commitment to premium content makes him exceptionally well-positioned to lead BuzzFeed and HuffPost into our next phase of growth,” Peretti said in a statement, as per the Guardian.
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Black-owned AI grocery startup Vori has raised $22 million in a series B round led by Cherryrock Capital, led by former TaskRabbit CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot, according to Fortune. Brandon Hill launched the company in 2024, with a family history in groceries. His grandparents ran a small store in Oklahoma, and his parents worked in a grocery store during their early career years. His mother currently works at Vori.
When Hill visited his parents in Minnesota in 2020, he saw how they were still using paper invoices and wholesale catalogs. This birthed the idea for Vori.
Vori’s system processes payments, creates purchase orders, tracks inventory, and helps shoppers decide what groceries to reorder. It has processed over $500 million in payments across 55 cities and served more than 1 million consumers since its launch. Hill says the payments account for nearly 60% to 70% of revenue, helping keep the cost of software and hardware low for stores already paying payment processors.
Subscribe to our newsletter for more. Link in bio.
Pre-seed venture capital firm Symphonic Capital has announced the launch of its inaugural $13.5 million fund to invest in early-stage companies.
Symphonic Capital focuses on founders who are closing critical access gaps within healthcare and financial services.”That’s because we believe everyone should have access to reliable healthcare and financial freedom, regardless of their race, gender or ethnicity,” Founder Sydney Thomas and partner Shruti Shah said.
🔗 Link in bio for full story
✊🏾 POCIT Best Jobs of the Week ✊🏾
📅 Week of 6th May 2026
👉🏾 Platform Engineer: Machines @ Fly.io · Remote - $190k–$225k
👉🏾 Software Engineer, Post Order Experience (Remote) @ ezCater · Remote - $125k–$140k
👉🏾 Marketing Development Representative (Remote) @ ezCater · Boston, MA, USA - $60k–$80k
👉🏾 Senior Engineering Manager @ Medium · Remote - $230k–$265k
👉🏾 Director, Data & Analytics - Operations (Remote) @ ezCater · Remote - $230k–$320k
👉🏾 Senior Software Engineer, AI Solutions @ Uncommon Schools · New York, NY, USA - $120k–$140k
👉🏾 Indie Publisher Sales Lead @ Ziff Davis · Remote, US
👉🏾 Student - School to Work - Digital Manufacturing & 6 Sigma @ Cummins · Columbus, IN, USA
👉🏾 Engineer @ The Altantic · Washington D.C., DC, USA - $100k–$135k
👉🏾 Senior Product Manager @ Braze · San Francisco, CA, USA - $140k–$220k
Find these roles + more at pocitjobs.com
Growth Warrior Capital raised $26 million for its first fund from investors like Bank of America, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, and Pivotal Ventures, the investment firm founded by Melinda French Gates.
This new investment will help Growth Warrior bring back startups with AI features for industrial jobs, including manufacturing, mining, plumbing, and recycling. Phelon calls the entrepreneurs “dangerous founders,” – seasoned operators with decades of experience in jobs that aren’t glamorous.
“They’re great at doing more with less. You don’t expect them to be dangerous. They learn a lot, and they learn it quickly,” Phelon says.
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Why DEI exists in the first place ft. Global Black Economic Forum President & CEO @alphonsodavid , interviewed by abadesi via @techishpod
Listen to the @techishpod on Youtube or on all good podcast apps!
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person and the wealthiest Black man in the world, has reached a $30 billion net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
He is the founder of Lagos-based Dangote Cement and Dangote Refinery. The refinery, under construction since 2016, launched in 2024, adding $10.5 billion to his wealth in the past year.
He ranks at number 74 on Bloomberg’s list of the world’s richest people.
🔗 Link in bio for full story
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