SingularityNet and 1000 Black Voices Announce New Accelerator for Black Tech Founders

Black AI and blockchain startup founders to benefit from technical advice and mentorship thanks to the partnership and new Accelerator from SingularityNET and 1000 Black Voices, and will be running for DEEP funding allocation to be voted on by the community.

 

The new 12-week accelerator launching in late June is now open to applicants, with up to ten positions available to Black AI and blockchain startup founders and specialists anywhere in the world.

Funding from SingularityNET’s DEEP Funding pool, a token-fund worth $1M+ in the accelerator’s first month alone, will be made available to startups participating in the program. The final allocation of the fund and who will get it, will be subject to a democratic vote by the SingularityNET Community.

London/Amsterdam, 27th May, 2021 – Black AI and blockchain startup founders and AI specialists globally will be able to benefit from technical advice, hackathons, mentorship and funding in a new accelerator open for applicants from today from global AI marketplace SingularityNET and 1000 Black Voices, an organisation dedicated to advancing equitable inclusion, amplifying Black voices and improving understanding of Black culture. The accelerator is launching late-June and will run until mid-October of 2021.

Investment will come from SingularityNET’s DEEP Funding Pool, a token-fund designed to fuel the growth of SingularityNET’s open and democratic AI platform by supporting promising and beneficial early-stage AI projects. The initial monthly release from SingularityNET’s DEEP funding pool consists of 5 million AGI tokens (with an approximate current value of $1.1 million in the first month, valued at $0.22 on May 25th).

 

The dual-branded accelerator will be among the first initiatives to benefit from this substantial pool. The program will work with five to ten Black founders or specialists from AI and blockchain startups and will run for 12 weeks, made up of two phases (the first dedicated to technology and the second to business development) with a four week break in the middle for founders to put learnings into practice and develop their ideas.

 

The free-of-charge accelerator is open to any applicant that is an AI or blockchain tech business led by representatives of the Black community (meaning 50% or more of the board and senior management team are from Black backgrounds, and are making the key strategic decisions for the company). Other requirements are that the applicant’s business offers an innovative technical solution, has a minimum viable product and has achieved some amount of traction prior to the incubator.

 

SingularityNET and 1000 Black Voices joined forces to launch this initiative because of their complimentary visions and offerings. SingularityNET brings expertise in ethical AI, deep technical understanding of AI, blockchain, and tokenization, as well as business advice in areas such as marketing and Intellectual Property. 1000 Black Voices brings a first-hand understanding of Black struggles and a positive, practical approach to overcoming them in today’s world, as well as experience running its 1000 Black Voices accelerator which has been working with Black founders based on the African, European and American continents since 2020. SingularityNET is also providing mentorship to AI-focused founders in 1000 Black Voices most recent eight-week accelerator, which launched this week on the 25th May.

 

Ben Goertzel, CEO of SingularityNET said, “The core aim of SingularityNET is to decentralize and democratize every aspect of AI. To achieve this goal requires not only rolling out the right sort of software, but also pulling together the right group of humans – and making sure they have the resources and opportunities to use the software and contribute toward the emerging global AI network. This is why the SingularityNET team has been broadly globally distributed from the beginning, with offices in Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Hong Kong, Russia and the US, and individual developers even more widely distributed. This is where initiatives like 1000 Black Voices come in – our collaboration allows us to make a dedicated push ensuring more of the brilliant Black AI minds of the world can contribute to the decentralized AI sphere. I am extremely excited to see 1000 Black Voices joining our DEEP Funding initiative at such an early stage.

 

Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, founder of 1000 Black Voices, said, “We are delighted to partner with SingularityNET to provide Black founders and AI specialists with support to empower them to succeed in this incredibly fascinating part of the tech sector. This will not just benefit the Black community, but will result in increased innovation that will positively impact the tech industry and everyone around the world whose lives can be enhanced by technology.

 

If you are a Black founder or specialist at an AI or blockchain company that would like to find out more about the accelerator apply, please visit https://1000blackvoices.com/singularitynet-blacktechaccelerator/

                                                                                         

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About SingularityNET: SingularityNET is a global AI marketplace that lets anyone create, share, and monetize AI services at any scale. It is the world’s first decentralized AI network, using an open marketplace to connect together narrow AIs with different specialties into an Artificial General Intelligence with a broad range of abilities. SingularityNET was founded in 2017 with a $36 million crowdfunding campaign that closed in just 66 seconds. In less than four years, it has grown to a global company with offices in five continents and a cryptocurrency token, the AGI token (for Artificial General Intelligence) with a market capitalization over $200 million. For press enquiries, please contact conorohiggins@singularitynet.io

 

About 1000 Black Voices: Founded by BIMA 100 Champion for Change Dr Elizabeth Shaw, 1000 Black Voices works to tackle the disadvantages that Black people face in the technology industry and in broader society; to share stories from around the world on the experience of being Black; and to bring a Black perspective to domains where it is currently underrepresented. It aims to achieve this by acting as a changemaker, helping people, organisations and communities achieve whole and authentic equitable inclusion, economic resilience, as well as celebrating difference. It takes a three-pronged approach to achieving its goals: by running an inclusion practice, advising enterprises on diversity, antiracism and inclusion; a career hub, providing a network of opportunity and talent, improving representation at all levels; and it runs accelerator programs which provide result-focused training, capital, mentorship and market access for sustainable business growth. You can find out more about 1000 Black Voices here.

 

For press enquiries, please contact 1000blackvoices@clarity.pr or call +44 (0) 7895 831 744