talent
Bulletins

Serena Williams wants to double the number of Black software engineers

Williams is investing in Karat's Brilliant Black Minds program in an effort to diversify the tech industry.

Serena Williams speaking onstage at a TED conference

Serena Williams is investing to double the number of Black software engineers in the U.S.

Credit: TED Conference

The world's most famous tennis star is doubling down on her tech focus, investing in a startup with the goal of adding more than 100,000 Black engineers to the industry within the next decade.

Serena Williams is making "a strategic investment" in interviewing company Karat to "significantly scale" its Brilliant Black Minds program, which gives free interview practice, feedback and coaching for aspiring Black software engineers. The investment was for an undisclosed amount.

A Seattle-based startup that helps companies interview candidates remotely, Karat has grown significantly over the last few years, raising $110 million in 2021 in a Series C funding round led by Tiger Global that values the company at $1.1 billion. It calls its flagship product the "Interviewing Cloud," essentially an "interviewing-as-a-service" platform which trains technical interviewers to conduct live technical interviews.

This isn't Williams's first rodeo investing in the tech sector. She has her own VC firm, Serena Ventures, which raised $111 million in its inaugural fund and launched in 2014.

This specific investment will focus on closing what Karat calls the "Interview Access Gap," which according to the company disproportionately impacts Black software engineers, of which only 50% have experienced a technical interview before looking for a job. The gist is that more interview practice means a greater shot at success, with Karat survey respondents with more than three practice interviews reporting being six times more likely to have an engineering internship than those that have never had a practice interview.

“The technology industry is focused on solving some of the world’s biggest challenges. My focus is ensuring the solutions to those challenges are developed by all of us,” Williams said in a statement.

For context, only 5% of all software engineers in the U.S. are Black, a consequence of structural inequities like limited early exposure to STEM curriculum, as well as fewer professional networks and access to opportunities and industry connections.

Michelle Ma

Michelle Ma (@himichellema) is a reporter at Protocol covering climate. Previously, she was a news editor of live journalism and special coverage for The Wall Street Journal. Prior to that, she worked as a staff writer at Wirecutter. She can be reached at mma@protocol.com.

serena williamsengineersdiversitydiversity and inclusionpipelineinvestinginvestmentinterviewinterviewsequitytalent
Latest Bulletins

Mobile gaming's surprising slump is dragging down the game market

Mobile game revenue will decline for the first time in history this year, market research firm Newzoo now says in a revised outlook for the 2022 global games market. While the whole game industry is expected to contract by 4.3% — another first since Newzoo began tracking the market in 2007 — the company is predicting a 6.4% decline in mobile game spending on top of a 4.2% decline in console game spending.

Keep ReadingShow less

Amazon will lay off workers ahead of holiday season

Amazon is planning to lay off thousands of employees, Protocol has learned, ahead of what the company has cautioned will be a slow holiday shopping season.

Keep ReadingShow less

Google settles with state AGs over location-tracking disclosures

Google agreed to pay $391.5 million and make changes to its user privacy controls as part of a settlement with a coalition of 40 state attorneys general. The coalition accused Google of misleading customers about location-tracking practices that informed ad targeting.

Keep ReadingShow less

FTX files for bankruptcy and Sam Bankman-Fried is out as CEO

FTX has filed for bankruptcy and the crypto company also announced that founder Sam Bankman-Fried has resigned as CEO.

Keep ReadingShow less

Salesforce adjusted its HR policies to make firing workers easier

Salesforce recently updated its internal policies to make it easier for managers to terminate employees for performance issues without HR involvement, Protocol has learned, a move that comes as the software giant looks to shed as many as 2,500 jobs.

Keep ReadingShow less

CFPB: 'Pig butchering' and other frauds are the top crypto complaint

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said fraud and scam reports comprise the top complaint it receives about virtual currencies — and that customers are finding little help from companies when it happens.

Keep ReadingShow less

Musk ends remote work at Twitter

Elon Musk sent his first email to Twitter staff late Wednesday, warning of a difficult economic road ahead and telling employees they need to be in office for a minimum of 40 hours per week. "Sorry that this is my first email to the whole company, but there is no way to sugarcoat the message," he began, ominously.

Keep ReadingShow less

Binance has dropped its plan to buy rival FTX

Binance isn’t buying FTX after all. The crypto giant said Wednesday it has decided that it “will not pursue the potential acquisition” based on a “corporate due diligence” review.

Keep ReadingShow less

John Kerry just announced a new carbon credit plan at COP27

On Wednesday, John Kerry unveiled a plan for a new carbon credit program aimed at mobilizing private capital to help middle-income countries transition away from coal and move toward renewable energy.

Keep ReadingShow less

Meta is laying off more than 11,000 people

Meta announced it was laying off more than 11,000 employees Wednesday morning, slashing jobs in its recruiting department and refocusing its remaining team on AI discovery, ads, and its investment in the metaverse.

"I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here," Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a message to employees that was also posted online. "I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted."

Keep ReadingShow less

This global emissions inventory is Al Gore’s secret weapon at COP27

Al Gore has one mission this week at COP27, and that’s to give climate negotiators what he hopes will be a critical tool to address the crisis at hand: an independent, global inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, down to the individual facility.

The Climate TRACE coalition just released the world’s most detailed inventory of global greenhouse gas emissions, which Gore, a founding member, is unveiling on Wednesday at the United Nations climate summit in Egypt.

Keep ReadingShow less

How Big Tech can deliver on its net zero plans

Way back in March, your friendly Protocol Climate team offered you some tips for writing a climate plan that doesn’t suck. Surely you took that advice. But if for some reason you didn’t, the United Nations has your back.

Keep ReadingShow less

Binance has agreed to buy crypto rival FTX

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said Tuesday the crypto powerhouse signed a deal to acquire rival FTX.

Keep ReadingShow less

Salesforce plans for major layoffs

Salesforce is preparing for a major round of layoffs that could affect as many as 2,500 workers across the software vendor, Protocol has learned, in a bid to cut costs amid a new activist investor challenge and harsh economic conditions.

Keep ReadingShow less

BlockFi is back in the crypto yield business

BlockFi has introduced a new digital assets interest product for accredited investors, after previously agreeing to shut down a yield-paying crypto product that the SEC said was illegal.

Keep ReadingShow less

The DOJ seized $3.4 billion in bitcoin stolen from the Silk Road

The Justice Department said Monday it seized $3.4 billion worth of bitcoin stolen in the 2012 hack of the Silk Road dark web marketplace.

Keep ReadingShow less

Trump allies are questioning US democracy. Tech is letting them.

U.S. election infrastructure is exceedingly secure, and voter fraud here is so rare it’s comparable to your annual chances of getting struck by lightning. Despite this, former President Donald Trump and a long list of allies in the Republican Party have spent the last two years questioning the overall integrity of the U.S. election system. Many of those allies are now candidates themselves, and their coordinated attack on the country’s status as a democracy is not a relic of 2020. Some have already started repeating these “Big Lie” charges ahead of next week’s midterms. And the social platforms that help them spread their message have prepared few measures to stop it.

Keep ReadingShow less

The Biden administration's five net zero technology priorities

The White House just laid out its climate tech priorities to reach net zero by 2050.

Keep ReadingShow less

Coinbase's user losses weren't as bad as Wall Street feared

Coinbase said Thursday that it lost more users in the third quarter. But the decline wasn’t the disastrous drop that Wall Street was expecting, and that sparked a rally in the crypto company’s shares after-hours.

Keep ReadingShow less

Biden just boosted heat pumps. Here’s how to maximize the investment.

The Biden administration announced $9 billion in funding Wednesday to improve home efficiency, which could help support the installation of up to 500,000 heat pumps. With winter approaching and utilities warning of gas shortages, there are some major challenges facing the technology that money can be used to tackle.

Keep ReadingShow less

Block is cashing in on Cash App

Block beat earnings expectations, with strong growth largely fueled by its Cash App business. Traders sent shares up more than 12% after-hours Thursday.

Keep ReadingShow less

Stripe will lay off 14% of its employees

Stripe is laying off 14% of its staff, its co-founders said Thursday, as the fintech startup must start "building differently for leaner times."

Keep ReadingShow less

Roku is warning of Q4 advertising slowdown

Roku saw its revenue growth slow in Q3, and warned investors Wednesday that things are about to get worse: “A lot of Q4 ad campaigns are being canceled,” said Roku CEO Anthony Wood during the company’s Q4 earnings call. “We’re seeing lots of big categories pull back. Telecom, insurance … even toy marketers are planning on reducing their spending.”

Keep ReadingShow less

Green jobs are everywhere, but workers with the proper skills are not

Green jobs and corporate climate pledges abound, but skilled sustainability professionals are scarce.

Keep ReadingShow less

Robinhood might be showing signs of a turnaround

Robinhood reported a drop in third-quarter revenue but also a narrower loss on Wednesday, in a sign that it might be stabilizing its business as it attempts to recover from a staggering drop in the stock and crypto trading activity that fueled its growth.

Keep ReadingShow less
Bulletins