Angela Benton Explained

Angela Benton
Birth Date:22 May 1981
Birth Place:Chicago, Illinois, United States
Occupation:Entrepreneur
Years Active:2007–present
Known For:Founder of NewME

Angela Benton (born 22 May 1981) is an American businesswoman. Benton founded NewME (acquired),[1] the first startup accelerator for minorities globally in 2011. She is a pioneer of diversity and one of the most important African-Americans in the technology industry.[2] She has helped minority-led tech companies raise over $47 million in venture capital funding.

Benton has received numerous accolades for her work, including recognition as one of Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, Fast Company's Most Influential Women In Technology,[3] and Business Insiders’ 25 Most Influential African-Americans in Technology.[4] Benton has been featured in numerous national and international media outlets including CNN's award-winning documentary series by Soledad O'Brien Black in America: The New Promised Land: Silicon Valley[5] , MSNBC, Bloomberg Television, Inc,[6] Forbes,[7] Good Morning America[8] , and the Wall Street Journal[9] where she was a featured essayist for the paper's 125th Anniversary edition on "The Future of Entrepreneurship".

Career

Black Web 2.0

Benton launched Black Web 2.0 in August 2007.[10] It is said that the site was launched out of her frustration to find information on what Blacks were doing in technology both from an entrepreneurial/startup and corporate perspective. The site quickly gain community amongst Black digerati and early adopters, giving them a place to be heard and featured.[11] Markus Robinson, a partner in the site and its COO until 2010, was a key figure in growing the platform. In the early days of Black Web 2.0 Benton served as the editor and main writer for the site, along with Robinson, and used the platform to feature and discuss key topics in Black Culture, technology, and where the two intersected. The duo often critiqued products and the digital strategies of African-American media businesses and forecasted trends in the arena, as such they quickly became the leading experts in the space.

NewME accelerator

In June 2011 Benton launched the first NewME accelerator cohort in Silicon Valley. Key figures that participated in the program as mentors, speakers, or supporters included some of the technology industry's elite; Mitch Kapor, Ben Horowitz, Vivek Wadhwa, Google, Twitter, Andreessen Horowitz, Facebook et al. The program was largely responsible for being a catalyst for elevating the conversation around diversity in the technology industry for both ethnic minorities[12] and women. Some alumni of NewME went on to become venture capitalist themselves at Kapor Capital, Andreessen Horowitz,[13] and TEDco.[14] Under her leadership the company helped hundreds of minority companies raise over $47 million in venture capital funding. Benton sold NewME in December 2018.

CNN's Black in America & Silicon Valley's Race Problem

The NewME Accelerator's inaugural class was featured on CNN's fourth installment of Black in America reported by award-winning journalist Soledad O'Brien. Benton was featured as one of the primary subjects in the documentary. The documentary, whose focus was on chronicling the stories of 8 NewME Accelerator participants that traveled to Silicon Valley to work on their startups, catapulted the NewME Accelerator to a national stage and sparked a heated industry debate on the lack of minorities in technology.[15] At the height of the debate tech maven Michael Arrington, known for off color comments, became a target for out lash on the topic.[16]

Streamlytics

Benton founded Streamlytics, a next generation data ecosystem that provides ethical, human powered data, in 2018 to democratize data collection.[17] The company is the market leader for an emerging data category, coined community driven data, which places data ownership into the hands of the consumers that create it.[18] Streamlytics has a specific focus on providing data that better reflects the usage of people of color and providing financial compensation for users that opt to share their data.[18] The company’s investors include Issa Rae and The Savannah College of Art and Design.[19]

Other

Angela Benton is a breast cancer survivor[20] and advocate for health and wellness as it relates to entrepreneurship.[21] She authored REVIVAL[22] in 2017 after her cancer diagnosis.

Influence and Accomplishments

Philanthropy

Benton traveled to Malawi in 2017 to support local villages with solar powered electricity through a micro fund[33] and partnership established with Kuyere!, a project dedicated to providing solar electricity to the poorest rural households in Africa. Her investment powered 10 villages in Malawi.[34] She produced a documentary series titled, Venture, on her time there.[35]

Filmography

Television and film roles!Year!Title!Role!Notes
2011Black in AmericaHerselfEpisode: "Silicon Valley: The New Promised Land"
2017Sally Hansen "Shetopia" CommercialHerself
2017Queen Boss[36] Herself/Guest Judge1 Episode[37]

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Angela Benton Sells NewMe Accelerator to Lighthouse. 2019-01-09. Black Enterprise. en-US. 2019-05-23.
  2. Web site: The 46 Most Important African-Americans In Technology. Dickey. Megan Rose. Business Insider. 2019-05-23.
  3. Web site: THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY 2010 – Angela Benton. Wilson. Zachary. 2010-03-29. Fast Company. en-US. 2019-05-23.
  4. Web site: The 25 Most Influential African-Americans In Technology. Dickey. Megan Rose. Business Insider. 2019-05-23.
  5. Web site: In America. www.cnn.com. 2019-05-23.
  6. News: The Tech Bubble Is Real--but It's Not What You Think. October 2015. Inc Magazine. May 23, 2019.
  7. Web site: Angela Benton on Success, Hard Work, and Thinking Outside the Tech Bubble. Bradshaw. Leslie. Forbes. en. 2019-05-23.
  8. Web site: Video: The science behind what causes stress. ABC News. en. 2019-05-23.
  9. News: Angela Benton on the Future of Entrepreneurship. Benton. Angela. 2014-07-07. Wall Street Journal. 2019-05-23. en-US. 0099-9660.
  10. Web site: Angela Benton On Her Quest To Diversify Silicon Valley. Morell. Katie. November 29, 2011. American Express. February 6, 2019. February 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190209180029/https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/angela-benton-on-her-quest-to-diversify-silicon-valley/. dead.
  11. Web site: Black Techies Find Niche Online. NPR.org. en. 2019-05-23.
  12. News: We Need to Talk About Silicon Valley's Racism. Allen. Samantha. 2014-08-22. 2019-05-23. en.
  13. Web site: Andreessen Horowitz unveils fund to link companies to cultural leaders. 2018-08-22. PE Hub. 2019-05-23. 2019-05-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20190523170903/https://www.pehub.com/2018/08/andreessen-horowitz-unveils-fund-to-link-companies-to-cultural-leaders/. dead.
  14. Web site: Serial Entrepreneur McKeever Conwell II On GHOGH Podcast. by. 2019-02-25. Moguldom. en-US. 2019-05-23.
  15. Web site: Silicon Valley's Invisible Blacks. Dreyfuss. Joel. The Root. 11 November 2011 . en-US. 2019-05-23.
  16. Web site: TechCrunch Founder's Black Amnesia. McCoy. Frank. The Root. 11 November 2011 . en-US. 2019-05-23.
  17. Web site: This woman wants you to get paid for your streaming media data. Gray. Alex. Fast Company. en-US. 2021-03-05.
  18. Web site: Issa Rae wants to help you own your streaming data with her investment in Streamlytics. IFEANYI. KC. Fast Company. en-US. 2021-03-05.
  19. Web site: Issa Rae Acquires Stake in Streamlytics, a Streaming-Media Data Startup. Spangler. Todd. Variety. 24 September 2019 . en-US. 2021-03-05.
  20. Web site: Pregnant at 16, Founder at 30, Diagnosed With Cancer at 35. How 1 Woman Succeeded Despite Everything. Kaulbach. Jasia. Beier. Chris. May 10, 2017. Inc.com. en. 2019-05-23.
  21. Web site: What 1 Entrepreneur Did When She Discovered She Had Cancer. Staff. Inc. May 10, 2017. Inc.com. en. 2019-05-23.
  22. Web site: Angela Benton shares her inspirational breast cancer journey in conversation with Vanessa De Luca. Jiang. Linda. 2017-10-30. Color. 2019-05-23.
  23. Web site: RECIPIENTS OF MULTICULTURAL MEDIA, TELECOM AND INTERNET COUNCIL AWARD. 2010. May 23, 2019.
  24. Web site: NCBCP: Melanie Campbell Receives Woman of Power Award from National Urban League . 2023-09-28 . www.ncbcp.org.
  25. Web site: Angela Benton: The Root 100 Interview. My CMS. en-US. 2019-05-23. 2019-05-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20190523170853/https://aspire.tv/videos/angela-benton-the-root-100-interview/. dead.
  26. Web site: TheGrio's 100: Angela Benton, founder of Black Web 2.0, covers the black tech world. TheGrio. 2012-02-27. theGrio. en-US. 2019-05-23.
  27. Web site: MC@Work: The New Guard. 2013-10-17. Marie Claire. en-US. 2019-05-23.
  28. Web site: Angela Benton. BET.com. 2019-05-23.
  29. Web site: Adweek Reveals List of 100 CEOs, Media, Tech Leaders and There's Zero Black Executives on it - Okayplayer . 2023-09-28 . www.okayplayer.com . en.
  30. Web site: Angela Benton. adweek.com. 13 July 2020 . 2021-03-05.
  31. Web site: Angela Benton. fastcompany.com. 2021-03-05.
  32. Web site: Angela Benton. inc.com. 2021-03-05.
  33. Web site: The Power of Women, Minorities...and Solar. Cheddar. en. 2019-05-23. 2019-05-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20190523170851/https://cheddar.com/media/the-power-of-women-minorities-and-solar. dead.
  34. Web site: Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Helps Power Villages in Malawi. 2017-08-28. Black Enterprise. en-US. 2019-05-23.
  35. Web site: VENTURE - YouTube. YouTube. en. 2019-05-23.
  36. Web site: Centric's 'Queen Boss' is the 'Shark Tank' for sisters. Walker. Rhiannon. 2017-01-12. Andscape. en-US. 2019-05-23.
  37. Web site: Centric's "Queen Boss" looks for entrepreneurs. 2019-05-23.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Angela Benton".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.