Pittsburgh weekly roundup: How to support Black businesses; $10M for AlphaLab Health; Philips layoffs

Promoting Black businesses in Pittsburgh

If you’ve heard about the Greenwood Plan, you might have heard the name Khamil Bailey. Did you know she also runs an organization called Cocoapreneur?

Bailey’s journey started when she moved to Pittsburgh for college in 2005, and noticed a lack of community support for Black businesses in the city — especially compared to her New Jersey hometown. Ten years later, she launched Cocoapreneur to help address the issue and provide Black operators with the resources they need to prosper.

➡️ Find out why Bailey feels a “little disappointed” and what’s coming next

AlphaLab Health secures $10M for startups

Thanks to an anonymous donation, AlphaLab Health is launching a new evergreen fund for life sciences startups. And that’s not the only innovative way organizations are finding money this month.

Other local startups, including Govenda and MiCore, are getting acquired. Swan NeuroTech landed a $20,000 prize, and the US Steel-Nippon merger is moving ahead, plus a chart showing who’s hiring the most tech jobs in Pittsburgh right now.

➡️ Get all the details in the latest edition of Money Moves

News Incubator: What else to know

• Philips Respironics, known for its CPAP machines, will lay off 300 workers and relocate 500 others. The major restructuring cuts manufacturing jobs in Western PA and relocates its offices out of Bakery Square. [KDKA]

• Pittsburgh-based Abridge made major moves in Texas, as it inked a deal with Christus Health to support its health tech. The startup’s gen AI tool for medical notetaking will be used by 600 care centers and has 15,000 physicians. [Technical.ly/Fierce Healthcare/TechCrunch]

• Chris Urmson, CEO of Pittsburgh autonomous trucking company Aurora, which laid off 3% of its workforce in a restructuring early this year, shared his thoughts on AI “faux pas.” He noted that while telling people to put glue on pizza is problematic, having a self-driving vehicle veer off the road poses real danger. [Technical.ly /Aurora/Pittsburgh Biz Journal]

• It’s way too hot out. Find your nearest cooling center and prepare for power outages to get through the current heat wave. [WTAE/Duquesne Light]

• EKTO VR patented its “robotic virtual reality footwear.” The shoes aim to make the experience more immersive, and they also look kind of like moon shoes? [EKTO VR/Wikipedia]

• Before stomping, squishing or splattering spotted lanternflies, consider capturing and sending them off for science instead. The Spotted Lanternfly Invasion Archive wants live Western PA bugs so it can better track their spread. [PublicSource/Duennes Lab]

• Titan Robotics will move its South Side HQ closer to the airport to be nearer its hangar testing site. The company could’ve left Pittsburgh all together, but decided to stay for the “good tech ecosystem.” [Blue Sky News]

🗓️ On the Calendar