Apple picks 15 Black and Brown-owned businesses for new Impact Accelerator

Apple Impact Accelerator Hero Art (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

Apple has selected 15 Black and Brown-owned businesses for its first Impact Accelerator project.
All of the companies are working on environmental solutions.

Apple today announced 15 companies owned by Black and Brown founders that will be part of its first Impact Accelerator class.

Announced today, the news comes as part of Apple's Racial Equity and Justice Initiative — a program that wants to "help to combat systemic barriers to opportunity, while also advancing innovative solutions for communities most impacted by climate change."

The 15 businesses are based across the US — from Silicon Valley in California, to Detroit, Michigan, to tribal nations across the Midwest — and driving innovation in energy efficiency, solar, green chemistry, recycling, and other environmental areas. Many share a specific focus on bringing clean energy, opportunity, and vital services to vulnerable and underserved communities.

Apple says the selected companies will "participate in customized training, and have access to Apple experts and an alumni community." Following the three-month program, Apple says that the companies "will be considered for opportunities to act as suppliers to Apple as it works to become carbon neutral for its supply chain and products by 2030."

Blocpower Headshot Apple Art

Blocpower Headshot Apple Art (Image credit: Apple)

The full announcement includes more details on all 15 companies, including BlocPower, a company that hopes to "make American cities greener, smarter, and healthier by turning aging, inefficient buildings into state-of-the-art structures."

Those interested in the new Impact Accelerator as well as the companies involved should check out the full post for a rundown. There really are some truly impressive businesses involved with some innovative solutions in the works.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.