Here’s the rundown: Deals of the Week: Adam Neumann wants to buy WeWork from bankruptcy , Starship Technologies raised $90 million for a product that 100% of the crew love , and Ambience Healthcare’s massive $70 million round also got a warm reception for its target market. LatAm Rising: We love Latin America here at Equity, but have been a bit puzzled why its venture capital totals have fallen as far as they have. New data makes it plain that startups in the region are doing rather well . What ...
Feb 09, 2024•37 min•Ep. 794
This is our startup-focused Wednesday episode, so we’re taking a deep look at a number of startup fundraisings, and the latest from the world of venture capital itself. Startups and capital, it’s our jam! Here’s what we got into on the show today: Goodshuffle raised $5 million , showing that vertical SaaS is far from kaput, even if software valuations remain under strain. SUMA Wealth put $2.2 million into its own accounts , showing that audience-tuned fintech products still have legs. SUMA Wealt...
Feb 07, 2024•10 min•Ep. 793
This is our Monday show, in which we look back at the weekend and the week ahead. A big thanks to Maggie for stepping back into the Equity seat while Theresa is out today. Here’s what we got into: Stocks are mixed around the world as investors digest the possibility of high interest rates persisting for longer. Crypto price movements seem to have eased in recent weeks in the wake of bitcoin spot ETF launches . Yandex’s parent to exit Russia : At a huge cost, it turns out. Given Russian sanctions...
Feb 05, 2024•14 min•Ep. 792
The amazing Mary Ann Azevedo was out this week, so Kirsten Korosec, Karyne Levy and Alex Wilhelm took to the mics to chat through the most important tech news of the week. And if you haven't already, head here to listen to our interview with founder and former VC Anshu Sharma about building competitive products and defining new markets. Here's what we got into on the show today: The latest Congressional hearing went about as expected: Poorly . Deals of the Week: Zum has raised $140 million for E...
Feb 02, 2024•33 min•Ep. 791
This is our interview show, where we sit down with interesting, knowledgeable folks and dive deep into what they are building, designing, or thinking about. Today, we have Anshu Sharma back on the podcast. Last time, the Skyflow CEO riffed with us on interest rates and business cycles. This time, we wanted to talk to him about a theory he recently wrote up for TechCrunch: The Innovator’s Dilemma . Or perhaps, a partial solution to that dilemma. The gist is that instead of using lower-cost produc...
Feb 01, 2024•30 min•Ep. 790
This is our startup-focused, Wednesday episode, so today we’re counting down important venture rounds and chatting our way through other startup and VC news. Here’s the rundown: Plex raises $40M, targets profitability : The media streaming company thinks that it can reach black ink by the end of this year, or early 2025. Not bad for a very expensive industry. Rebellions raises $124M to take on Nvidia : What is designing new AI chips and is partnered up with Samsung? Rebellions, which is now quit...
Jan 31, 2024•10 min•Ep. 789
Here's what we got into today: Massive earnings week ahead: Big tech companies are dropping their quarterly results in the coming days, so we'll hear from Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet and Amazon. Other companies are reporting as well, but the bigger the market cap, the bigger the splash. Arc's new mobile app is a cool search concept : Best known for its desktop browser, The Browser Company has a new mobile app that could change how we search on the go. Reddit could target $5 billion valuation in i...
Jan 29, 2024•14 min•Ep. 788
This is our interview show, where we sit down with an interesting, knowledgeable guest and dive deep into their favorite topics. For this weekend’s Special Equity Edition, we invited Gené Teare to come back on the podcast. Longtime listeners will recall that we’ve had Gené on a time or two to chat venture capital data with us, and she’s back to do the same this week! We’re back to dig into Q4 2023 venture capital results and what’s coming up this year. For backing data, here’s Gené’s Crunchbase ...
Jan 27, 2024•33 min•Ep. 787
Here’s what we got up to on our Friday show: Deals of the Week: Plural has a new $432 million fund , Vroom is no longer in the car selling business, oddly , and we chatted through the Fantuan-Chowbus deal . From there we turned to fintech ( generally ) and Brex ( more specifically ). In short, Brex is a big company today but not one that is having a lot of fun at the moment, it appears. With reports indicating that its growth has slowed and its burn remained sticky, it recently cut staff. To clo...
Jan 26, 2024•32 min•Ep. 786
This is our startup-focused, Wednesday episode, so today we're counting down important venture rounds, and chatting our way through other startup and VC news. Here's what we got into: Artisse AI's seed round caught our eye for two big reasons: First, its selfie app is cool; and second, despite competing in a crowded space, it's seen revenue climb rapidly. It's gotta be doing something right. Elsewhere, Bilt Rewards is proof that fintech is still alive and kicking , and Kittl is another example o...
Jan 24, 2024•10 min•Ep. 785
Here's the rundown: The Q4 2023 earnings cycle will kick off this week with names like Intel and Visa reporting results. The largest tech companies will start to report next week. Crypto is not enjoying a post-ETF boom for reasons that are yet to be nailed down. Then again, when have crypto price movements ever made complete sense? ElevenLabs is the newest AI unicorn . With $80 million in fresh capital, the synthetic voice startup now has oodles of cash to try and run its market. Canva is big ! ...
Jan 22, 2024•11 min•Ep. 784
This week, Mary Ann Azevedo and Alex Wilhelm took to the mics to chew through funding rounds and trends galore. Enjoy, and don’t forget that our interview with Aileen Lee is here . Pomelo : $40 million more dollars for Latin American fintech? It’s the perfect Mary Ann story. Even better, we got growth data from the company to noodle on. It turns out you can raise up rounds in 2024! Tandem : Alex chose the Tandem Seed round for his deal of the week, even if he doesn’t want to use it. In short, co...
Jan 19, 2024•26 min•Ep. 783
This is our interview show, where we sit down with interesting, knowledgeable folks and dive deep into their favorite topics. This time around, we invited Cowboy Ventures’ Aileen Lee to chat through her massive new article concerning the unicorn world . If you didn’t know, it was Lee who initially coined the term “unicorn” in a TechCrunch article back in 2013 . Lee talked us through the data and taught us all sorts of new terms. You can sort of understand what one means when they say “unicorpse”...
Jan 18, 2024•33 min•Ep. 782
Here’s what we got into this morning: Vertice raises $25M : The bet here is that companies are willing to pay to have another company, Vertice in this case, to help them find savings in their existing software and cloud spend. Electra snags $330M : Charging EVs is big business, and Electra is wagering that building out its own charging network will pay dividends for a long time into the future. Build a Rocket Boy collects $110M : This is a big round for a company with unlaunched gaming titles. T...
Jan 17, 2024•11 min•Ep. 781
Here's what we got into: Stocks are down around the world to start a week that only features a single key earnings report, TSMC this Thursday. Next week really starts the tech reporting deluge, so get ready. In crypto, bitcoin's price failed to pump after its ETF products launched , which surprised some. Also surprising was the value jump that the Ethereum blockchain offers. Buy the rumor, sell the news? (Elsewhere, a crypto exchange raised around $100 million . In 2024! Who would have expected ...
Jan 16, 2024•10 min•Ep. 780
This is our interview show, where we sit down with a guest, think about their work, and unpack the rest. This week, we talked to Jenny Fielding, co-founder and managing partner at Everywhere Ventures , a founder collective and early-stage (think pre-seed) venture firm. Jenny and I discussed a wide variety of topics, including startups’ flight to quality in 2024 and how smaller firms are competing with larger firms in the current investment landscape. We also dug into the “great VC resignation” s...
Jan 13, 2024•28 min•Ep. 779
Today, Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo dig through the key stories from the week. Then, Kirsten Korosec and Haje Jan Kamps are aboard to bring us the latest from CES! Deals of the Week: Shimmer raised $2.2 million to bring one-on-one ADHD care at a lower price point; Alex chose this one because mental health care startups that try to expand access are cool. Overmoon's recent fundraising and business progress were Mary Ann's choice for the week, showing that proptech is not dead yet! Circle is ...
Jan 12, 2024•37 min•Ep. 778
This is our newly revamped Wednesday episode, and we’re going to be digging deep into critical startup and venture capital news. If you are a long-time Equity listener, you will note that this is not the same interview show that we used to run mid-week! Don’t worry, we are still going to do interviews, so keep an eye out for those on Saturdays. Here’s what’s we got into on the show today: PhotoRoom is raising more money . French startup PhotoRoom is raising $50 million to $60 million at a $500 m...
Jan 10, 2024•11 min•Ep. 777
Here’s what we got into on the show today: Stocks and Crypto: Tech stocks aren’t moving too much this morning as the market digests the Boeing mess. In crypto-land, the price of bitcoin is up. Bitcoin ETFs: And this is why. A rush of new filings this morning showed that bitcoin spot ETFs are targeting a very low-fee structure as they compete for investor dollars. These investment vehicles are expected to get approved this week, or at least some of them, so expect a little market turbulence ahead...
Jan 08, 2024•11 min•Ep. 776
Here’s what we got into: Deals of the Week: Ruth Foxe Blader is leaving Anthemis , albeit slowly; Exponent has a second fund set up , but without a pure fintech focus; and Alex wanted to talk about why 2024 could be a pretty alright year for crypto . Layoffs, shutdowns: Frontdesk laid off 200 people and is shutting down , which makes for a good conversation about its business model. Countdown Capital is also throwing in the towel , due in part to larger multi-stage funds inflating the entry poin...
Jan 05, 2024•29 min•Ep. 775
Today — ahead of the relaunch of our Wednesday episode that we discussed earlier this week — we have an interview to share featuring TechCrunch’s very own Morgan Sung and Shruti Dwivedi, the co-founder and CEO of health-tech startup, Duly . Duly took part in TechCrunch Disrupt’s 2023 Battlefield cohort, showing a global audience its contraceptive care platform that is initially targeted at the Indian market. Why India? The company cites a large, young population in the country with more than 700...
Jan 03, 2024•10 min•Ep. 774
We're covering the latest in tech news from the weekend and what’s making headlines early in the week. This being the first week of the year, we had to go over a thing or two that broke just as 2023 gave up the ghost. Here's what we have on deck for you! Financial updates: Global stock market news, and the latest from crypto. On the decentralized front, strong price movements are driving trading volume. That's good news for exchanges around the world. AI versus Copyright: The New York Times suit...
Jan 02, 2024•11 min•Ep. 773
It's time to brush the dust off of an Equity tradition that stretches back into the years: our predictions episode. As we try to do every year, we brought in a number of voices to ensure that we covered a good amount of ground. And, we went back and vetted our predictions from last year as well, in case you wanted to see how off we were! Who took part? Alex Wilhelm , Mary Ann Azevedo , Kirsten Korosec , and Becca Szkutak . The voices you heard the most on the podcast this year! (A big thanks to ...
Dec 29, 2023•26 min•Ep. 772
Today, we’re spinning the globe with not one but two interviews, thanks to our friend and colleague Rebecca Bellan , who’s been in Auckland, New Zealand for the past three years. She recently hopped across the Tasman to Australia to report on the startup scene in Australia, and is coming back to us with a temperature check on VC in the Antipodes. Rebecca spoke to two Aussie VCs: Dan Krasnostein from Square Peg and Gabrielle Munzer from Main Sequence . Rebecca and our guests dug into why early st...
Dec 27, 2023•48 min•Ep. 771
Today, Alex got Deepka Rana from Northzone on the mic to chat through a bevy of key topics for the new year: Where venture capital is heading in the new year The prognosis for startups at different stages of maturity Why 2023 was the year of adjustment, and 2024 could be the new venture-startup normal And, the fate of AI in the EU where regulation is afoot. (n.b. When we recorded this, the EU's first-draft of AI regulation had not yet dropped). We think that every person in startups and venture ...
Dec 26, 2023•30 min•Ep. 770
This is the second of a two-part series looking back at 2023. Mary Ann and Alex called on two colleagues to help us chat through some of the year’s biggest events. Here’s what we got into! The decline, fall of SVB: It’s a bit hard to believe, but the chaos at Silicon Valley Bank happened earlier this year . Yes, much has happened since, but the sudden, and shocking collapse of what was effectively the family bank of tech sent waves throughout the global technology landscape. Venture was impacted...
Dec 22, 2023•31 min•Ep. 769
Today, we’re bringing you a special mini episode led by TechCrunch senior reporter and co-host of our sister podcast, Found , Dominic Madori-Davis. During this year’s Disrupt, Dom caught up with Hilary Mason from Hidden Door , an AI-driven narrative game engine. Dom and Hilary got into how generative AI is changing online gaming, building a team of creatives, fundraising in the gaming space, and more. Connect with Equity on X and Threads @EquityPods, and keep up with all of TechCrunch's podcasts...
Dec 20, 2023•16 min•Ep. 768
Hello and welcome back to Equity , a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This is the first of a two-part series that we built for you going back over critical themes from 2023. It was a very, very busy year in the worlds of technology, startups, and venture capital. This is the first of a two-part series that we built for you going back over critical themes from 2023. It was a very, very busy year in the worlds of technology, start...
Dec 18, 2023•32 min•Ep. 767
This is our very last regular news roundup of the year. We still have a lot planned for you, though, with special interviews, guest appearances, and predictions. But that’s all to come. This time ’round we once again had Mary Ann Azevedo and Alex Wilhelm together to hammer through the key news from the week: Cruise layoffs: Breaking as we went to record, self-driving company Cruise is cutting a simply massive number of staff . Deals of the Week: Prevu’s $6 million Series A and why proptech is No...
Dec 15, 2023•33 min•Ep. 766
This week we brought Matt Mullenweg , the CEO of Automattic and co-founder of WordPress onto the show, along with Kishan Bagaria , the founder of Texts.com. Automattic bought all-in-one messaging app Texts.com for $50 million back in October . Well, we had questions, not only about the deal, but also the state of the written word online. A few notes before you hit play. First, Automattic is more acquisitive than you thought. A look at its history of purchases is critical context for our conversa...
Dec 13, 2023•30 min•Ep. 765
