Our Monday show covers the latest in tech news from the weekend and what’s making headlines early in the week. Here’s the rundown from this morning! Stocks are higher around the world today, but the real story in equities is earnings. This week we are going to hear from AMD, Uber, Pinterest, Shopify, PayPal and Block, Apple and Amazon, Alibaba and Airbnb, Coinbase and Cloudflare. It’s a lot. In crypto-land, things are muted, but it appears that the Coinbase-SEC lawsuit had a bit more behind it t...
Jul 31, 2023•9 min•Ep. 703
We had our friend and colleague Kirsten Korosec on the podcast this week, meaning that Mary Ann and Alex got to stretch their legs a bit and talk things that move and beep and boop. Here's what we got into: Deals of the Week: AngelList bought Nova, taking the well-known venture service into the more traditional private equity realm; Waymo is focusing on self-driving cars instead of trucks , which has Mary Ann worried; and Alex wanted to talk about interest rates. On the subject of Earnings: Gues...
Jul 28, 2023•36 min•Ep. 702
This week, Alex had Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz on to chat about her upcoming book, Extremely Online , the history of online platforms, and the rise of creators. We've covered the creator economy a few times on the podcast over the years, but this addition to our historical coverage is more than worth inclusion. Here's what we got into: All the cool kids are pre-ordering Lorenz's book, which you can find here . Why online work has always been treated like a sideshow: While culture is...
Jul 26, 2023•32 min•Ep. 701
Here’s the rundown from this morning: Stocks are mixed around the world: Chinese equities sold off while American shares were set to rise at the open. A massive run of earnings this week should shake up the stock market for tech companies and their traditional brethren alike. In crypto-land, prices are back to where they were pre-XRP decision . I don't know what to make of that, but do know that Worldcoin is still a thing and is now actually out . Twitter's new brand: All hail X , I suppose. Mus...
Jul 24, 2023•9 min•Ep. 700
Here's what we got into today: Deals of the Week: Layoffs at Cameo , where fintech valuations are today and where they are going , and Egnyte's slow-burn path to an IPO . The end of VanMoof: Raising a lot of money doesn't necessitate a startup's success. Such is the case with VanMoof, which raised nine-figures and built and sold e-bikes. Now it is no more, and we have questions . CEO turnover: As the CEO of OnlyFans steps down , the gang dug into when a CEO can or should step down. Certainly som...
Jul 21, 2023•33 min•Ep. 699
So, what happened in venture capital-land during Q2 2023? A lot, and not very much. We got PitchBook venture guru Kyle Stanford to come back on the podcast to riff with us on the good, the bad, and the late-stage. Here's what we got into: How did American venture perform in Q2 2023? Welcome to the new normal , and why that's actually bad news. How are Seed deals faring, and what about later-stage transactions? How bad is the slow pace of exits today, and what impact will they have on venture cap...
Jul 19, 2023•34 min•Ep. 698
Hello, and welcome back to Equity , the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Our Monday show covers the latest in tech news from the weekend and what’s making headlines early in the week. Here’s the rundown from this morning! Stocks are largely down around the world following weak Chinese economic data for the second quarter. We’re also heading back into an earnings cycle, so get ready to hear from Tesla and Netflix this week, among...
Jul 17, 2023•8 min•Ep. 697
Here's the rundown from Mary Ann and Alex : A new Chinese AI model had us wondering who is really going to win the AI war and whether governments will play a role — perhaps not the role that they are expecting. A founder that Founders Fund funded is now funding other founders at Founders Fund: Yep . Sticking to the venture theme, is it possible for AI models in venture to actually create a less biased landscape for entrepreneurs? Connetic Ventures thinks so! Two bits of good news: Tech layoffs h...
Jul 14, 2023•32 min•Ep. 696
This week we had a very special guest on the podcast: Matthew Lynley, one of the founding hosts of Equity and a former TechCruncher. Since his Equity days, Lynley went off and started his very own AI-focused publication called Supervised . We brought him back on the show to ask him questions in a format where we can all learn together. Here’s what we got into: From Transformers to GPT4: How attention became so critical inside of neural networks, and how transformers set the path for modern AI se...
Jul 12, 2023•32 min•Ep. 695
Here’s the rundown from this morning: The global stock market is looking mixed, with the leading piece of financial news dealing with inflation data in the Chinese market. On the crypto side of things, there are no massive price movements in key tokens to examine. That said, the NFT market has been turbulent in the last few days due to incentive changes as a key marketplace. An FYI: We are back in earnings season, but there’s little to report on the tech side of things this week. Expect the pace...
Jul 10, 2023•9 min•Ep. 694
We're switching things up and bringing you two interviews this week, so let's niche down to a single person, think about their work and unpack the rest. Mary Ann took the lead this time, and she sat down (virtually) with Immad Akhund , the CEO and co-founder of Mercury . For those who are unfamiliar, the fintech made headlines earlier this year for how it stepped in to help fill the business banking void left in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse. Here's what the pair caught up on: Mercu...
Jul 07, 2023•29 min•Ep. 693
Long-time Equity listeners and TechCrunch readers should be familiar with LAVCA , and association of capital managers in the Latin America region. We have reported on its data a number of times . Well, it turns out that LAVCA is part of the larger Global Private Capital Association , which keeps tabs on a host of markets that we're working to cover more carefully as startup activity becomes an increasingly global phenomenon. So to cap off the second quarter, and to get our claws into what is goi...
Jul 05, 2023•36 min•Ep. 692
Mary Ann and Alex are back for another busy news week chock full of deals to chew through. Here's the rundown: Deals of the Week: We think that the idea behind the recently-funded Honey Homes is excellent , but we're split about the cost. We also went over Gusto's latest financial achievements and its plans to team up with Remote. Fintech M&A: The biggest deal of the week in fintech was Visa's purchase of Pismo . We haven't had unicorn-level acquisitions lately, so this one was welcome. Else...
Jun 30, 2023•37 min•Ep. 691
This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single person, think about their work and unpack the rest. Mary Ann is taking over today's interview with David Vélez , the co-founder and CEO of Nubank, the $35 billion Sao-Paulo, Brazil-based digital bank that offers credit cards, checking accounts and life insurance to consumers. Equity listeners know that digital banking has been on our minds for some time now, so naturally we were excited to have David on the show. Here's what we got into...
Jun 28, 2023•28 min•Ep. 690
Here's the rundown for the very last Equity Monday of Q2 2023: Crypto's mini-boom in the last week comes after a brutal few weeks of negative headlines ; for the crypto-faithful, it must be a breath of fresh air. Startups: IRL was a digital fraud , Vanta is a unicorn to watch after quick ARR growth and a resulting valuation has grown into, and TreasurySpring is riding a changing macroeconomic climate to rapid fintech growth . As Amazon pledges more investment in India , we're seeing a lot of oth...
Jun 26, 2023•9 min•Ep. 689
Mary Ann and Alex are back, and once again this week they tapped the TechCrunch roster for expert input. This week were lucky enough to have Kirsten Korosec back on the podcast. She's TechCrunch's mobility lead, hosts a podcast of her own , and is one of our favorite humans. Here's the rundown: Deals of the Week: Mary Ann wanted to talk about Robinhood buying X1 , a deal that seemed inexpensive but we lack enough numbers for full confidence; Alex wanted to riff on Dropbox's new AI fund , even if...
Jun 23, 2023•34 min•Ep. 688
Before we get started: all the cool kids are filling out the Equity listener survey . We want to hear from you! On today's episode, Alex had Eric Silver , Head of Creative at the podcast collective Multitude on the show to help us sort through: What the hell happened with Spotify's big podcast push, and its resulting layoffs . Why tech platforms have not yet found a way to make creative work lucrative enough to engender a new 'creator middle class.' The state of the ad market, and its impacts on...
Jun 21, 2023•32 min•Ep. 687
This time 'round we are here on a Tuesday due to an American holiday! Here's the rundown from Alex : Stocks are mixed the world around as central banks tinker with interest rates to try and tune their domestic economies. The crypto world remains muted. Alibaba's shakeup : The CEO of the Chinese tech conglomerate is leaving that role to run its cloud business, which is one of the pieces of the company that will be spun out. Intel managed to extract a handsome package from Germany in exchange for ...
Jun 20, 2023•10 min•Ep. 686
All the cool kids are filling out the Equity listener survey . We want to hear from you! It was a hectic week, with little in the way of the traditional Summer Slowdown making itself known. So, here's what Alex and Mary Ann covered with some help from our dear friend Jacquie Melinek: WWDC in a nutshell : In case you missed it, Apple had a big event this week. On tap were the usual run of software updates, and improved computers in both laptop and desktop format. And, you know, that other thing. ...
Jun 09, 2023•31 min•Ep. 685
This week, we had Carta CEO Henry Ward on to chat through the early-stage market with us. Alex had a grip of data and a sheaf of questions, so here's what we got into: The current state of the early-stage venture capital market: From Ward's perspective, the early-stage market is in better shape than many folks think. It's the later-stages of venture capital that are the most moribund. We also riffed on the quality of startups that are raising today, and how much pain is coming for young tech com...
Jun 08, 2023•31 min•Ep. 684
Here’s what Alex got into today: Stocks are mixed around the world this morning while crypto stays pretty flat. Earnings this week that we’re excited about include Gitlab, Couchbase, Yext, Smartsheet, and Hashicorp. (We’re also keeping an eye on the Atomic Wallet hack .) Reddit’s proposed API changes (charges, more like) are having a pretty big impact on the service’s userbase; there are calls for a blackout of certain forums in response to the proposed updates. Reddit, on the other hand, is a b...
Jun 05, 2023•10 min•Ep. 683
Mary Ann and Alex were a busy pair this week, so much so that they tagged in Dominic-Madori Davis from the TechCrunch+ crew to help out. Before we kick things off, our listener survey is back! If you can, please take a moment to let us know what you want more of, what you want less of, and how we can make this the kind of podcast you want to come back to every week. Now, here's what we got into: Fraud is bad: Elizabeth Holmes is in jail , and the SEC wrapped insider trading charges against a for...
Jun 02, 2023•27 min•Ep. 682
This week, Mary Ann hopped on the mic with number one New York Times best selling author, producer, personal finance thought leader, and host of the Women & Money podcast, Suze Orman . We’re following up on Suze’s not-so-surprising-startup debut with SecureSave , what the company’s been up to and how Suze is thinking about protecting employees in today’s economy. Here’s what we got into: How little money many Americans have saved for emergencies and how SecureSave wants to change that How in...
May 31, 2023•38 min•Ep. 681
This week, crypto prices are static, unlike a particular valuation and Alex is still mad about SPACs. Here's the rundown: Stocks around the world are happy that America is once again going to avoid a default; congrats, United States. At the same time, the crypto market is a bit boring right now, due in large part to muted trading volumes as the crypto winter tests new low temperatures. No one knows what Byju's is worth, but Blackrock is marking its price in one consistent direction . Serve Robot...
May 30, 2023•9 min•Ep. 680
Mary Ann and Alex were a dynamic duo this week, and here's what they got into: The fascinating backers of Checkmate , and the future of online shopping: Mary Ann covered a very interesting Series A for Checkmate, a startup that not only has shown real legs on the competitive App Store, but also on social media platforms far and wide. Cava's IPO won't save the IPO market , but it could help all the same: Alex is so IPO-deprived that he's drawing connections between anything that files and the sta...
May 26, 2023•31 min•Ep. 679
This week, Alex sat down with GGV Capital's Jeff Richards , an investor who has perspective on the last venture boom and the resulting dénouement of that particular saga that we've been covering since the end of 2021. Richards has been an investor since 2008, so he's seen a business cycle or two, which convinced us that he'd be the perfect person to discuss the diverging fates of late-stage startups. Here's what we got into: The idea that all unicorns are in trouble is wrong ; some late-stage st...
May 24, 2023•37 min•Ep. 678
Today, we are talking about Meta’s latest fines, what’s new in chips, and a few startup rounds that caught our eye! Stocks aren’t moving too much this morning, which could change if the American government voluntarily defaults over some bullshit. Crypto hasn’t moved too much lately, though we are keeping tabs on overall trading volume . Meta was hit with a record fine over how it handled EU user data. Data residency is a big deal and will likely crop up in future conversations concerning generat...
May 22, 2023•8 min•Ep. 677
This week Mary Ann , Becca , and Alex gathered to chew through the biggest news of the week. Here’s what the gang got into today: Vice goes bankrupt : Now is not a great time for media companies. The advertising market is in the toilet, layoffs are rampant, and the end of Vice is like a cherry atop a trash sundae. Mary Ann points out during the show that some operational difficulties were at play at the company. Here’s a real unicorn death for us to stare at. Deal Dive : AI. AI coaching. AI huma...
May 19, 2023•36 min•Ep. 676
This week, Alex spoke to two guests from the world of Microsoft for Startups - GM, Hans Yang , and Senior Director, Tom Davis . We're working to figure out how big tech corporations are playing in the startup sandbox, starting with the launch of Microsoft's Pegasus program . Here's what we got into: Why programs like Pegasus are particularly helpful for startups in a conservative VC market The mutually beneficial relationship between the large tech players and startups The close relationship bet...
May 17, 2023•34 min•Ep. 673
This week we talked about media, startup rounds and some Big Money Moves: Stocks are mostly up to start the week while crypto remains within the bounds of its recent trading range. Again. Vice has filed for bankruptcy , again highlighting how hard the media game can be. The company's eventual selling price looks like it will be a fraction's fraction of its once great worth . Foxconn is investing more in India , underscoring how critical it is for major electronics supply chain companies to diver...
May 15, 2023•8 min•Ep. 675
