Even Rogers spent a decade as an Air Force weapons officer watching China and Russia build space weapons while the U.S. had "nothing in our arsenal." So he left the military to solve the problem himself. Now, as co-founder and CEO of True Anomaly , he's building the first exclusively defense-focused space superiority company, developing autonomous spacecraft, sensors, and software designed specifically for military engagements in orbit. With $418 million raised and a growing team, Rogers is raci...
Nov 05, 2025•28 min
The Equity crew was live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025! Hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff, and Anthony Ha took over the Builders Stage on Monday morning to kick off the event with the question everyone's asking: are we in an AI bubble? Between valuations that have tripled in months, $300M seed rounds, and $100B commitments flying around, the money is moving fast — maybe too fast. The Equity team breaks down what peak bubble looks like, where the actual business models are (spoiler: a lot of companies...
Oct 31, 2025•30 min
After a small startup exit and being turned down by every VC firm he applied to, Tim Chen began angel investing and eventually stumbled into raising his own fund. Now, as the solo investor behind Essence VC, he just closed his fourth fund at $41 million "without even trying." Chen's secret weapon? Being technical enough to debate PhD founders on implementation details while understanding the market dynamics that turn scrappy startups into category leaders. Today on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, J...
Oct 29, 2025•31 min
The browser wars are heating up again , this time with AI in the driver’s seat. OpenAI just launched Atlas, a ChatGPT-powered browser that lets users surf the web using natural language and even includes an “agent mode” that can complete tasks autonomously. It’s one of the biggest browser launches in recent memory, but it's debuting with an unsolved security flaw that could expose passwords, emails, and sensitive data. On TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Max Zeff, Anthony Ha and Sean O’Kane break do...
Oct 24, 2025•31 min
Ever wonder if you’re talking to a real person online or just another bot? As bots increasingly outnumber humans online, leading to an explosion of deepfakes and AI-driven fraud, one company has a solution straight out of sci-fi: scanning your iris to verify your identity . Today on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan spoke with Adrian Ludwig, Chief Security Officer and Chief Architect at Tools for Humanity , the company behind World’s eye-scanning Orbs appearing around the globe. Bellan...
Oct 22, 2025•27 min
Silicon Valley’s rule? It’s not cool to be cautious. As OpenAI removes guardrails and VCs criticize companies like Anthropic for supporting AI safety regulations, it’s becoming clearer who the industry thinks should shape AI development. On this episode of Equity , Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Max Zeff discuss how the line between innovation and responsibility is getting blurrier , plus what happens when pranks go from digital to physical. Listen to the full episode to hear about: The real-w...
Oct 17, 2025•30 min
Can performance-enhancing drugs push the limits of human potential? The creators of the Enhanced Games say yes — and they’re building a new sporting event to prove it. Backed by Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr.’s 1789 Capital, the Enhanced Games aims to disrupt the Olympics with a competition that allows athletes to dope. Launching in Las Vegas in May 2026, the games promise $1 million bounties for breaking world records and lean on a business model reminiscent of Red Bull’s, using the spectacle...
Oct 15, 2025•33 min
AI companies are making their much-anticipated enterprise plays, but the results are wildly inconsistent. Just this week, Deloitte announced it's rolling out Anthropic's Claude to all 500,000 employees. On the very same day, the Australian government forced Deloitte to refund a contract because their AI-generated report was riddled with fake citations. It's a perfect snapshot of where we are: companies racing to adopt AI tools before they've figured out how to use them responsibly. On this episo...
Oct 10, 2025•34 min
The Trump administration recently announced a massive change to the H-1B visa program, raising the application fee from $2,000-$5,000 to $100,000 per visa. The change has sent shockwaves through the startup world, with founders warning it could price them out of hiring international talent and undermine U.S. innovation. Today on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Dominic-Madori Davis was joined by Jeremy Neufeld , the Director of Immigration Policy at the Institute for Progress, to break down what thi...
Oct 08, 2025•27 min
The U.S. government shutdown that began this week is the first in seven years. While it might not feel immediately disruptive, for startups waiting on permits, visas, or regulatory approvals, even a few weeks can become an existential problem. On this episode of Equity , Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Max Zeff talk through how uncertainty is affecting startups in ways people might not realize, plus the messy reality of AI companies still trying to figure out sustainable business models. Listen...
Oct 03, 2025•32 min
California just made history as the first state to require AI safety transparency from the biggest labs in the industry. Governor Newsom signed SB 53 into law this week , mandating that AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic disclose, and stick to, their safety protocols. The decision is already sparking debate about whether other states will follow suit. Adam Billen, vice president of public policy at Encode AI , joined Equity to break down what this new law actually means and why it managed to pa...
Oct 01, 2025•30 min
From $100 billion OpenAI commitments to $100,000 visa fees , this week showed just how much the tech landscape is shifting. On the latest episode of Equity , Anthony Ha and Max Zeff unpack the AI infrastructure gold rush and tech's talent shuffle. Listen to the full episode to hear about: TikTok’s potential new home , and why Oracle is positioned to win big from the deal Oura Health's reported $875M raise at an $11B valuation and what it means for health tech Nvidia's $500M investment in UK self...
Sep 26, 2025•27 min
Medical device funding is hitting levels we haven't seen since 2021 , with investors pouring billions into diagnostics and imaging companies. But while innovation has raced ahead, a fundamental problem still hasn't changed: critical medical hardware like MRI machines cost millions of dollars and are gatekept by large hospitals. So how do you take one of the most expensive, hospital-bound technologies and make it available anywhere? Evan Kervella, founder and CEO of Paris-based startup Chipiron ,...
Sep 24, 2025•30 min
This week on Equity, Anthony Ha, Kirsten Korosec, and Max Zeff unpack the biggest moves in AI, robotics, and regulation. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Meta Connect's AR/AI vision and neural wristband control (plus the demos that didn't go as planned) Jack Altman's rapid $275M fundraise and the Altman brothers' expanding Silicon Valley influence The Waymo-Lyft partnership bringing robotaxis to Nashville and the hunt for profitable AV models California's new AI safety legislation and w...
Sep 19, 2025•34 min
Europe's startup scene is having a moment, with European unicorns multiplying and American VCs setting up shop across the pond. But while European funding dominates the early stages, late-stage capital still flows primarily from the U.S. So what does this mean for European founders, and how is the continent carving out its own identity in an increasingly AI-driven world? Today on Equity, we were joined by Shamillah Bankiya , newly appointed Partner at Dawn Capital, to talk through it all. She an...
Sep 17, 2025•34 min
Leading AI labs like OpenAI and Google DeepMind cut ties with Scale AI after Meta invested $14 billion in the data vendor and hired its CEO. But AI labs still need data — leaving an opening for other startups that can supply it. The key players and factors in the AI data market are changing. Lately, it seems like Mercor — an AI hiring platform that sells data services to AI labs — may be one of the biggest benefactors of this shift. Today on Equity , Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, Max Zeff dive de...
Sep 12, 2025•28 min
As AI evolves at breakneck speed, attackers are evolving right alongside it. Vibe coding, AI agents, and prompt-based attacks are opening enterprises up to new vulnerabilities daily. The pressure is on for cybersecurity tools to keep pace, and startups are seizing the moment. Few have grown as rapidly as Wiz, which Google is acquiring for $32 billion in its largest-ever purchase. On today's episode of Equity, Wiz co-founder and chief technologist Ami Luttwak joined Rebecca Bellan to discuss how ...
Sep 10, 2025•28 min
Google just dodged a Chrome breakup bullet , but the biggest twist? The federal judge bought the idea that AI rivals could keep the tech giant in check, even as new competitors gain ground. From Atlassian’s $610 million bet on The Browser Company to OpenAI’s latest maneuvers, the competition for how we navigate the web is just getting started. Today on Equity , Max Zeff and Anthony Ha break down the week’s biggest moves and how AI is fracturing the search monopoly while reshaping how we browse t...
Sep 05, 2025•28 min
Karen Hao, the bestselling author of " Empire of AI ," has watched OpenAI go from a nonprofit “laughingstock” into a $90 billion powerhouse chasing artificial general intelligence at breakneck speeds. Hao, who first profiled the company back in 2020, says early visions of building AI “for humanity’s benefit” were quickly overtaken by a familiar Silicon Valley mindset: Move fast, break things, and let scale be the measure of success. This week, Hao joined TechCrunch’s Equity podcast to unpack the...
Sep 03, 2025•31 min
Nvidia reported another massive quarter this week with $46.7 billion in revenue, a 56% year-over-year increase driven almost entirely by AI demand. But despite CEO Jensen Huang's bold prediction of $3 to 4 trillion in global AI infrastructure spending in the next five years, the stock slid as investors questioned how long this kind of growth can last. Today on Equity , Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff, and Anthony Ha dive into Nvidia's earnings and what the market's response reveals about investor conf...
Aug 29, 2025•31 min
Steve Jobs once said, “Everything’s a remix.” And that’s a philosophy that Mark Cuban has taken to heart, building an entire entrepreneurial and investment career on that simple belief. The real opportunity, Cuban says, lies in spotting patterns others miss and turning them into billion-dollar disruptions. On today's episode of Equity , Cuban joined Rebecca Bellan to discuss his decades-long strategy of betting on technologies before they go mainstream, from his early investments in local area n...
Aug 27, 2025•33 min
On today’s episode of the Equity podcast, your hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff, and Anthony Ha try to understand why Labubu has become so popular and what it says about the collapsing divide between the internet and the real world. Are Labubus more than just the latest iteration of ‘90s Beanie Babies? And listen to the full episode to hear more about: Google’s cringey, celebrity-filled Pixel event Self-driving startup Nuro’s $203 million Series A , with Nvidia joining as an investor OpenAI’s att...
Aug 22, 2025•30 min
During the SaaS crash of 2022, SecurityPal founder Pukar Hamal was just 14 months from running out of money. Rather than raise another round, he chose to restructure and focus on profitability — and he hasn't raised since his $21M Series A in 2021. On today's episode of Equity , Hamal chatted with Julie Bort about what he calls "nuanced capital," a strategy focused on achieving cash flow positivity and sustainable growth rather than chasing the next big round. His approach challenges the convent...
Aug 20, 2025•25 min
Perplexity, the AI search startup that hasn't even cracked 100 million monthly users, just made a $34.5 billion cash offer to buy Chrome from Google. The unsolicited bid comes as the DOJ prepares its remedy decision after ruling Google illegally maintained a search monopoly . The timing makes sense, but questions remain. Perplexity won't name its backers for the massive deal, and the offer is worth far more than the company has raised. On Equity , we're revisiting a conversation with Neil Chi...
Aug 15, 2025•25 min
Women are making real progress in venture capital, according to a new report from the nonprofit All Raise . The percentage of women and nonbinary partners at top firms has doubled in recent years, even as the market cooled. On this week’s Equity , All Raise CEO Paige Hendrix Buckner joins TechCrunch’s Dominic-Madori Davis to unpack what’s driving that momentum, and where the industry is still falling short. Pay gaps persist, and the largest firms still have few women in senior partner roles, but...
Aug 13, 2025•30 min
OpenAI is making a serious play for the federal government. The company just announced a deal that gives U.S. agencies access to ChatGPT Enterprise for just $1 per year . Yes, really. It’s part of a new “blanket purchase agreement” aimed at getting OpenAI’s tools into federal departments fast and a clear sign the company wants to lock down the public sector before anyone else can. The move is aggressive, strategic, and could shape how generative AI gets deployed across everything from admin work...
Aug 08, 2025•32 min
Figma managed something rare in today's market: it stayed independent, survived a failed Adobe acquisition, and went public on its own terms. But its post-IPO performance tells a more complex story about startup exits in 2025. Jai Das , President and Partner at Sapphire Ventures, joined Rebecca Bellan on Equity to discuss what Figma's IPO really signals about the current climate for startup exits. With more than a dozen IPOs under his belt including MuleSoft, Square, and Box, Das broke down Figm...
Aug 06, 2025•26 min
Meta is still going all-in on the AI talent war, with Mark Zuckerberg reportedly reaching out to top recruits himself , throwing around jaw-dropping compensation packages that top $1 billion over multiple years. And Meta’s latest target? Mira Murati's new startup, Thinking Machines Lab. It's a bold play in an already overheated market. While Zuck eyes new talent, Anthropic is preparing to raise a massive round of its own at a staggering $170 billion valuation, nearly tripling its worth in just m...
Aug 01, 2025•32 min
If you've been hearing about Trump's AI Action Plan and wondering who it actually benefits, you're not alone. On today's episode of Equity , Rebecca Bellan caught up with Amba Kak and Dr. Sarah Myers West from the AI Now Institute, a think tank focused on the social implications of AI and the consolidation of power in tech industry. Their recent report , dubbed Artificial Power, lays out the political economy driving today's AI frenzy and what’s at stake for everyone else. Artificial Power pushe...
Jul 30, 2025•30 min
The big AI companies seem to be in a celebratory mood after President Donald Trump unveiled his AI Action Plan — not surprising, perhaps, since the plan was shaped by Trump's Silicon Valley allies. Today, on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff, and Anthony Ha look at how the Trump administration plans to reshape the AI landscape, making it harder for environmental regulators to block data center construction, for state governments to oversee AI development and safety, an...
Jul 25, 2025•37 min
