Today on the show we had a lot of ground to cover: Stocks around the world are in retreat to start the week, while crypto prices have themselves given back some recent gains. The biggest news item that we covered this morning was the exit of Stability AI’s CEO, the company’s revenue growth and burn rate have come into question before, making the move all the more newsy. Over in the EU, a number of U.S.-based tech companies are under inquiry thanks to the new Digital Markets Act. At some point yo...
Mar 25, 2024•11 min•Ep 816•Transcript available on Metacast This week we had Mary Ann, Becca, and Alex aboard. Here's what the crew got into: Deals of the Week: Mary Ann wanted to talk about Onyx, a neobank aimed at wealthy early-to-middle career adults. It's pivoting to B2B and is not, despite what the Internet said, dead. Alex wanted to discuss Montauk Climate, a climate incubator set up by the former co-founder of Casper and the recent Marc Lore/Wonder deal. The climate isn't doing well, in case you've missed the news. So, projects like this are welco...
Mar 22, 2024•32 min•Ep 815•Transcript available on Metacast Today we have a grip of startup stories, and a venture capital item that isn’t as bad of news as it seems at first blush. Here’s the rundown: Astera Labs is going public after pricing above-range. We’ll see how it trades today, but it’s good news that the first real tech IPO of the year set its share price at $36, higher than even its raised price interval. TigerEye’s $35 million round for business intelligence gives us a peek at how tech could help businesses navigate the future. There’s a YC c...
Mar 20, 2024•14 min•Ep 814•Transcript available on Metacast This is our Monday show, in which we take a look back at the weekend and what’s ahead in the week. We’re coming to the end of earnings season, which means that there are just a few weeks left in the first quarter. With spring in the air, here’s what we got into this morning: Apple may tap Google for AI: Sure, Apple is working on its own AI tech, but Google’s Gemini model could be headed for an iPhone near you. Bloomberg broke the news. Grok goes open source: As promised, xAI’s LLM Grok is out fo...
Mar 18, 2024•13 min•Ep 813•Transcript available on Metacast Hello, and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. The podcast turns seven this week, so in honor of its birthday drop us a review? More, newer reviews helps more folks discover the show, and makes our corporate parent happy! Today our beloved Mary Ann was off on well-deserved break, so our friend and fellow-podcaster Rebecca Szkutak was kind enough to bring her insight and humor to the podcast this fine Frida...
Mar 15, 2024•31 min•Ep 812•Transcript available on Metacast This is our Wednesday episode, in which we dig into critical startup news to stay abreast of what founders and venture capitalists are working on. Today on the podcast, we got through the following: New data from Carta digging into startup compensation, and how it is changing; How one startup is profiting off death, but in a way that is actually great; Bear Robotics, and its killer new round for cute serving robots; New stuff from BlueSky (all about moderation and choosing one’s own adventure) a...
Mar 13, 2024•12 min•Ep 811•Transcript available on Metacast This is our Monday show, in which we take a look back at the weekend and what’s ahead in the week. Over the weekend, we dropped an interview with Roger Lee that is well worth your time, and here's our take on Reddit's IPO financials. Here's what we got into today: Crypto is taking flight, with bitcoin and ethereum notching big gains in recent days as the crypto winter fades to a fresh spring. Reddit dropped a new IPO filing, which includes a price range target of between $31 and $34 per share. T...
Mar 11, 2024•12 min•Ep 810•Transcript available on Metacast This is our interview show, where we sit down with a guest, think about their work, and unpack the rest. This week, Mary Ann interviewed Roger Lee, an entrepreneur who’s spent the better part of a decade building tools for employees and employers alike. Lee is an angel investor as well the creator of Layoffs.FYI and co-founder of Comprehensive and Human Interest. Roger joined us on the show last year in the wake of 2022’s tech layoffs, but this week we’re focusing on the business of shutting dow...
Mar 09, 2024•28 min•Ep 809•Transcript available on Metacast Today on the pod, Mary Ann and Alex dug into a whole mess of news, including: Mews' massive new round is proof that vertical SaaS + payments remains a great way to build a big business, and earn a unicorn valuation at a time when those are growing rarer. The global companies taking on Carta, including QuotaLab in South Korea. An acquisition has helped QuotaLab expand its product remit to founders, investors and their LPs. Deel's purchase of Africa’s PaySpace got us talking about how acquisitive ...
Mar 08, 2024•32 min•Ep 808•Transcript available on Metacast This is our Wednesday show, focused on startup and venture capital news that matters. If you are a founder or an investor, this one is for you! Here’s the day’s rundown: OpenAI fires back at Musk: In the wake of a lawsuit from former backer Elon Musk, OpenAI is bringing receipts and an argument that Musk wanted to run the company’s for-profit arm. Hard to argue against something that you wanted to run, yeah? Monzo raises megaround: Monzo’s latest round is proof that the worst of the fintech slum...
Mar 06, 2024•11 min•Ep 807•Transcript available on Metacast This is our Monday show, in which we take a look back at the weekend and what’s ahead in the week. Over the weekend we had a great chat with Nubank’s CEO, which you can find here. Ok, onto the show notes! Stocks and Crypto: With some indices reaching fresh record highs, the good times are also rolling along in crypto where token prices are also on the ascent. Apple and the EU: Apple has been hit by a massive fine in the EU, which it intends to appeal. Spotify, which was the progenitor of the com...
Mar 04, 2024•11 min•Ep 806•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Mary Ann talked to David Vélez, the co-founder and CEO of Nubank, the $50 billion São Paulo, Brazil-based digital bank that offers credit cards, checking accounts and life insurance to consumers. How Nubank has managed to increase its market cap by over 40% in eight months’ time. Why some investors are sticking it out in LatAm, and why it’s a great place to still put venture dollars. Which startups in LatAm have been the most resilient and what other regions can learn from them. All r...
Mar 02, 2024•20 min•Ep 805•Transcript available on Metacast Here’s what Mary Ann and Alex got into: Stripe’s valuation recovers: As part of a tender offer, Stripe is now worth $65 billion. The company’s valuation has been on an up-and-down path in recent years as the company works to make its massive bulk fit into the private markets. Alex has thoughts on when it should go public, as you might imagine. Fervo Energy’s $200M+ round: What if the solution to our energy problems was not in the stars, but beneath our feet? And no, I am not talking about carbon...
Mar 01, 2024•33 min•Ep 804•Transcript available on Metacast This is our Wednesday show, focused on startup and venture capital news that matters. We pull the top stories from the week thus far, and give them the Equity treatment to put them into proper context. On the show today: Microsoft invests in Mistral AI: Sure, it's not the biggest check, but as regulatory oversight hovers over Microsoft's shoulder, the deal makes sense. Thrasio files for bankruptcy: What happens if you raise billions to pursue a market opportunity, but the market shifts under you...
Feb 28, 2024•10 min•Ep 803•Transcript available on Metacast This is our Monday show, which looks back at the weekend and ahead to the week. We are back bright and early this week, but we also had an extra episode this weekend digging into the Reddit IPO; you can find that here. On the pod this morning, here’s what we got into: Stocks are mixed around the world as crypto prices gyrate; it’s a big earnings week including data from Workday, Zoom, Unity, Coupang, Klaviyo, Salesforce, Snowflake, Okta, and Duolingo among other names. Google, and its work to br...
Feb 26, 2024•12 min•Ep 802•Transcript available on Metacast Hello, and welcome to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Weekend team, we have something both short and sweet for you: A dig into the Reddit IPO filing that came out just after we recorded our final, regular episode of the week. Since we could not wait until Monday to talk about the numbers, we have an overview here for your delectation. If you want to read along: Reddit IPO filing, first look, written by Mary Ann and Al...
Feb 24, 2024•9 min•Ep 801•Transcript available on Metacast This week Mary Ann, Kirsten, and Alex gathered to chat through a massive sheaf of news. A note before we get to the rundown that Reddit filed to go public after we had recorded this episode, so notes on its IPO filing are not included in this particular episode. Don’t think that we won’t discuss its S-1, it just came too late for this particular entry. More to come! Here’s the rundown: Deals of the Week: PermitFlow raised $31 million to bring software to the construction permitting market, one m...
Feb 23, 2024•32 min•Ep 800•Transcript available on Metacast This is our Wednesday show, in which we talk through the week’s leading startup and venture capital news. This is short week, but there’s still a lot to talk about: Loora’s $12 million round is a reminder that AI is going to find purchase in a host of new markets. The company wants to use AI for conversational language training. Sure, humans are good at that, but they are also expensive. Software aims to be more affordable. Dili is building an AI service to help investors handle their due dilige...
Feb 21, 2024•9 min•Ep 799•Transcript available on Metacast This is our weekly kick-off show, coming to you Tuesday morning as yesterday was a holiday here in the States. Here’s the rundown: Crypto prices are up, and we’re looking at another busy earnings week. Palo Alto Networks, Sprout Social, Nvidia and Block will report this week. Planity has put together a $48 million Series C, which is a super neat vertical SaaS deal. Software and payments make for a tasty combo, and Planity wants to bring those benefits to salons in Europe. The EU is after TikTok ...
Feb 20, 2024•12 min•Ep 798•Transcript available on Metacast On today's news round up, Alex, Mary Ann and Karyne are looking at: Deals of the Week: Rasa’s $30 million Series C had our tongues wagging. The startup is building finservice-focused conversational AI tools. Karyne wanted to talk about the latest round at the intersection of AI and crypto, while Alex wanted to riff on Hippo Harvest’s $21 million round for indoor robot farming. Venture capital’s year of transition: After OpenView called it quits, and Countdown Capital returned funds to LPs it bec...
Feb 16, 2024•32 min•Ep 797•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to our Wednesday show, in which we talk through the week’s leading startup and venture capital news. Today we have an absolute pile of material, so let’s get to work: Bret Taylor’s new startup is turning heads: Known for his work at Facebook, Salesforce and OpenAI, Taylor’s new startup Sierra is building conversational AI agents. It has raised a mountain of capital to date, which it might need given that it’s not alone in its niche. FlowFi’s counter-cultural decision: FlowFi is building ...
Feb 14, 2024•10 min•Ep 796•Transcript available on Metacast This morning we have an interesting mix of stories, which bring technology, politics and AI together in interesting ways. To work: Stocks: It’s another big week for earnings, including Hubspot, Instacart, Monday.com, and Cisco. We should learn a lot about the state of software and hardware sales as last year ended, and what some critical tech names see for the rest of the year. Crypto: Prices are up in the crypto world over the last week. Coinbase reports this week as well, which should give us ...
Feb 12, 2024•12 min•Ep 795•Transcript available on Metacast 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 giv...
Feb 09, 2024•37 min•Ep 794•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Wealth’...
Feb 07, 2024•10 min•Ep 793•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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 EV...
Feb 02, 2024•33 min•Ep 791•Transcript available on Metacast 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 product...
Feb 01, 2024•30 min•Ep 790•Transcript available on Metacast 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 quite ...
Jan 31, 2024•10 min•Ep 789•Transcript available on Metacast 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 it...
Jan 29, 2024•14 min•Ep 788•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 
