Equity

What did we get into? Well, a host of pretty awesome stuff, even if we had to leave Cute Farming Robots in the tank for another few days:We had funding rounds from Anyplace, which is building a way to make the digital nomad life work in a WFH world, notes on Frost Giant's Series A, which Alex really needs to finish writing up, and Parthean, which Natasha covered and did a great job explaining. Here's to better financial literacy in general. We need it.Then we chatted through what Mark Cuban is doing with his generic drug play, which we think is at once great (cheaper meds for the folks who need them!) and somewhat sad (how did we get here as a society?). Which of course led us into a conversation about public and private money, and the role that billionaires play in reshaping society.Next up was a YC credit union DAO that is collecting money from graduates of the accelerator to invest in cyrpto startups. So its a founder rolling fund, right? Kinda.MENTOR COLLECTIVEAnd that's a wrap on another busy week. Good

This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha and Alex brought on Bessemer partner Mary D'Onofrio to chat about the public market slump, but more importantly, its trickle down impact on private companies. Our big question was a broad and important one, built off of our most recent three views column for TechCrunch+.How is this change in market conditions going to affect startups? As a trio, we chatted about the obvious and non-obvious impact on startups as companies like Peloton, Netflix and indexes like the BVP Nasdaq Cloud Index, flash warning signs. We asked questions like what is ahead for startups that raised at premium valuations during the market peak and how the exit market may shape up in the coming quarters. D'Onofrio gave two particularly hot takes on the future of due diligence and the nearly-shuttered IPO window, so make sure to tune in.We don't do too many guests on the show these days due in part to our all-virt

If you own stuff, I am sorry to report that you are probably poorer today than you were on Friday, and even less wealthy than you were the Friday before. Things are selling off and we had to talk about it:Stocks are down, and cryptos are getting utterly hammered. It's a bad time to own equities, but worse if you are invested in digital assets. Bitcoin, ether, and Solana are taking body-blows while the stock market wilts. I guess this means that all our 401k contributions will be cheaper in February? Small wins, but still.Swiggy raised a huge round at a simply enormous price, which is good for the company but has us asking questions. OfficeSpace raised $150 million, which caught our eye, and the recent Spectrum Labs appears to make good sense.And to close out we asked is the party over? This MG Siegler piece was in our brain as we chewed over the situation. The dissonance between the public and private markets feels peak, and we aren't sure how quickly their diverging velocities can keep up the tension.Regardl

Despite the fact that it is a holiday week here in the United States, tech news was, well, as nuts as it usually is. At this point anything else would be a shock.So what did we get to? All of this and more:Rebundle's incredibly neat startup idea, and funding round. We love a Midwest startup here on the show thanks to Alex's roots, which means that when we got to talk about banana fiber, hair extensions, venture capital, and St. Louis all at once, we were hype.Wheel reinvented itself again with a $150 million Series C, while Gale Health played matchmaker with understaffed shifts and nurses. Plaid's buy of Cognito, a fintech startup, for around $250 million. The deal had us thinking about the power of APIs, the future of fintech, and why we don't hear about more startup M&A.Part of the why to that question could be anti-trust pressures, the sort of which that Microsoft is going to hit with its purchase attempt of Activision Blizzard, a gaming company. Microsoft already owns several gaming studios (Mojang, B

This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha and Alex dared to refresh perhaps the most common conversation in startups these days: the ubiquity, and resulting irrelevance, of unicorns. Our big question wasn't a simple one:Do we care that the meaning of unicorns has been hollowed out?The conversation ran the gamut, starting with information on unicorn creation rates, startup hit success and of course, funding booms leading to aforementioned ripple effects. The majority of our time was spent asking more meta questions about the moniker, like how the quality bar has changed for $1 billion dollar companies and why late-stage thinks it needs to act like early stage?On TC+, we've recently written about the changing characteristics of unicorns, and how public markets may bring a not-so-private reckoning to tech's stars. (For more on the software valuation thing, head here.) Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with edit

This is our Monday (Tuesday) show, our short ramp into the week where we talk about the larger picture to get our feet wet. We're a day late due to an American holiday, and I can say later in the day with this thanks to my schedule. But, better late than never, here's what we got into:Yet another bad day for assets: Stocks around the world were broadly lower, with software shares taking yet another hit in the key US market.Microsoft wants to buy Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion dollars. It's a lot of money for a gaming studio that was so recently covered in, well, scandal? And really, does Microsoft need to get any bigger? Come on. It has already consumed several gaming companies, and is worth north of $2 trillion. At what point will regulators, you know, regulate?Clockwise raises $45 million! This is a very neat round from a very cool company, which Aisha Malik covered for TechCrunch earlier today. Her post is here if you need more.We're back to our normal schedule starting tomorrow, now that the n

Happily this week, we did not talk about NFTs, and I don’t think that we even said “token” a single time.Instead, Mary Ann and Natasha and Alex got back to what we might consider the roots of Equity. Here’s what we got into: We started with a look at the recent Fertilis round. Fertilis is an Australian startup working to make the IVF process more reliable. We are big fans of the concept, though the startup has lots of work ahead of it before it moves the needle for couples hoping to conceive.  Mary Ann brought together two very Equity topics: Fintech and SaaS, but more interestingly, fintech that only wants to serve SaaS startups. Even though we tried to define Arc’s relationship with the startups it serves, Alex landed on it being a friends with benefits for the financial world. Speaking of fintech, Brex made headlines (again) with its new raise and new executive – thanks to Meta.We keep returning to the hiring conversation, and that’s for good reason. Career Karma (news here) and SeekOut (news here) have tw

This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic and dive deep. This week Natasha and Mary Ann and Alex came together to talk about the changing nature of due diligence in the startup market.The chat was loosely centered around a piece that the three of us wrote as 2021 was coming to a close, but the conversation quickly broadened to include a host of factors that are impacting how startups fundraise, and build today.Mary Ann talked about the power of FOMO, and how that particular social factor is impacting how startups raise. Natasha brought up the importance of back-channeling, and how founders talk to one another. And Alex tried to tease out the difference in how funds of various sizes will approach doing their own diligence, or letting others take on the work.It was all very good fun! You can read the original backing piece on TC+ here, and we're back Friday! Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the

This is our Monday show, our short ramp into the week. Yes, it's Monday again. No, you can't stay in bed. Things are already happening!Take-Two is buying Zynga: In a cash and stock deal worth around $12.7 billion (enterprise value), the transaction has delighted Zynga shareholders and bummed out Take-Two's own.Paytm is taking shots, as other 2021 IPOs slim down.The macro environment that startups exist in is about to change for the first time, from a monetary perspective.Pine Labs is looking to go public in the United States, China venture capital data is looking pretty strong, Assent Compliance raised a huge round, and Arive is apparently a thing.All that and we are just getting ready for earnings season, so stay hype as there is a lot of data coming in short order.Welcome to the week! The Equity team is entirely back from vacation now, and we are ready to freaking rock this year. Let's kick some ass! Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd

We're getting back up to full speed this week, so Mary Ann and Alex along with Grace behind the scenes took on our Friday show. Next week Natasha and Chris are back, and we'll do our regular three-show lineup. Today, however, despite a smaller team we had just as much as always go chew through:OpenSea's epic new fundraise: Alex did a little Fun Math on the company's trading volume and possible revenue totals. The gist is that OpenSea is a big business. But with NFTs as volatile as they are, charting regular growth will prove difficult.During our crypto chat, we also dug into the Web 2.0 vs. web3 debate that has been raging.From there we pivoted to fintech, with notes on Petal's funding round, Ribbit's new fund, and how Mexican fintech Bankaya is going after its target customers via offline methods.Then it was notes on the private and public markets' dissonance, and a few moments to complain about COVID.We are back Monday morning! Chat you then! Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by

It's the new year! Yes, welcome to 2022 from the Equity team. We hope that our holiday episodes kept you entertained, and warm. But it's now back to work, so let's get into the news:Global stocks are generally higher today, while cryptos are mostly flat. In the last week, major cryptocurrencies have lost value.Twitter banned Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene for "repeated violations of [its] COVID-19 misinformation policy."India is investigating Apple's payment system for iOS.Tesla Q4 deliveries came in above expectations, leading to the company's stock surging in pre-market trading. NIO also saw a bump, which means that EV startups are also having a good day.The Sensetime IPO happened while Equity was on break. Despite raising far less than it had once wanted, the company's Hong Kong IPO is now in the books, and doing well as a trading equity.And AIMMO raised $12 million in a Series A. The company provides data labeling tooling for enterprise customers building AI models.Whoo! The year is underway! The great gears

As is tradition on the show, we used the last episode of the year to make predictions about the next year. To continue an annual tradition, Grace and Chris joined Natasha and Mary Ann and Alex on the mic, a rare treat and one simply for your enjoyment. Expectedly, they had a lot to say.So what did we manifest for 2022? Here's a sampling:We're bullish on climate-focused startups: A notable theme from a number of us was the importance of climate startups, and how many types of startups are going to have a climate-flavor. In short, as the planet changes, it's going to touch just about everything. And if sustainability is not your entire pitch, it's going to be at least a strategy soon enough.We had a lot to say about crypto: Sure, we're all a bit tired of talking crypto, but there's also no chance that we could get away from the topic when considering next year. The classic tension between reinvention and regulation continues to be a dynamic we all care about, and predict will be full force over the next twelve

It's just about Christmas, which means you may be stuck with family at the moment. Regardless of what, if any, holidays you may celebrate, there's good chance that there are more people around you than normal. We're here to distract you from that.To ensure that you get respite from Actual Human Interaction, the Equity team has prepared a look-back at the year. Big numbers? Check. Big themes? You know it. Big moments of 'wait, that happened this year?!' Well, we'd have it no other way.Here's what we have in store for you:High-level venture capital stats from the year, from around the world including India, Latin America, and the United States.The rise of memes and money: Remember the Gamestop/stonk saga? That was this year, amazingly. So too was the Robinhood IPO, the Coinbase direct listing, and a host of other related stories. Sure, by the end of the year we had moved on to other pieces of key news, but don't forget how wild the start of 2021 was from a trading perspective.The crypto boom: Love it or hate it

To close out the year, Natasha and Mary Ann and Alex headed to the mic with Grace and Chris behind the scenes. We got to our favorite topics, and honestly, got a chance to just laugh our way through the final innings of the year.Here's what we got to:Factor raised a Seed round for up-chain logistics work, Phylagen is working to track airborne illness, and Notus wants to help you find the right influencer to buy.We also dove into the How Big Can Y Combinator Really Get discussion that Haje kicked off. We don't all agree on this one, so talk it through with us.Then we chatted about Course Hero, edtech, and when it can -- and may not! -- make sense to raise venture capital.To close we dove into Alex's SPAC story about the metaverse, touched on the Reddit IPO, and made fun of whatever garbage this is.And that's our last news round up of the year. Stay tuned for our 2021 look back episode that comes out on Friday, December 24 and our 2022 predictions-meets-manifestations episode that comes out on Friday, December

It finally happened, ladies and gentleman and our non-binary friends. The Holiday News Slowdown has arrived. Late, I might add, but still here at last. But that did not stop Grace and Alex from making you your weekly kickoff show!Welcome to the final Equity Monday of the year. Here's what we got into:The Indian PM's Twitter account was hacked, and used to promote bitcoin. Not a great look for the crypto world.The SenseTime IPO is on hold after the US government "added SenseTime Group Limited to the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List," per the company. The AI listing's delay is not a great look for Chinese tech market liquidity.Fuse added $25 million to its Series B, helping bring insurance products to Southeast Asia.Thirdweb raised $5 million to bring together no-code and Web3, which we think is pretty cool.Don't forget that Equity is back Friday for a final news roundup, and that we have two holiday eps coming during the last two weeks of the year! Talk soon! Credits: Equity is produc

Friends, we're almost there: the end of the year that felt like a decade. This week, Mary Ann, Natasha and Alex put aside their 2021 fatigue and talked through a week full of news - and candidly, tensions. As always, shout out to Grace and Chris for producing the show and making us sound a whole lot better. We got into the Lyft mafia, garbage, and why our local truckers are giving us creator economy vibes. Or more specifically:Kenya’s Pariti raised $2.85M led by Harlem Capital to develop startup ecosystems in emerging markets, proving yet again how Africa's entrepreneurial scene is one not to miss. The empowerment trend continued with TrueNorth's $50 million fundraise to help biz-savvy independent truckers, and freshly-anointed unicorn AgentSync with news, as Alex reminds us, that insurtech is very much alive. Opensea got a new CFO from Lyft, which led to IPO rumors, denial, and rumors about why there's denial about going public. Plus, as Natasha notes, if you're not leaving Lyft to join crypto, you're leavin

Despite the advanced week, news is still coming in in hot and heavy, so strap in for today's busy episode:Cryptos have failed to recover from their weekend swoon, leading to most major crypto assets suffering from a double-digit decline in their value over the last week.Sensetime's Hong Kong IPO is set to raise less money than the AI company had hoped.BitMart got hacked, showing that even this deep into the crypto era we are still seeing embarrassing security lapses that deliver material consumer pain.Alibaba is reshuffling its leadership, though we are not sure at this juncture what the changes mean. Not to get speculative, but we're keeping an eye on the new leadership.A number of investors are considering pouring capital into Polygon, TradeDepot raised $110 million, and Stacked raised $35 million for its crypto-investing system.I would normally say that it's a holiday week, so let's relax, but instead I wonder if we're going to see a final push of news this week before things do calm down for the holiday p

It's Friday, which means the whole crew was aboard for this particular episode. We had Grace and Chris behind the scenes, and Mary Ann, Natasha, and Alex on the mics. And, frankly, we needed the full team because the holidays aren't slowing any news down.First up? Square becoming Block, which we wanted to make fun of but mostly found to be reasonable given the company's disparate interests.From there we chatted about Inpathy's neat take on social networking, Massive's $11 million funding round, and why Butter could help grease the skids of many a subscription business.Then it was time to trade startups for bigger companies, as we had to riff on Bret Taylor's quasi-ascension to the top of Salesforce along with a host of other executive exits. Alex calls it cold resignation winter, but Meta clearly has put some people on the hot seat.Better.com was also in our remit this week, due to its fundraising and layoffs. We debate if you should raise if it comes at the cost of your employees, and the morality of a Zoom

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 our Wednesday episode when we niche down to a single topic, looking to expand our understanding of one particular technology trend or another. Today? We discussed if the era of founder-led companies is coming to a close, and if we have reached the peak of founder friendliness.The decision to abdicate the CEO role by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey got us onto the topic. You can read our first take on the matter here, or listen to us geek out about it on an earlier Twitter Spaces.But Natasha and Alex decided that they didn't want to walk alone, so we got Floodgate's Iris Choi back on the show, along with recently venture-backed Fractional founder Stella Han to help us dig through the issue.Choi doesn't see a rapid change in the current market dynamic that has led to increased founder influence, and therefore control. Even more, she noted that as the public markets are wi

Well, so much for a relaxed post-holiday week on Monday.News broke this morning that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is stepping down from the company entirely. The company's CTO, Parag Agrawal, will be taking over at the helm. Saleforce exec Bret Taylor will take over as board chairman.So, Amanda and Natasha and Alex jumped into onto the mics -- and, ironically, a Twitter space -- to riff on all things Jack and future of Twitter. From the show:Crypto and the CTO, what can we read from the tea leaves?Jack's dual role, and its detractors.The fact that Twitter's product work has been great lately, which we don't want to stop. When is a good time to leave a company, is it on the up and up or when things are quiet?And, finally, Jack's somewhat biting words regarding founder-led companies, which are, frankly, a bit at odds with his own behavior until now.The show is back on Wednesday, unless some other major CEO resigns. Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator