Equity

DeepSeek, DeepSeek, DeepSeek. We couldn’t escape the headlines around the Chinese AI lab this week. The startup -- which claims to have built its models more efficiently and at a fraction of the cost of competitors -- lit a fire under Silicon Valley after releasing its R1 “reasoning” model and displacing ChatGPT as the App Store’s top app. Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Margaux MacColl and Max Zeff are digging into the latest news, including the reactions from both tech giants and the U.S. government, which is increasingly concerned that China is pulling ahead in the AI arms race. Listen to the full episode to also hear about: Tesla earnings -- from promises made to robotaxi updates, and questions left unanswered. Don’t worry, Kirsten brought her bingo board if you want to play along. Nucleus Genomics’ $14 million raise for DNA sequencing and analysis.   The demand for fusion, and Helion’s $425M raise to build its own fusion reactor for Microsoft. Equity has a special Dee