Equity

Here's what the Equity crew got into today:Self-driving setbacks: Cruise is set to slash its costs in the wake of a safety mess, and greater scrutiny from regulators. Alex hopes that the current set of news items doesn’t slow down the progress of self-driving tech.Webull snaps up Flink: Free trading is not just a business model that is popular in the United States. Webull is taking the Latin American market more seriously with its purchase of Flink.Uber

Anu Hariharan, who previously led YC Continuity, has partnered with two of her former colleagues and former Brex executive Lucas Fox to launch a new fund, Avra. The fund aims to raise about $350 million and operate a program that some are referring to as a “YC for growth.” In light of the news, we’re throwing it back to a conversation we had with Anu earlier this year:Alex spoke to Anu back in August, after she tweeted about how "great" founders were successfully guiding their companies towards cash flow positivity. Since that very interesting post, both Instacart (a former Y Combinator company) and Klaviyo have filed to go public. And both have super strong cash flows.Our chat could not have come at a better time. We dug into how early- and late-stage startups should approach growth and cash conservation (in her view), the future of venture as an asset class, and how healthy the unicorn herd really is. We had a blast recording this one! Enjoy!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast webs

You might be glad to know today was not all about OpenAI. Instead, we took on a bunch of news from the weekend that had to do with other companies:It’s a big earnings week for software companies, which means we’re about to get a bushel of information on how things are shaping up for SaaS startups in the latter half of 2023.On the crypto front, price movements have slowed as the industry digests the recent Binance verdict.Neuralink has raised more capital, which is great news for nerds like myself.Gaming layoffs are still coming in hot and heavy, adding to a long list of cuts this year.In the wake of a massive shopping weekend, how did e-commerce hold up? Here’s data from the U.S., and from around the world.China-linked groups are coming for your industrial secrets, and Meta is again in regulatory hot water.And that’s that! We'll be back on Wednesday, but keep up with us in the meantime @EquityPod.For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wedn

Today on Equity, we’re bringing you two bonus conversations all about sustainability in fashion from TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. First up you’ll hear our very own Harri Weber sit down with three guests: Jim Ajioka from Colorifix, Beth Esponnette from unspun and Julie Willoughby from Circ. They are all powerhouses in sustainable fashion and they all happened to join Harri on the Sustainability Stage. Watch their full conversation here. In part two, we have a great conversation between TechCrunch’s Morgan Sung and Jemima Bunbury from BLEND, a curated fashion app that is changing the way we shop online. BLEND uses AI-powered personalized recommendations to help customers quickly and easily find products that suit their style, size and budget. Their goal is to prevent impulse purchases, and of course, make it possible to stay trendy and shop sustainably.Here's what our guests are diving into:Fixing the fashion supply chain so all the materials are created in a sustainable wayHelping consumers find products that will

We’re discussing the recent turmoil in the AI market today. OpenAI has kept the journalistic corps busy, but we also need to consider what the latest twists and turns in the l’affaire Altman may bring for startup founders.So, I rallied TechCrunch’s own Kyle Wiggers, and Supervised founder and former Equity host Matthew Lynley to help me dig into the latest. Here’s the show rundown:What has happened to OpenAI since Monday morning when we last recorded the podcast?What do the two experts think will happen to OpenAI’s staff in the coming weeks?What should startups that use OpenAI technology do to lower their platform risk?And, does the OpenAI mess provide a boost to open-source AI models?We had a really lovely time. A big thank you to our ever-busy producer Theresa Loconsolo for getting an extra episode out on a holiday week!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify an

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.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. This past weekend was all about the massive shakeup at OpenAI, and the high-impact machinations that the last few days brought. We discussed the following:The timeline that brought us to today regarding OpenAI, from the firing of Sam Altman through all the recent activity.The latest, including Emmett Shear being appointed interim CEO of Open AI, Sam Altman and others heading to Microsoft, and a seeming recantation of everything that happened by Ilya Sutskever at OpenAI.The situation remains far from settled, but you only have to stick close to TechCrunch to stay updated. The above podcast is going to age quickly, so we may have extra episodes in the coming days.For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplec

This week Mary Ann and Alex covered a host of news events. Here's the rundown:Fintech + AI = ? News that Ramp and Brex are working to lever AI in the wake of reporting that Brex's growth this year on a sequential-quarterly basis slowed had us thinking. Can AI help fintech startups grow more quickly? The fintech sector could use a boon at this juncture, perhaps this is it.Help I drink too much: Alex dug up a recent venture round in the sobriety space. This time it was Sunnyside, which just raised $11.5 million for its subscription service that helps folks cut back on their drinking. We've discussed other players in the space before, including Reframe.What's ahead for the startup M&A market? The Getir-FreshDirect deal had us thinking. Becca Szkutak thinks that it represents the sort of deal that we'll see next year. Even more, we may see more, similar deals next year.Will AI help startups regain their former value? A recent report from Battery Ventures had Alex thinking about how AI-powered automation could

This week we brought TechCrunch’s own Rebecca Bellan onto the podcast to help us better understand Google’s search-related anti-trust case that is currently ongoing in the United States.There are a number of major legal cases involving tech giants and their in-market heft and behavior, from Google v. Epic to what’s going on in the EU and the U.S. government’s adtech-related suit against Google, but our focus is search.Catch up on the state of affairs with Bellan’s reporting here.Now, the startup angle. Why is this a topic for Equity? A few reasons: If Google’s current methods of maintaining its domestic search market share are forced to change, it could create a more competitive search market, full stop. That could change up where startups advertise, and how much they pay for those ads. More competitive search results amongst emboldened rivals could also lead to search results that lean more towards organic information instead of paid insertions. That would be good for startups looking to get the word out, wi

Here’s what we got into on this very cold November morning:Crypto’s melt-up is continuing, with rising trading volumes following in the wake of the price gains. For web3 believers, it’s great news.The FT has a great interview with Sam Altman about how AI training is going to stay expensive for a long while; Microsoft is probably not worried about the costs, however.Didi’s earnings dropped, kicking off a busy week for Chinese tech companies including Alibaba, NetEase, and Tencent Music.The Block is getting its cap table into shape.And Shekel Mobility raised an interesting round that we just had to talk about.Don’t forget that next week is a holiday week here in the United States!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders and more! Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Locon

This is our Friday show, and we’re talking about the week’s biggest startup and tech news. This time ’round we had Kirsten Korosec, Mary Ann Azevedo, and Alex Wilhelm on the job to chat through a massive pile of news:For everyone who listened to our fintech deep-dive, here are Affirm’s results.Deals of the Week: $105 million for May Mobility, $3.6 million for Mogul Club, and Microsoft’s latest startup wooing trend.WeWork is bankrupt, and we are Not Shocked.All things from OpenAI’s developer day, and how its latest news is a good example of platform risk.It’s raining IPOs! Here, there, everywhere!And with that, we’re going to go rest for the weekend and come back Monday at full steam!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders and more! Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa

Today, Mary Ann and Alex  dove deep into encouraging signs from the fintech startup market:Solid results from Klarna are on top of Alex’s mind. The company’s ability to continue growing while staying profitable is a reminder that one down-round does not a company kill.Fintech fundraising results were on Mary Ann’s mind as we wait for venture capitalists to re-accelerate their investments in the space. Sure, no one wants to return to 2021-era insanity, but after so long in the valuation doghouse, perhaps fintech has reached its nadir?And we leaned on data. Here’s the American consumer debt information Alex referenced, Affirm results will drop here, and the CB Insights venture data we cited is here.More to come in our Friday news roundup! Talk to you then!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show th

Here’s what we got into on this fine morning:Stocks and crypto: Stocks are higher in Asia, lower in Europe, and nearly flat in the United States. More interestingly, crypto prices are continuing their ascent. Even NFTs are picking up a little bit!It’s another busy week on the earnings front, meaning we’ll hear from Uber and Lyft and Hubspot, among others.On the AI front, TechCrunch is tracking 01.AI in China, which is now a unicorn, and the latest offering from Elon Musk’s X.AI service. The latter will have some sort of tie to X, formerly known as Twitter.In India, a former Sequoia group is racking up impressive results.Elsewhere in technology-land, OpenSea cut staff, and China’s government is still writing big checks to chip firms. Let’s see how the latter plays out this time.Equity is back in Wednesday! We’ll see you then!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify 

We’re talking about the week’s biggest startup and tech news with Mary Ann, Becca, and Alex. Here's what we got into:What happened to WeWork? As the shared office space company struggles to stay alive, we had a lot to say.Deals of the Week: Mary Ann wanted to chat about Charlie, which is building a neobank for seniors; Alex wanted to talk about an interesting non-profit-ish model to get startups and others access to H100s; Becca brought Almouneer to the table, an interesting healthtech play in the Middle East.From there we dug into massive fintech rounds, which are seemingly back. For more, you can read up on QI Tech, Tabby, and Next Insurance.And, finally, what to do when founding teams break up? Becca has notes.As always, Equity is back for you on Monday, but you can catch up with us in the meantime on X and Threads @EquityPod. Talk soon!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Ov

This is our Wednesday show, where we sit down with a guest, talk about their work and dive deep into the rest. Mary Ann and Alex invited Marisa Warren onto the show. You may remember that we discussed her new fund — ALIAVIA Ventures’ first — on the show the other week.We wanted to talk with her to go over a few key topics that we care a lot about:The current state of venture investment in women; why the numbers aren’t changing, and what she thinks could make a difference.When startups should target their second market, and how.The two themes are not as far apart as they may initially seem. ALIAVIA invests in startups based in the US and Australia that have at least one female founder, and also helps their portfolio companies tackle new markets. It was a really interesting, and fun conversation. Enjoy!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechC

Our Monday show covers the latest in tech news from the weekend and what’s making headlines early in the week. Here’s what we got into today:It's a massive earnings week, unlocking a massive wave of new data concerning the performance of tech public tech companies. We're hoping to learn more about the market that startups are selling into in the process.The recent crypto rally is helping bolster spot trading results, good news for Coinbase ahead of its own earnings report.The Biden administration's executive order regarding AI is out, as G7 countries look to create a code of AI conduct for companies.X users that want to make a little money from their engagement will now have to avoid getting hit with community notes.And Web Summit has a new CEO.That's all for today! We have notes coming on Wednesday all about international startups and selling cross-border! Talk then!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe

Happy Saturday! We have a special bonus episode for you from our sister pod, Chain Reaction.  Alex joins Jacquelyn Melinek go over the FTX/Sam Bankman-Fried trial before getting into his testimony from Thursday and Friday. They talked about:Why the judge had the jury leave the courthouse for SBF’s testimony ThursdayThe general feeling of the courthouse on the fourth week of the trialA possible timeline for next week and what to look out for as the prosecution gets a chance to cross examines defendantKeep up to date with Jacquie's coverage at techcrunch.comFor episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews foundersand more! Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pi

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 Friday show, and we’re talking about the week’s biggest startup and tech news. Mary Ann and Alex were lucky enough to have Kirsten aboard for the roundup, which means we got to tackle an even wider array of stories than usual:Updates from the trial of former FTX CEO SBF, more here from our own Jacquie.Deals of the Week: Mary Ann was very interested in I Own My Data, while Alex wanted to talk more about AgentSync's latest venture round.Carta's CEO tried to beat back criticism, but wound up making more noise about his company's missteps.Cruise hit a roadblock with its self-driving program; we dig into how to handle a crisis and how not to handle a crisis.And to close out, notes on earnings from Alphabet and Microsoft and what they may portend for startup-related AI software demand.Equity comes out thrice-weekly for your delectation. We are back early on Monday with

Hello, and welcome back to Equity, the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.This is our Wednesday show, where we sit down with a guest, talk about their work and dive deep into the rest. This week, we had Theory Ventures founder Tomasz Tunguz on the show. As long-time readers of his work, having the former Redpoint investor on the show was a no-brainer.While it would have been fun to spend our time chatting about the ups and down of writing or the Internet, we instead explored a wide range of topics: Why Tunguz left Redpoint and started his own fund;Why seed deals do not get smaller over time;The thesis that underpins Theory Ventures’ investments and the future of machine learning;Why Tunguz is bullish on Ethereum;The value of software, the health of software companies, and why venture math still holds up at lower valuation multiples.And more! It was a great chat; Equity will be back on Friday!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Sim

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 what we got into today:Stocks are down around the world, while the value of crypto tokens is heading higher. Crypto trading volume is also trending north.It’s a huge week for earnings with names like Microsoft, Alphabet, Spotify, Snap, Meta, IBM, Amazon and Mobileye reporting, among others.Apple is spending big on generative AI, and TechCrunch has notes on just where the company intends to bring the tech.ZenML is proof that startups are not dropping the ball when it comes to generative AI more generally.Foxconn is under investigation, which is notable for its timing.And venture capital raised by Black American founders has fallen sharply in recent quarters.And that’s that! We have a cracking episode coming on Wednesday, so stay tuned!For episode transcripts

This is our Friday show, and we’re talking about the week’s biggest startup and tech news. Mary Ann and Alex ran as a pair this week, and here's what they got into:Deals of the Week: Allara raised $10 million for women's hormonal health, Agnikul raised $26.7 million for its orbital launch technologies.Beef in the (leased) boardroom: WeWork is irked by Codi, which is hammering the well-known shared-office giant in an advertising campaign. Meanwhile, Anyplace raised more capital to fund its digital-nomad friendly home rental business.Plaid wants to get Paid: News that Plaid hired a CFO kicked off a predictable cycle of speculation that it will go public. Yes, but when is the question, and our view is not for a while.Finally, ChatGPT is online, and VCs are pretty darn bullish about the current AI wave.In case you missed it, we had a great chat with a Crunchbase analyst earlier this week about all things Q3 VC! As always, Equity is back on Monday, but you can keep up with us in the meantime on X and Threads.For e