Equity
The intersection of technology, startups, and venture capital touches everything now. That’s why Equity unpacks the numbers and nuance behind the headlines for entrepreneurs and enthusiasts alike. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, TechCrunch reporters Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo keep you up-to-date on the world of business, technology, and venture capital. Equity is ranked the No.2 podcast in the Top 100 Venture Capital All time leaderboard on Goodpods—As well as No.17 for the Top 100 Finance All time chart and No.32 for the Top 100 Business News All time chart.
SaaS goes to space as some software startups are in a race to survive
This week Mary Ann Azevedo, Kirsten Korosec, and Alex Wilhelm gathered to hash out the news over some coffee and good times. Here’s what the gang got into today:Deals of the Week: Simply Homes raises $22 million for an interesting property play, SoftBank buys majority share of connected-vehicles company Cubic Telecom, and OurSky raises $9.2 million for its space-viewing software system.Troubles in Fintech: With ZestMoney shutting down, and layoffs at Navan (fka TripAction) it seems that fintech is not out …
No-code for creators and how regular folks can build an online business
Today, we’re bringing you another conversation from TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, when Alex sat down with Serhii Bohoslovskyi, the founder of no-code app-builder Trible. Trible is a no-code software product that helps folks construct online courses. We love Disrupt because it gives us lots of room to chat with founders that we might otherwise have missed. We even had a dedicated podcasting area! Expect even more of this sort of chat in the future.Here’s what we got into with Bohoslovskyi:The state …
Equity Monday: Bitcoin is on the move as Spotify cuts staff, and more money floods AI
Our Monday show covers the latest in tech news from the weekend and what’s making headlines early in the week. And we had a lot to cover this morning!Crypto prices are rising, which is good news for the decentralized economy, as increasing prices track with heightened trading activity and consumer interest.We have another busy week of SaaS companies reporting quarterly results, which will hopefully provide a useful temperature check for tech valuations.CoreWeave's new $7 billion valuation had our tongues wagging, …
Big wins for Latin America, climate tech momentum and Rover’s $2.3B sale
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
What founders can escape venture's no-man's land? (w. Anu Hariharan update)
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" …
How soon can I get a computer-brain implant?
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 …
Special Episode: Who's betting on fashion tech?
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 …
Will the OpenAI chaos boost open-source models?
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 …
Catching up on OpenAI’s wild weekend
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 …
The future of M&A and why founders are getting whiplash
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 …