Today on Equity, we have som bad news for TikTok fans in the U.S.: A bill that would force a sale of TikTok or ban it in the United States passed the Senate. And the President is expected to sign it. Given that China has made noise that it will not allow a sale of the social media company that is headquartered in Singapore, but is owned by Chinese company Bytedance, it’s not looking good for TikTok in the States. But if that has you bummed out, don’t worry, we have lots of pretty positive...

Today we dug into the latest markets news, including upcoming earnings, IPOs, and what impact — if any — the recent bitcoin halving had on its value. But the money news did not stop there. We also had two new venture capital funds to discuss, including a new vehicle from Seraphim focused on space, and TLcom Capital’s new Africa-focused fund. From there, it was time to chat EVs and what impact recent price cuts are having on the value of EV companies. To close out, we dug into the emerging...

This week, Mary Ann talked to Hans Tung, managing partner of Notable Capital (formerly GGV Capital), which is focused on investing in the US as well as in Europe, Israel and Latin America. Hans, whose portfolio includes the likes of Airbnb, StockX and Slack, discussed why he still believes in down rounds, the importance of long-term thinking and the current state of startup investment. We also dug into why Hans is so bullish on fintech and the sectors within fintech that especially have him...

It’s been more than a minute since Tesla went public, but the EV company was inescapable on TechCrunch this week. From layoffs to pricing changes and more, it was a week dyed deeply in Tesla colors, so we had to chat through the latest. But that was just one element of what we got into on Equity this week. We also dug into Mary Ann’s reporting about Ramp’s latest round — and up valuation — that fit neatly next to Rippling’s own impending fundraise. If you are handling money, it’s a good time...

Today’s Equity episode is focused on all things startups, which means we got to chat through NASA's $11 billion opportunity for space startups, Two Chairs’ recent and massive Series C, Quilt’s heat pump work and fundraise, and several IPO updates. Here’s hoping that after Ibotta and Rubrik get out the door, more IPOs follow. Also on the show today was a grip of venture capital news. Bay Bridge Ventures is raising a $200 million climate fund — it has lots of good company there, given rising...

Equity is back with two critical headlines this morning. First, OpenAI is going to Japan with plans for an office in Tokyo and a new GPT-4 model for the Japanese language. Given that the US, the EU, and China are all racing for leadership in AI, OpenAI’s expansion into the Japanese market could expand the list of leading blocs and nations. The second critical piece of news this morning comes from Tesla, which is cutting more than 10% of its total global staffing. The company told employees...

Today, the Equity crew dug into Automattic buying Beeper for $125 million. Recall that the WordPress parent company bought Texts.com last year for $50 million. Elsewhere in deal-land, Proton bought Standard Notes, and we recently discussed the Wonderschool-Early Day purchase. More, please! In the Deals of the Week column, Mary Ann chose Payjoy’s massive new run rate, while Alex wanted to riff on the Proxima Fusion round that could help bring the next energy revolution a little bit closer to...

Today on Equity’s startup-focused Wednesday show, we dug into the Multiverse's acquisition of Searchlight, a deal that reminded us of the Wonderschool-Early Day transaction that we covered on the show a few weeks back. We also dug into the latest Guesty round, which was both large and interesting from a financial perspective, the Monad Labs transaction that led us to try and explain the difference between L1 and L2 blockchains, and Cyera’s recent megaround. Stick with us through the end to...

Now that we are finally past Y Combinator’s demo day — though our Friday show is worth listening if you haven’t had a chance yet — we can dive into the latest news. So, this morning on Equity Monday we got into the chance that the United States might pass a real data privacy law. There’s movement to report, but we’re still very, very far from anything becoming law. Elsewhere, the U.S. and TSMC have a new deal, there’s gaming news to consider (and a venture tie-in), and Spotify’s latest AI...

Today on Equity, Alex is joined by TechCrunch's Dominic-Madori Davis and Kyle Wiggers to discuss their ongoing Women in AI interview series. The pair set out to interview the women working in AI to learn more about their work, how they got into the world of artificial intelligence, and more. Thus far they have interviewed folks like Irene Solaiman, head of global policy at Hugging Face, Sarah Kreps, professor of government at Cornell, and Heidy Khlaaf, safety engineering director at Trail...

What a week, everyone. Two full days of Y Combinator demo day activity kept us busy, but the latest accelerator cohort’s launch was far from the only big story in startup-land. Today on the Equity’s Friday news roundup, Mary Ann, Becca, and Alex gathered to dig into favorites from the hundreds of new YC companies that pitched, and a new venture capital fund that wants to become “the investment and innovation arm of the autism community.” Becca wanted to talk about Seso and its fascinating...

On the podcast this morning we have BlaBlaCar's new credit facility and how it managed to land it, how PipeDreams could be onto a new model of startup construction, GoStudent's rebound and profitability, Hailo's chip business and massive new funding round, and the two new brands that GGV calls home as it divides up its operations on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

Equity has what you need to know to kick off Q2! Alex is talking through the latest in stocks and crypto, Discord's new ad push and AT&T's passcode resets. We'll also take a look at a big shift impacting fans of Google Podcasts, a startup round concerning trucking and more.

As the week comes to a close, we're also shutting the book on the trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the erstwhile crypto baron who is heading to prison for 25 years. But while the SBF news was a big deal, there was so very much more to cover on today's news roundup episode of Equity. With Kirsten Korosec, Mary Ann Azevedo, and Alex Wilhelm aboard this week, the crew dug into Robinhood's new credit card and what it can tell us about the strategy of major tech companies, Fisker's...

This is our interview show, where we sit down with guests, think about their work, and unpack the rest. This week, Wonderschool, a startup that works with individuals and local governments to spin up more childcare businesses by providing software and other support, has acquired EarlyDay. EarlyDay, another venture-backed startup, operates a early childhood educator marketplace. Alex caught up with EarlyDay’s two former CEOs, Emma Harris and Melissa Tran, and their new boss, Chris Bennett at...

Today on Equity, Alex is catching you up on stocks around the world, crypto prices, and the weekend's biggest news. We're talking about the exit of Stability AI's CEO, the EU's Digital Markets Act, Spotify's edtech push, why Liquid Death is crushing it, and more.

The Equity crew is closing out the week with a look at Onyx's pivot to B2B, a climate incubator set up by the former co-founder of Casper, Wonder's $700 million raise and how Ethos Fund is fostering cross-border investing. We were also curious about Saudi Arabia's AI investment push and how some VCs are holding back an IPO rush.

On today's episode, Astera Labs is going public after pricing above-range, and Microsoft scoops up Inflection AI talent. We'll also dig into mega rounds from TigerEye and Pocket FM, as well as why one pension fund’s move to lower its venture allocation isn’t as worrying as it might sound.

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 for people to play with. Most importantly, startup founders seem excited. Reddit’s IPO makes progress: Oversubscription is always a good signal, but is also no promise of IPO riches to come. Gumroad says ‘no thanks’ to NSFW content:...

It's Equity Friday! 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. We got into the progress being made on the possible TikTok ban, audio-focused AI-startups, why so many late-stage startups are seemingly avoiding the IPO.

Equity is back with your mid-week startup check-in! We have new data from Carta on how startup compensation is changing, raises from Empathy & Bear Robotics, and more from Bluesky, Brave, and Chamath Palihapitiya’s VC Firm.

Today on Equity, we're kicking off another week with a look at Reddit's new IPO filing, the potential impact of Grok being open sourced, and why Bobby Kotick wants to buy TikTok.

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 down and why investors are lining up to back startups in the space, including Roger.

Today on Equity, Alex and Mary Ann are highlighting deals of the week including Mews' massive new round and how a South Korean startup aims to take on Carta. Also this week, Deel is snapping up more companies while Remofirst takes steps to become more competitive, and VCs are exploring other avenues.