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EquityEquityElon dips from DOGE, and Silicon Valley enters the 'find out' stageElon Musk has officially announced he’s stepping down as a U.S. special government employee and the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE. The move follows Musk’s cooling relationship with the Trump administration and slumping Tesla sales tied to his political advocacy. Today on Equity, Kirsten, Max and Anthony unpack who else is departing DOGE, and why Silicon Valley’s relationship with politics is entering, as Kirsten put it, the “find out” stage. Listen to the full episode for more of the week’s tech headlines including:2025-05-3030 minEquityEquityOpenAI goes all in with Jony Ive as Google plays AI catchupOpenAI just made its biggest acquisition yet, scooping up Jony Ive and Sam Altman’s secretive device startup, io, in a $6.5 billion all-equity deal. Ive, the legendary designer behind the iPhone and other iconic Apple products, will now lead creative and design work at OpenAI through his firm LoveFrom. The goal? To take AI “beyond the screen” and build a new generation of AI-powered consumer devices. Beyond the tech, there’s a clear narrative play here. OpenAI is framing Altman as the Jobs-esque visionary and Ive as the design genius who makes it all real. Social media had a fi...2025-05-2333 minEquityEquity$1 Billion a lot of money these days?Databricks just snatched up another AI company. This week, data analytics giant announced a $1 billion acquisition of Neon, a startup building an open-source alternative to AWS Aurora Postgres. It’s the latest in a spree of high-profile buys, joining MosaicML and Tabular, as Databricks positions itself as the place to build, deploy, and scale AI-native applications.  Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff, and Anthony Ha unpack the Databricks–Neon deal, where Neon’s serverless Postgres tech fits into the larger vision, and whether $1 billion still counts as “a lot of money” thes...2025-05-1623 minEquityEquityMeta's speeding up the "Mad Men to Math Men" pipelineAt Stripe’s Sessions conference this week, Mark Zuckerberg pitched what he calls the “ultimate business machine”: a fully automated, end-to-end AI ad engine promising to replace agencies, creatives, and media buyers. You just need to connect your bank account first.  Zuckerberg claims this could be one of the most valuable AI systems ever built, generating thousands of image ads and testing them in real time, but it raises a bigger question: is this the future of advertising, or just another wave of AI slop flooding your feed? Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten K...2025-05-0931 minEquityEquityDamn, the Cluely ragebait got usWhat if cheating was just…the future of work? That’s the pitch behind Cluely, the viral AI startup that claims its stealthy browser overlay is “undetectable” and can help users bluff their way through everything from job interviews to exams. The company has raised $5.3 million and sparked a wave of backlash from startups building tools to catch cheaters. Cluely’s response? They’ll just build smart glasses or brain chips.  Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff and Anthony Ha are getting into the week’s headlines, including whether Cluely’s viral strategy is genius...2025-05-0229 minEquityEquityIs the SPAC back?Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff and Anthony Ha are unpacking the week’s news, including the possible return of the SPAC in an uncertain IPO market. It’s a curious moment for a public debut, as Kirsten points out, especially after so much chatter that 2025 would be the big comeback year for blockbuster IPOs, but some major players like Klarna and StubHub have already hit pause. And as investor Mark Goldberg put it on this week’s show, folks holding their breath for a fintech IPO wave this year “are going to be blue in th...2025-04-1829 minEquityEquityMeta's Llama drama and how Trump's tariffs could hit moonshot projectsMeta dropped three new models over the weekend: Scout, Maverick, and the still-training Behemoth, billed as the next evolution of “open-ish” AI. But instead of excitement, the response was mostly shrugs. Critics called the release underwhelming, saying it lacked the edge expected in today’s breakneck AI race. Meta’s clear attempt to claw back some attention quickly turned messy. Accusations began circulating on X and Reddit around benchmark tampering, a mystery ex-employee, and large gaps between the models’ public and private performance.Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff and Anthony...2025-04-1132 minEquityEquityOpenAI and Microsoft’s ‘frenemies relationship,’ and what you missed at SXSWThis week, OpenAI inked a five-year, $11.9 billion deal with CoreWeave, the GPU-heavy cloud provider, securing its own AI computing pipeline—and a $350 million equity stake in the company.With CoreWeave’s pending IPO and deep ties to Microsoft, OpenAI’s deal marks a significant shift in the AI cloud wars. Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff, Anthony Ha, and Rebecca Bellan are diving into whether or not the deal is a power move against Microsoft or just an inevitable step in OpenAI’s bid for more compute, key deals of the week, and what y...2025-03-1430 minEquityEquityThe California AI bill is back, and it lost its teethCalifornia’s most controversial AI safety bill of 2024 might be dead, but its author isn't backing down. State Senator Scott Weiner is back with SB 53, a new AI bill that strips away the most debated parts of last year’s failed legislation while keeping key whistleblower protections and a public cloud computing initiative called CalCompute.With the AI industry and even the federal government shifting away from AI safety regulation in favor of innovation, will the bill gain any traction? Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff and Anthony Ha are unpacking the latest...2025-03-0729 minEquityEquityEvery year, it seems like there's at least one big YC controversyToday, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff and Anthony Ha are breaking down the week’s biggest stories, including the Optifye.ai controversy, the wider concerns about AI in labor, and why this demo could be a glimpse of what's coming next.Listen to the full episode to hear about: Amazon’s Alexa unveiling this week in NYC, and why an AI-enabeled Alexa+ could make the competition sweat Why the departure of Lucid Motors' CEO Peter Rawlinson is raising concerns about the company's future Bridgetown Research’s $19 million raise to automa...2025-02-2828 minEquityEquityAI Wearables 1.0: Was Humane’s AI Pin too ambitious?Humane’s AI Pin, which promised to replace your smartphone with a sleek wearable device, is officially dead. After a rocky launch, negative reviews, and returns outpacing sales, the startup is shutting down and selling its assets to HP for $116 million – less than half of what it raised. But what’s next for Humane’s tech?On today's episode of Equity, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff and Anthony Ha are breaking down the week’s tech and startup headlines, including what HP might do with Humane’s resources and talent and how, as Max put it, the AI Pin was c...2025-02-2129 minEquityEquityElon Musk and Sam Altman are basically in a rap battleTensions are running high in the AI world this week after Elon Musk made a staggering $97.4 billion bid to buy OpenAI, a move that would mark one of the largest tech acquisitions in history – if it actually happens. Sam Altman shut the notion down fast, even going so far as to fire back with a post suggesting he’d buy X for a tenth of the price. But Musk’s bid itself does raise questions about potential roadblocks ahead for OpenAI.Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff and Anthony Ha are breaking down the...2025-02-1430 minEquityEquityAre companies falling out of love with OpenAI?Humanoid robotics company Figure raised eyebrows this week when it announced it would be stepping away from a partnership with OpenAI in favor of building its own in-house AI models. Figure CEO Brett Adcock alluded to a “major breakthrough” in their own process and plans to unveil “something no one has ever seen on a humanoid” in the coming month. Figure isn’t the only company experimenting with non-OpenAI solutions either. Just last week, researchers from Stanford and the University of Washington demonstrated that it’s possible to train a highly capable “reasoning” model for under $50 in cloud compute cre...2025-02-0729 minEquityEquityDeepSeek lights a fire under Silicon ValleyDeepSeek, 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 p...2025-01-3129 minEquityEquityHow are founders positioning themselves for the next 4 years?Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Margaux MacColl and Anthony Ha are digging into the latest tech and startup news from inauguration week in the U.S., including the new administration’s approach to startups and the potential transparency challenges that come with it. Listen to the full episode to hear about: TikTok’s rapid return and which apps are waiting in the wings – just in case. What is Stargate, and why are OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and others committing $100 billion to the project? Why some shareholders are walking away from Divvy Homes’ acquisition with nothin...2025-01-2433 minEquityEquity$200M woolly mammoths and a farewell to TikTokThe clock is set to run out on TikTok over the weekend, following the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the ban. So, what’s next for the video-sharing app’s 170 million U.S. users?On today’s episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Margaux MacColl and Anthony Ha dive into the week’s biggest stories, including where all the ‘TikTok refugees’ are heading. Many are flocking to Chinese apps like RedNote and Lemon8, with some even turning to Duolingo to brush up on their Mandarin as they search for new digital homes.Listen to the...2025-01-1732 minEquityEquity$5B livestream shopping apps, Nvidia reveals, and the weirdest tech at CESAs CES 2025 comes to a close, TechCrunch’s Equity podcast hosts Kirsten Korosec, Margaux MacColl, Anthony Ha, and Max Zeff are back on the mic to discuss the week's top news, the tech that caught their eye, and the companies still figuring out AI.Listen to the full episode to hear: What's driving Meta's push for “more speech, fewer mistakes” as it ends its third-party fact-checking program. Livestream shopping app Whatnot's $265M raise, and which companies could be capitalizing on livestream shopping next. Who is Peterson Conway, and why is he defense tech’s wildest power broker...2025-01-1035 minEquityEquityThe future of AI on wheels, according to Jesse Levinson from ZooxToday on Equity, we're taking you on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt for Kirsten Korosec's conversation with Zoox co-founder and CEO Jesse Levinson. The pair discuss building custom robotaxis, how Zoox's approach compares to that of Tesla, and the 'current and future landscape' of AI on wheels. It's also worth noting that Amazon-owned Zoox recently scooped up some of Tesla’s top talent, bringing on Zheng Gao late last month to lead hardware engineering.Equity will be back on Friday with a full CES recap, so don't miss it!Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Sp...2025-01-0825 minEquityEquity2024: Founder Mode, AI, and the 'Rise of the Broligarchs'From AI advancements and CrowdStrike's crash to WordPress drama and which startups VCs have their eyes on next, TechCrunch’s Equity podcast is saying goodbye to 2024 with a look back at the year's biggest stories in tech.Listen to the full episode to hear hosts Kirsten Korosec, Margaux MacColl, Devin Coldewey and Anthony Ha dig into: 2024 in a headline. We asked, and you answered! Where did all the venture funding go? In a year of massive turnover, Margaux reminded us of which VCs are playing musical chairs, the rise in mega funds and decline in early-stage in...2024-12-2729 minEquityEquityAre AI companies just defense tech now?This week, the Equity pod gang — which included newcomer Max Zeff, Margaux MacColl, and Kirsten Korosec — noticed an emerging trend: the worlds of AI and defense tech are colliding. Listen to the full episode to hear about: A new fund is in town. And surprise, surprise, Humba Ventures' $40 million fund is focused on deep tech and defense.  How enterprise AI startup Cohere is unlike all the other AI startups out there, and why they've been so quiet. Particularly in this new deal with Palantir. Dig into the great philosophical question of 2024: is it dumb to IPO in an...2024-12-2031 minEquityEquityIt's the end of the road for Cruise, and Bluesky is still taking offToday, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha and Margaux MacColl are unpacking the week’s news, including GM’s decision to give up on self-driving startup Cruise. The choice initially came as a shock considering the $10 billion GM pumped into the company over the years, but it became clearer when examining Cruise’s tumultuous 2023 and 2024. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Freysa.ai’s public challenge and what’s motivating users to make the AI chat bot fall in love with them. Why VCs are lining up to back Lumen Orbit’s moons...2024-12-1336 minEquityEquityThe AI industry's 'next big bet,' and should we just buy Chrome?Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey and Margaux MacColl dig into the week’s tech and startup news, including what a new scaling method could mean for AI startups if it works and for chip providers if it fails.Listen to the full episode to hear about: The DOJ’s latest proposal for Google: it should divest its Chrome browser. While we wait for a break in the monopoly case and a better search alternative to arise, the Equity crew thinks that Wiz might’ve been on to something when they said no...2024-11-2230 minEquityEquityBen Horowitz’s cozy relationship with the LVMPD - and why it mattersOver the last few years, VC Ben Horowitz has donated at least $7.6 million to fund police department purchases - including the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s new drones from a16z-backed Skydio. Skydio is not the first of a16z’s portfolio companies to benefit from these donations, either.Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey and Margaux MacColl dug into the implications of Horowitz’s approach and why others in the VC world should maybe hold off on praising the controversial move.Listen to the full episode to hear about:2024-11-1526 minEquityEquityTrump's election throws tech regulation a curveballA tech regulation shakeup is on the way with President-elect Donald Trump set to take office in January. Trump has made it clear that he plans to dismantle Biden’s AI policies on "day one," aligning himself with those who’ve pushed back against regulation. Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey and Margaux MacColl  dove into what Trump’s win could mean for AI policy and innovation moving forward.While AI is always on the mind these days, there was so much more startup and venture news for the Equity crew to get into...2024-11-0830 minEquityEquityEquity Live: Bret Taylor’s $4.5 billion startup and Waymo’s $5.6 billion roundThe Equity crew was live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024! Hosts Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey and Margaux MacColl took over the Builders Stage to kick off day 2 of Disrupt with no shortage of conference highlights, startups deals and venture news to chew through.Listen to the full episode to hear about: Devin’s plans to go to space thanks to his chat with Rocket Lab Founder Peter Beck. What Sierra, the AI startup co-founded by Bret Taylor, plans to do with its fresh $175 million funds. Waymo’s who’s who of Silicon Valley round, and why Kirsten’s routing...2024-10-3029 minEquityEquityStripe's biggest acquisition yet, and what's a16z doing with all of those Nvidia GPUs?It’s no secret that Stripe has doubled down on its crypto offerings, enabling crypto purchases in the EU back in July and announcing a Pay with Crypto feature earlier this month. This week, the fintech giant made its dedication to crypto even clearer with its largest deal to date: its acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge for an eye-popping $1.1 billion. Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha and Devin Coldewey kicked off the show with their thoughts on the deal – mainly how surprising it is to see anyone spending over $1 billion on crypto in 2024.But...2024-10-2531 minEquityEquityYC takes a bite out of PearAI, and French startups have a new homeKirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey, and Margaux MacColl are unpacking another busy week in the tech world, kicking things off with Governor Newsom’s veto of SB 1047, the controversial AI bill aimed at stopping real-world disasters caused by AI systems before they happen. This may not be the last we'll see of the bill, however, as its author has plans to return with a revamped SB 1047 next year.What else went down this week, you ask? Kirsten had us looking to the skies with Joby Aviation’s $500 million investment from Toyota. While Toyota seems to believe that the elec...2024-10-0431 minEquityEquityGreen flags for defense tech and Silicon Valley's longevity obsessionEquity is closing out the week as always with a round up of the week's top startup and venture news. Kirsten, Devin and return guest host Margaux McColl had no shortage of themes to cover: VC karaoke, the SpaceX economy, no moats for AI, OpenAI versus open source.To kick things off, we weighed in on Caroline Ellison's sentencing and deals of the week from Reflect Orbital and Pyka. Of course, we had to dive deep into Y Combinator's Summer 2024 Demo Day cohort from there - including a highlight of a few non-AI and AI startups that...2024-09-2729 minEquityEquity'Super weird' is the best way to describe this startup's pivotThis week on Equity, the podcast crew discusses several weird things and at least one cool thing.Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey, and Rebecca Bellan first talked about the least weird thing of the week, how nice it is that Cohere co-founder Nick Frosst has a band that people really like.Then we get weird. First the good weird: a helmet that squeezes your head, but for a really good reason. It prevents hair loss from chemotherapy. Devin covered Luminate’s latest fundraise and news, and everyone was pleased that money was going to a startup th...2024-09-2025 minEquityEquityJP Morgan's head of startup banking says 'Founder Mode' won't get you a unicornToday on Equity, Kirsten Korosec is joined by J.P. Morgan’s Head of Startup Banking, Ashraf Hebela. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Hebela spent 13 years at Silicon Valley Bank, a bulk of those years dedicated to serving as SVB's head of banking. With over a decade in the startup world, he’s got some serious insights to share.Following the recent release of J.P. Morgan’s Startup Insights report, Kirsten wanted to dive into what it really takes to build a unicorn in 2024, and what parts of the startup ecosystem are seeing success beyond AI and...2024-09-1832 minEquityEquityAI's tween years, who's taking over climate tech, and the latest for Fearless FundWhat could be more frightening than Friday the 13th? How about a realization that AI is in its awkward tween stage? At least, it was for the TC Equity pod crew, which this week included hosts Devin Coldewey and Kirsten Korosec along with TC reporters Tim de Chant and Dominic Madori Davis.AI is often a topic over here at Equity Pod; and this week was no different. It seems to be everywhere — and nowhere — all at once. Take Apple, for instance. As Coldewey noted on the show Apple has punted on AI. The tech giant is tout...2024-09-1334 minEquityEquityAI for landlords, Grok-2 unleashed, and the latest attempt at AI regulationThis week on Equity Kirsten Korosec and Mary Ann Azevedo were joined by one of TechCrunch’s resident AI experts, Devin Coldewey. They broke down their deals of the week: WeRide, a Chinese autonomous vehicle startup, seeking an initial public offering in the United States at a $5 billion valuation, EliseAI, the company offering AI solutions to landlords, raised $75 million and became a unicorn, and Grok-2 is now available on X but it will cost you.Then the team got into a couple recent startup shutdowns: Tally and Score. Tally was a nine-year-old fintech that helped consumers manage an...2024-08-1632 minEquityEquityMaybe it's a good thing that we're not seeing too many AI unicornsIn this Friday’s episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Mary Ann Azevedo and Becca Szkutak kick off the show dissecting a bill which aims to regulate AI at the model level. Naturally, some VCs and founders as well as students and professors are in an uproar about it. But we have to ask, is regulation in the name of safety such a bad thing? Short answer: It depends.Then the trio got into the deals of the week, including OpenAI’s potential new investment in webcam maker Opal. We also discussed some major changes at the...2024-08-0931 minEquityEquityAI Friends, deepfake foes, and which Tiger Global partner is leaving nowOn today's Friday news roundup, we just had to talk about AI hardware taking on a new shape with Friend’s $99 necklace. The pendant gives you an AI friend to talk to and…that’s about it. Friend’s pitch is that its wearable can help combat loneliness, but other AI hardware products that have come to market lately – like Humane’s Ai Pin and Rabbit’s r1 – have fallen short of expectations. Even OpenAI, the leader in the space, has come out later than expected with its hyper realistic AI assistant, and only today to a small “alpha group” of users, s...2024-08-0231 minEquityEquitySilicon Valley's impact on the election and an acquisition making our HeadSpinTo kick off this week's news roundup, Kirsten walked us through Elon Musk’s recent declaration of his intent to move both SpaceX and X’s headquarters out of California to Texas. Whether or not he’ll see those plans through remains to be seen, but of course, the Equity crew had thoughts.We then got into the deals of the week. First up, we talked about Sequoia Capital’s emailing LPs in funds raised between 2009 and 2011 with an offer to buy up to $861 million worth of shares in Stripe. The move is notable for two reaso...2024-07-1932 minEquityEquityIf the music stops, what startup gets a chair? Renegade Partners' co-founders are finding outRenegade Partners co-founders Renata Quintini and Roseanne Wincek have seen it all in their careers — notably over the past four years when they launched their first fund as the COVID pandemic took hold and navigated the economic roller coaster that followed. Now, with a second $128 million fund — and a plan to write checks of up to $10 million into 20 startups — Quintini and Wincek join TechCrunch editor Kirsten Korosec on Equity to discuss those early days of their first fund, what they look for in a startup and what’s driving the shift away from megafunds.Equity is TechCr...2024-07-1729 minEquityEquityThere's always something happening to OpenAI's boardMary Ann was off this week, and Kirsten took the lead with Becca Szkutak and Rebecca Bellan in the co-host seats. This episode is packed with deals, antitrust musings, AI and more, so let's get into it!For our first deal of the week,  one of the many lawsuits Musk faces after firing 6,000 Twitter employees after his 2022 takeover was dismissed. The result may be good news for Musk, but it doesn’t eliminate Musk’s legal troubles. Musk is facing at least one other lawsuit from CEO Parag Agrawal, who along with three other former Twitter Inc. execu...2024-07-1227 minEquityEquityJon McNeill on VC 2.0 and creating startups in houseWhat’s the common thread between Tesla, building startups, General Motors, venture capital and Lyft? Jon McNeill, co-founder and partner of DVx Ventures, joins TechCrunch editor Kirsten Korosec on Equity to discuss how Elon Musk’s pay package has influenced founders, when it makes sense to go light on cash and heavy on equity, and his firm’s unique approach to investing that eschews the traditional management fee structure. McNeill describes DVx as VC 2.0. The firm comes up with business ideas and builds them into a startup within the firm before it goes out to find the...2024-07-0332 minEquityEquityAI-powered drug development, VW teams up with Rivian, and DEI is 'bad'Mary Ann, Haje and Kirsten are back on the mic for this week's episode, which was is jam-packed with deals, hot topics, and the latest dramaaaaaa in the tech world. For Deals of the Week, Haje wanted to chat about Formation Bio, an AI-focused drug development startup that just raised a whopping $372 million in Series D funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz. Next, Kirsten broke down the surprising partnership between Volkswagen Group and Rivian and how its initial $1 billion investment could grow up to $5 billion. To wrap up our deals, Mary-Ann highlighted Nubank’s acquisition of Hyperplane, an AI...2024-06-2829 minEquityEquityIlya Sutskever's new AI venture, and time to BeReal about bankruptcyThis week, co-hosts Mary-Ann Azavedo and Haje Kamps were joined by the ever-insightful Kirsten Korosec to dive into the latest and greatest happenings in the startup world. Kicking things off, our trio of hosts break down three major deals of the week. First, there's Waabi, an autonomous trucking startup that just closed a whopping $200 million Series B round. Kirsten Korosec provides an inside look into how Waabi's AI-first approach is setting it apart in the crowded autonomous vehicle space and why investors are still willing to back big bets in this field despite the market's ups and d...2024-06-2133 minEquityEquityAcquisitions are heating up, and Mercury eyes the fintech crownFinally, some good news! This week, we were pleasantly surprised to see that FTX victims would be getting some money back – even if it’s not as much as they might have hoped.That wasn’t all, though: Mary Ann Azevedo, Kirsten Korosec, and Alex Wilhelm had plenty else to talk about this week on Equity.We discussed why investors are drawn to the fact that Amae Health is building an in-person approach to mental healthcare in an increasingly digital space and also how one North Carolina startup that started out by building drones to clean...2024-05-1031 minEquityEquityInside TC’s Techstars investigation and how AI is accelerating disability techMary Ann Azevedo, Kirsten Korosec, and Alex Wilhelm had a lot to parse this week. We had notes on wallet-as-a-service’ startup Ansa's latest fundraise, and how Alex initially misunderstood its business model. Then Kirsten talked us through a simply massive deal in the self-driving space, while Alex wanted to riff on Beehiiv and its own funding round. $33 million is no small Series B in 2024!From there, we had a few minutes to discuss Anna Heim's recent reporting on disability tech and how AI is taking and industry and accelerating it. Even better, there appear to be...2024-05-0334 minEquityEquityTesla’s busy week, and is fintech having a moment?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 to be a startup.2024-04-1931 minEquityEquitySBF's sentencing, Databricks' GPT rival, and who's investing in the "underdog" foundersAs 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 latest woes, and even Databricks' new AI...2024-03-2931 minEquityEquityMatch Group’s deal with OpenAI is just business with AI glitter on topThis week Mary Ann, Kirsten, and Alex gathered to chat through a massive sheaf of news. A note before we get to the rundown that Reddit filed to go public after we had recorded this episode, so notes on its IPO filing are not included in this particular episode. Don’t think that we won’t discuss its S-1, it just came too late for this particular entry. More to come!Here’s the rundown: Deals of the Week: PermitFlow raised $31 million to bring software to the construction permitting market, one man’s plan to keep Cake ebik...2024-02-2331 minEquityEquityAdam Neumann's bid for WeWork's scrapsHere’s the rundown: Deals of the Week: Adam Neumann wants to buy WeWork from bankruptcy, Starship Technologies raised $90 million for a product that 100% of the crew love, and Ambience Healthcare’s massive $70 million round also got a warm reception for its target market. LatAm Rising: We love Latin America here at Equity, but have been a bit puzzled why its venture capital totals have fallen as far as they have. New data makes it plain that startups in the region are doing rather well. What gives? And to close out, earnings, ad spend, and the state of the...2024-02-0937 minEquityEquityThe feast and famine cycle of techThe amazing Mary Ann Azevedo was out this week, so Kirsten Korosec, Karyne Levy and Alex Wilhelm took to the mics to chat through the most important tech news of the week. And if you haven't already, head here to listen to our interview with founder and former VC Anshu Sharma about building competitive products and defining new markets.Here's what we got into on the show today: The latest Congressional hearing went about as expected: Poorly. Deals of the Week: Zum has raised $140 million for EV school transit; Ramp is still out there buying smaller...2024-02-0233 minEquityEquityCES, Circle-ing back to IPOs and why we're over the moon about OvermoonToday, Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo dig through the key stories from the week. Then, Kirsten Korosec and Haje Jan Kamps are aboard to bring us the latest from CES! Deals of the Week: Shimmer raised $2.2 million to bring one-on-one ADHD care at a lower price point; Alex chose this one because mental health care startups that try to expand access are cool. Overmoon's recent fundraising and business progress were Mary Ann's choice for the week, showing that proptech is not dead yet! Circle is going public: Yep, the company behind the USDC stablecoin is once again...2024-01-1236 minEquityEquityThe Equity crew predicts we'll see a lot less VCs in 2024It's time to brush the dust off of an Equity tradition that stretches back into the years: our predictions episode.As we try to do every year, we brought in a number of voices to ensure that we covered a good amount of ground. And, we went back and vetted our predictions from last year as well, in case you wanted to see how off we were!Who took part? Alex Wilhelm, Mary Ann Azevedo, Kirsten Korosec, and Becca Szkutak. The voices you heard the most on the podcast this year! (A big thanks to Th...2023-12-2926 minEquityEquitySaaS goes to space as some software startups are in a race to surviveThis 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 of the woods yet. That said, Alex has some notes on enthusiasm in one area of financial te...2023-12-0834 minEquityEquityOpenAI's DevDay, reinventing the REIT and good actors in cryptoThis 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...2023-11-1034 minEquityEquityAI is going to make Big Tech even bigger, and richerHello 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...2023-10-2737 minEquityEquityHow do you pronounce IaaS?Mary Ann and Alex were joined by Kirsten once again to parse the week’s news and call out the biggest stories in startups and venture: California passed a law that will require venture firms to disclose certain market data concerning whom they are investing in. Some investors and venture groups are opposed to the law. ALIAVIA Ventures has put together a new fund to invest in women building tech companies in Australia and the United States, with a focus on helping Aussie companies reach the American market. Canopy Servicing raised a $15.2 million Series A1. Alex caught up wi...2023-10-1333 minEquityEquityYC, OpenAI and the trough of disillusionmentHere's what Mary Ann, Alex and Kirsten  got into this week: The writer’s strike is over, and we have thoughts about its implications on AI. OpenAI is allowing some shareholders to sell stock, and the resulting valuation could be pretty darn high. Electric boat startup Arc has raised about $70 million? We aren’t about to drop the coin needed to buy one of those, but the idea is neat nevertheless. Alex wanted to talk about fluctuations in the venture and stock markets. Is the mini-tech recovery already fading after a dismal September? Mary Ann wanted to talk about...2023-09-2936 minEquityEquityAre you feeling Disrupted?The Equity crew is back with another live recording from the Moscone Center in San Francisco for TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. Alex, Kirsten and Becca sat down to recap a very busy (and dare we say successful) event, and walk through our favorite moments for the listeners who couldn't make it out this year.Here's what we got into: Providing early liquidity to founders and employees What advice VCs are giving their early stage founders  Why Cruise might join the call to ban human drivers in city centers And why Shaq can do whatever he wants. We r...2023-09-2222 minEquityEquityEquity Live: Self-flying helicopters, AI and the battle of the featuresWe were live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023! Yes, even though our dear friend and colleague Mary Ann had to handle a family emergency, the larger Equity family rallied to put on a rollicking early-morning show at the venue. From the Builders' stage where Alex had to introduce himself, Kirsten Korosec and Becca Szkutak rounded out our hosting crew and we had a blast.Here's the rundown: Instacart went public! Finally, at last, at long last, Instacart is a public company. It priced at $30, the top-end of its raised range, and then went on to trade higher. More...2023-09-2029 minEquityEquityWe'll probably retire before Databricks IPOsHere's what Mary Ann, Alex and Kirsten got into: More layoffs at Divvy Homes: More cuts at a company that was once richly valued and heavily venture-backed. Rising interest rates are having a ripple effect across startup-land. Databricks is big, and now richer: With $500 million in a new Series I, Databricks is now worth more money and has fresh capital to continue working on AI. Lime, just go public already: What is profitable and private and a tease? Lime. Well, that last bit is a stretch, but really you can only ring us up and tout profits and gro...2023-09-1532 minEquityEquityWho shuts down the shut down-ers?Here's what Mary Ann, Alex and Kirsten got into: Mentra wants to help neurodivergent jobseekers find ideal jobs: We love a startup that is doing good for itself and doing good for others. This deal that Mary Ann wanted to chat through seems to check both boxes. SimpleClosure raises $1.5 million: What happens if your startup dies, and you need to wind down? You might need a simple way to close things up, right? Enter SimpleClosure. Argo AI founders are building something new: What just raised more than $1 billion to take another crack at self-driving trucks? This company. All T...2023-09-0839 minEquityEquityStartups that are Ramp-ing up, and startups that are full of sh**This is our Friday show, and we’re talking about the week’s biggest startup and tech news. Here's what Mary Ann, Alex and Kirsten Korosec got into: Nvidia blew the doors off with its earnings report. We talked through some of the high-level numbers and marveled at the company's growth. TechCrunch has more on the matter here. Ramp raises $300M: In this market, a multi-billion-dollar valuation is a win for a fintech, even if Ramp's new price tag is a bit lower than it was previously. So, while Ramp likely doesn't love that it raised a down-round, it do...2023-08-2537 minEquityEquitySome good news, some Better.com newsThis week Mary Ann and Alex were joined by our regular guest host Kirsten Korosec.Here's what the gang got into: FTX's former CEO SBF is heading to jail: We struggled to find much pity for the former celebrity executive. Better.com is going public: After much controversy Better.com's SPAC merger is a go. The deal is a fundraising mechanism by our understanding, though we had a bit of a tough time coming up with a bull case for the company in the present moment. Monday.com's growth: Alex has kept tabs on the earnings cycl...2023-08-1833 minEquityEquityIt's always earnings season if you look hard enoughWe had our friend and colleague Kirsten Korosec on the podcast this week, meaning that Mary Ann and Alex got to stretch their legs a bit and talk things that move and beep and boop. Here's what we got into: Deals of the Week: AngelList bought Nova, taking the well-known venture service into the more traditional private equity realm; Waymo is focusing on self-driving cars instead of trucks, which has Mary Ann worried; and Alex wanted to talk about interest rates. On the subject of Earnings: Guess what? AI costs are here, AI revenues are coming as the a...2023-07-2835 minEquityEquityDropbox hearts AI, the creator-platform wars and why we’re bullish on fake boozeMary Ann and Alex are back, and once again this week they tapped the TechCrunch roster for expert input. This week were lucky enough to have Kirsten Korosec back on the podcast. She's TechCrunch's mobility lead, hosts a podcast of her own, and is one of our favorite humans.Here's the rundown: Deals of the Week: Mary Ann wanted to talk about Robinhood buying X1, a deal that seemed inexpensive but we lack enough numbers for full confidence; Alex wanted to riff on Dropbox's new AI fund, even if it does feel a little small; and Ki...2023-06-2333 minEquityEquityHow to failwhale the blockchainHello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Every Monday, Grace and Alex scour the news and record notes on what’s going on to kick off the week. Thankfully we did not start this episode by talking about Elon Musk and Twitter! You are welcome! Instead we started with bleak Chinese economic news, that segued into falling venture capital totals for a key startup sector in that country. It turns out that a massive regulatory crackdown will have in-market impacts! From there it was...2022-05-0208 minEquityEquityTrillion dollar TeslaHark, all ye who pay attention to the stock market, for Elon Musk's wheels-focused company broached the $1 trillion market cap threshold today.Yeah, it finally happened, so the Equity team quickly scrambled for the microphones. Chris put together the show, allowing Alex and Kirsten to dive into the matter. Kirsten, in case you aren't familiar with her, is TechCrunch's transportation editor -- her crew handles everything that moves under its own power for the team. She's tremendous.Aside from the obvious market cap point, we got into: What news drove Tesla higher today, leading...2021-10-2614 minEquityEquityWhat has four wheels and loses money?This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic and go deep. This time Natasha and Alex corralled TechCrunch transportation editor Kirsten Korosec to talk to us about the endless parade of EV SPACs, and more. Before we get into the show notes, you can follow Equity on Twitter here.https://twitter.com/kirstenkorosec/status/1394726967203667969And, because we are proud, we won a Webby! Our show! How cool is that? Thank you for love listening, hate listening, all of it. We are so thankful.Ok, here's what we talked...2021-05-1923 minEquityEquityCreator economy’s slow burnHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.Natasha and Danny and  and Grace were all here to chat through the week’s rigamarole of news. Alex took some well-deserved time off, but that meant we got to poke a little fun at him and create a Special Edition segment to start off the show.Jokes aside, this week was yet another spree of creator economy, edtech, and new fund announcements, with fresh and unexpected news hailing from Natasha's home state, New Jersey.Here's...2021-04-0932 minEquityEquityIntroducing: FoundFor this week’s deep dive, the Equity team sat down not with external investors or founders, but with two of our own. Yes, this week, for the first time Natasha and Alex got to break a little internal news instead of focusing on the world outside.Why did we have Jordan Crook and Darrell Etherington on the show? Because we're jazzed to add a second startups-focused podcast to a slowly but surely growing TC podcast network: Found. Found lands April 9, so tune in! The show will focus on talking to early-stage founders about building their company, fr...2021-04-0718 minEquityEquityEquity Monday: Edtech consolidation, and Amazon continues to make you like it lessHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here.This morning we took a global look at the news, trying to take in the latest from around our little planet: American stocks are set to rise as...2021-04-0507 minEquityEquityClubhouse will create billions in value and capture none of itHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat through the week’s biggest tech happenings. It was a busy week on the IPO front, Danny was buried in getting the Tonal EC-1 out, and Natasha took some time off. But the host trio managed to prep and record a show that was honestly a kick to record, and we think, a pleasure to listen to!So, for your morning walk, here's what we have for...2021-04-0233 minEquityEquityTips for founders thinking about doing a remote acceleratorFor this week’s deep dive, the Equity team got ahold of three founders from the recent Y Combinator batch (more here, and here) to chat through their experiences with a remote accelerator. TechCrunch was curious if the program lived up to founder expectations, how extreme timezone differentials were handled, and how easy it was to build camaraderie during a digital program. Oh, and how their demo day went.Here's who is on the show: Benjamin Croc, a founder at BrioHR (TechCrunch coverage here) Trisha Bantigue, a founder at Queenly (TechCrunch coverage here) Adam Alpert, a fo...2021-03-3122 minEquityEquityEquity Monday: Deliveroo, ServiceTitan, and Robinhood for everywhereHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here.This morning was a fun mix of news, including some early-stage and late-stage startups entries, along with the latest from the public markets and the great IPO game. Here's...2021-03-2908 minEquityEquityYou can only invest if you promise not to read the fine print, ok?Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat through the week’s biggest tech happenings. News was right back up to a dull roar this week, so we did our best to trim and hone and just bring you the most important things.Here's the rundown: David Dobrik stepped down from Dispo, the photo-sharing app he co-created, this past week after allegations came out about him. We talked about the venture capital ang...2021-03-2632 minEquityEquityEquity Crowdfunding is making the private markets publicHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.For this week’s deep dive, the Equity team brought on Gumroad CEO Sahil Lavingia and Hustle Fund General Partner Elizabeth Yin to talk about equity crowdfunding. It’s been about a week since the SEC increased the equity crowdfunding cap from $1.07 million to $5 million, creating the perfect opportunity to go beyond the dollar amount and understand how the change impacts founders, venture capitalists, retail investors, and future fund managers.Here’s a brief rundown of the show...2021-03-2433 minEquityEquityEquity Monday: Deliveroo sets IPO price range as we gear up for Y Combinator weekHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here.If you are paying attention to Y Combinator's demo day this week, our primer is here. And our Friday news roundup is here. With that, let's get into the ne...2021-03-2208 minEquityEquityForget medicine, in the future you might get prescribed appsHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat through the week’s biggest tech happenings. This time around we had whatever passes for a quiet week as far as news volume. But that still meant we had to cut stuff and move the rest around. But, once we got done editing the notes doc down, here's what was leftover: Snap acquires Fit Analytics, a fitting technology startup: A far-past TechCrunch Disrupt alone has found a new...2021-03-1929 minEquityEquityPregame Y Combinator with EquityThis is our Wednesday show, where we niche down and focus on a single topic, or theme. This is our sweet spot: going beyond definitions and into the dirty and deep impact of how a phenomenon could impact startups and tech. We are hoping to explore more than answer, and debate more than agree. This week we're riffing on the impending Y Combinator demo day class, all hailing from the Winter 2021 cohort. As we stated on the show, we're not saying that these are the only startups worth looking at. They're simply the startups from the batch that TechCrunch has...2021-03-1724 minEquityEquityEquity Monday: Stripe's epic new valuation, Deliveroo's IPO, and WeWork numbersHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here — and make sure to check out Friday's news-roundup with Danny and Natasha that included some neat notes on search startups. And their chances against Google.So, what did we chat...2021-03-1509 minEquityEquityCan you beat Google with Google's brains?Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat through the week’s biggest tech happenings. Like every week, we had to leave a lot of great stuff on the cutting-room floor. But, we did get to touch on a bunch of news that we feel really matters.Also we do wind up talking about a few Extra Crunch pieces, which is where our deeper analysis on news items lives. If the paywall is a bother...2021-03-1230 minEquityEquityNFTs are changing cultural value creationHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down and focus on a single topic, or theme. This is our sweet spot: going beyond definitions and into the dirty and deep impact of how a phenomenon could impact startups and tech. We are hoping to explore more than answer, and debate more than agree.NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, is this week's topic! This is something that you have nearly certainly heard of in the past few we...2021-03-1028 minEquityEquityEquity Monday: More money for fintech, Deliveroo's IPO, and AI startupsHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here — and make sure to check out our Friday show that featured the Square-Tidal deal, some recent IPOs, and some super-neat rounds.Much like today's show, if I am being ho...2021-03-0809 minEquityEquitySoftBank makes mountains of cash off of human lazinessHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat through the week’s biggest tech happenings. It was yet another crazy week, but did our best to get through as much of it as we could. Here's the rundown, in case you are reading along with us! Square is buying Tidal in a deal that some are skeptical of, but one about which we found quite a lot to like. How capital-as-a-service can get you your fi...2021-03-0532 minEquityEquity$100 million for mealwormsHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the number behind the headlines.This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down and focus on a single topic, or theme. This week we're talking agtech, a surprisingly cool bit of the technology startup world. But Chris and Danny and Natasha and Alex were not alone in their quest to take a look into agtech, we brought alone TechCrunch climate editor Jon Shieber for the ride.With his help we got through a number of pretty damn interesting things, including:...2021-03-0319 minEquityEquityEquity Monday: More venture money for Europe, and public companies blast offHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here — and be sure to check out our most recent Friday episode, which featured news on Finix and Coinbase and Reddit, among others.(Also don't forget that Equity is growing...2021-03-0107 minEquityEquityWhy are we still dating LinkedIn in 2021?Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat through the week’s biggest tech happenings. Before we get into this week's show, make sure to check out all the news here about how Equity is expanding, and becoming even more of a thing in 2021! We are beyond hyped about it.Coming on the back of such a wild news week, we had to cut and cut from the notes doc to get the show to...2021-02-2628 minEquityEquitySpaceX is really just SPAC and an exHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.This is our first-ever Wednesday episode. If you want to learn more about the latest edition of the podcast, head here for more. This week we talked about space, an increasingly active part of the global economy, and a place where we're seeing more and more young tech companies place their focus.We were lucky to have TechCrunch's Darrell Etherington join us for the show. He's our resident expert, so we had to have him on to...2021-02-2419 minEquityEquityEquity Monday: Everyone is going public so what's wrong with your startup?Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here — and be sure to check out our last main ep, in which Natasha coins a slogan for a16z that I both hate, and became the headline of the show!But...2021-02-2208 minEquityEquityA16z doesn't invest, it manifestsHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat through the week’s biggest tech happenings. In very good Show News™, Chris is back! He's working on the next iteration of the show, something that you will be able to see starting Very Soon. Get hype!Today though, we had a delectable dish of dynamic doings, namely news items of the following persuasion: Bitcoin broke the $50,000 barrier, something that we wanted to talk about. Esp...2021-02-1826 minEquityEquityEquity Monday: The electric car boom, tech regulation, and some sad American VC dataHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here — and be sure to check out our riff on whether SoftBank has another 20 DoorDashes waiting in the wings.This morning was a more relaxed Monday than I can recall i...2021-02-1508 minEquityEquityDoes SoftBank have 20 more DoorDashes?Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat through the week’s biggest tech happenings. This week felt oddly comforting from a tech news perspective: Facebook is copying something, early-stage startup data is flawed enough to talk about, and sweet DoorDash is buying robots for undisclosed sums.So, here's a rundown of the tech news we got into (as always, jokes aren't previewed so you'll have to listen to the actual show to get our...2021-02-1231 minEquityEquityEquity Shot: What's next for the startup software marketHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace noticed last week that we had a bevy of software-as-a-service (SaaS) stories that we wanted to chat about. So we decided to break them out into their own episode.What came out of the conversation is a mix of optimism, sarcasm, and healthy doubt regarding what's next for SaaS. SaaS matters as it is an incredibly popular business model for startups, a way to generate high-margin recurring incomes. Indeed, it's almo...2021-02-1014 minEquityEquityEquity Monday: Tesla buys bitcoin, Nexthink raises, and BumbleHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here — and be sure to check out last week's main ep that dug into Robinhood, Miami, and a host of other topics.This morning we had a pile of news to...2021-02-0807 minEquityEquityA lake house architect, a Miami VC, and homeowner walk into a wine barHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture-capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat through the week's biggest tech happenings. The good news is that we managed to fit it all into a single episode this week. The bad news is that that means the show is pretty long. Sorry about that!So, what took us so much time to get through? All of this: Robinhood raised $3.4 billion after its trading hiccups, and we also chatted over what we know a...2021-02-0530 minEquityEquityEquity Monday: Rich tech folks chat rich tech things on rich tech app funded by rich tech investorsHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here — and make sure to check out last week’s main episode and companion chat about Robinhood.This morning we ran into quite a lot of the same material, with Robinh...2021-02-0108 minEquityEquityWhy calendar invites are worth $3BHello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace hopped online for our weekly show, sans Gamestop news (which you can find here) to talk about all the other busy news happening in startup world right now.Here's a taste of what we got into:  Qualtrics IPO pricing, and the future of major acquisition pricing schemes. This company's path to the public markets has been a long-time coming, so we had plenty to say. How Atlanta's Calendly turned a s...2021-01-2929 minSmart Driving Cars PodcastSmart Driving Cars PodcastSmart Driving Cars episode 183Rivian's hands free driver assistance will be standard equipment...while Ford unveils the E-Transit.    TechCrunch Senior Transportation reporter and editor Kirsten Korosec joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus Nuro, Tesla, Uber, Lyft, Cruise and more.  Plus the coming changes for mobility under a new administration!--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/smart-driving-cars-podcast/support2020-11-131h 08Smart Driving Cars PodcastSmart Driving Cars PodcastSmart Driving Cars episode 183Rivian's hands free driver assistance will be standard equipment...while Ford unveils the E-Transit.    TechCrunch Senior Transportation reporter and editor Kirsten Korosec joins Princeton's Alain Kornhauser and co-host Fred Fishkin for that plus Nuro, Tesla, Uber, Lyft, Cruise and more.  Plus the coming changes for mobility under a new administration!2020-11-131h 07The Feed with Amber Mac & Michael BThe Feed with Amber Mac & Michael BIn the Office at HomeKirsten Korosec, senior reporter at TechCrunch, discusses the role of robots and the future of contactless delivery. Plus, Envision SQ President & CEO, Scott Shayko, reveals their pivot from battling air pollution to battling Covid-19. Also, OpenPhone co-founder, Daryna Kulya, on their role in the transition from corporate culture to working from home. In Socially Speaking, we talk about the upside and downside to the isolation that is space quarantining.Find out more information from our guests here:techcrunch.comenvisionsq.comopenphone.coYou can also find both AmberMac and Michael B on Twitter. 2020-05-2652 minLaunch PadLaunch PadCES 2020 Recap EpisodeCES is the world's gathering place for all those who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. It has served as the proving ground for innovators and breakthrough technologies for 50 years — the global stage where next-generation innovations are introduced to the marketplace. Kirsten Korosec specializes in transportation and automotive technology. In short (in her own words), if it moves people and packages from A to B, she writes about it. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.2020-01-2923 minMaking a Killing with Bethany McLeanMaking a Killing with Bethany McLeanKirsten Korosec on the Rocky Road for Self-Driving CarsAutonomous vehicles, or self-driving cars, are often painted as a utopian-like technology that will save time (no traffic), save lives (no crashes), save money (billions!), and maybe even save the Earth (no emissions). But, as TechCrunch's Kirsten Korosec notes in her recent piece, “Who Will Own the Future of Transportation?” even if autonomous vehicles are eventually deployed en masse, the road to that future promises to be long, chaotic and complex. In this fascinating episode, Bethany and Kirsten discuss the difference between describing a grand vision, and soberly understanding the real costs and deep impact incurred by the execution of s...2020-01-1339 min