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Equity Monday: Bitcoin ETFs, Carta’s latest mess, and let’s go to the Moon Jan 08, 2024

Show notes

Here’s what we got into on the show today:

Stocks and Crypto: Tech stocks aren’t moving too much this morning as the market digests the Boeing mess. In crypto-land, the price of bitcoin is up.
Bitcoin ETFs: And this is why. A rush of new filings this morning showed that bitcoin spot ETFs are targeting a very low-fee structure as they compete for investor dollars. These investment vehicles are expected to get approved this week, or at least some of them, so expect a little market turbulence ahead.
Carta is once again in trouble: Carta, which makes cap table software for startups, is in trouble after some of its sales people used internal information to try and broker trades without customer consent. Guess how well that is going over.
The ULA managed to get its rocket into the sky! This is great news for space launch competition. And for going back to the Moon.
And the GPT store is supposed to come this very week.

All that and more, we promise. Talk to you in two days!

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 Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

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Are megafunds squeezing out small VCs and distorting the seed market? Jan 05, 2024

Show notes

Here’s what we got into:

Deals of the Week: Ruth Foxe Blader is leaving Anthemis, albeit slowly; Exponent has a second fund set up, but without a pure fintech focus; and Alex wanted to talk about why 2024 could be a pretty alright year for crypto.
Layoffs, shutdowns: Frontdesk laid off 200 people and is shutting down, which makes for a good conversation about its business model. Countdown Capital is also throwing in the towel, due in part to larger multi-stage funds inflating the entry point for hot seed deals. It’s a trend worth keeping an eye on.
Helping one another: Israel is working to support its startup industry which has been disrupted by the Israel-Hamas war, and how the new Tech for Palestine group was formed.

And that’s Equity for this week! We’ll be back on Monday!

Connect with Equity on X and Threads @EquityPod, and keep up with all of TechCrunch's podcasts @TechCrunchPods on TikTok.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

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How Duly is shaking up the Indian sexual wellness market Jan 03, 2024

Show notes

Today — ahead of the relaunch of our Wednesday episode that we discussed earlier this week — we have an interview to share featuring TechCrunch’s very own Morgan Sung and Shruti Dwivedi, the co-founder and CEO of health-tech startup, Duly.

Duly took part in TechCrunch Disrupt’s 2023 Battlefield cohort, showing a global audience its contraceptive care platform that is initially targeted at the Indian market.

Why India? The company cites a large, young population in the country with more than 700 million people under the age of 30. However, Duly also reports that fewer than 15% of Indians have access to sexual education. Even more, the startup notes that condom usage in the country is modest at best, and nearly half of young, unmarried women felt “judged when seeking contraception.”

Put that all together, there’s a massive market gap that Duly wants to bridge.

Sexual wellness is not a small market, naturally, and other startups are active in the space. News broke late last year, for example, that Evofem Biosciences — which makes Phexxi, a non-hormonal contraceptive gel — found a buyer after financial struggles. Changes to American law regarding abortion make it clear that access to contraceptive care is critical for women around the world.

A big thanks to Morgan for the interview, Mary Ann for the intro, and Theresa and Kell for the edit and production!

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

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AI versus copyright, and why you shouldn't put all your eggs in one NFT basket Jan 02, 2024

Show notes

We're covering the latest in tech news from the weekend and what’s making headlines early in the week. This being the first week of the year, we had to go over a thing or two that broke just as 2023 gave up the ghost. Here's what we have on deck for you!

Financial updates: Global stock market news, and the latest from crypto. On the decentralized front, strong price movements are driving trading volume. That's good news for exchanges around the world.
AI versus Copyright: The New York Times suit against OpenAI that dropped in the final days of 2023 is still the biggest story in tech at the moment. If major LLMs are built on shaky grounds, what does that mean for the generative AI boom?
X's value continues to fall, further evidence that social media is hard to monetize for nearly anyone who isn't Meta.
Climatetech job growth could bode well for the startup genre.
And, to close out, this Times story is fascinating if you want to understand where venture dollars are flowing.

That’s it for today! More on Wednesday and Friday!

Connect with Equity on X and Threads @EquityPod, and keep up with all of TechCrunch's podcasts @TechCrunchPods on TikTok.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

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The Equity crew predicts we'll see a lot less VCs in 2024 Dec 29, 2023

Show notes

It'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 Theresa Loconsolo for getting the whole gang together!)

We bucketed our predictions into a few categories, including startup trends, media, proptech, AI, and transport. Mary Ann expects venture to continue contracting in personnel terms, Alex wanted to talk about AI at the OS level, Becca had notes on media, and more.

There are other themes mixed in as well, but find your headphones and get ready for some Hot Takes, yeah?

That is a wrap on Equity in 2023. We recorded something around 150 episodes, racked up seven-figures worth of downloads, oodles of streams, and more. But most importantly, we got to spend time with you. Thank you, for being you. Hugs, and more soon!

Connect with Equity on X and Threads @EquityPod, and keep up with all of TechCrunch's podcasts @TechCrunchPods on TikTok.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

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Equity down under: How Australian startups can crack the US market Dec 27, 2023

Show notes

Today, we’re spinning the globe with not one but two interviews, thanks to our friend and colleague Rebecca Bellan, who’s been in Auckland, New Zealand for the past three years. She recently hopped across the Tasman to Australia to report on the startup scene in Australia, and is coming back to us with a temperature check on VC in the Antipodes.

Rebecca spoke to two Aussie VCs: Dan Krasnostein from Square Peg and Gabrielle Munzer from Main Sequence. Rebecca and our guests dug into why early stage funding is popping off in the region, the government's role in growing a startup ecosystem, fintech, climate tech, and what it’s like to compete and collaborate with Silicon Valley.

In addition to these conversations, Rebecca wrote a few deep dive stories from her time in Australia, including a look at its burgeoning climate tech scene and some of the people who are fighting to lift women up in the ecosystem. Rebecca also chatted with Canva — the SaaS darling of Australia — to learn how the company is embracing generative AI at its core and pursuing more B2B clients.

We have one more episode to share before saying goodbye to 2023. It's a fun one and a tradition: Equity's 2024 predictions. Stay tuned!

Connect with Equity on X and Threads @EquityPod, and keep up with all of TechCrunch's podcasts @TechCrunchPods on TikTok.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

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VCs are entering 2024 with “healthy paranoia” Dec 26, 2023

Show notes

Today, Alex got Deepka Rana from Northzone on the mic to chat through a bevy of key topics for the new year:

Where venture capital is heading in the new year
The prognosis for startups at different stages of maturity
Why 2023 was the year of adjustment, and 2024 could be the new venture-startup normal
And, the fate of AI in the EU where regulation is afoot. (n.b. When we recorded this, the EU's first-draft of AI regulation had not yet dropped).

We think that every person in startups and venture is hoping that 2024 brings a warmer macroeconomic environment, and lots of exits. We'll see. What was clear from our chat with Rana, however, is that the new year is going to be anything but boring.

We have two more episodes headed your way before we officially wrap up 2023, so stay close to Equity!

Connect with Equity on X and Threads @EquityPods, and keep up with all of TechCrunch's podcasts @TechCrunchPods on TikTok.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

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SVB, SBF and (more) OpenAI: The 2023 chronicles, pt. 2 Dec 22, 2023

Show notes

This is the second of a two-part series looking back at 2023. Mary Ann and Alex called on two colleagues to help us chat through some of the year’s biggest events. Here’s what we got into!

The decline, fall of SVB: It’s a bit hard to believe, but the chaos at Silicon Valley Bank happened earlier this year. Yes, much has happened since, but the sudden, and shocking collapse of what was effectively the family bank of tech sent waves throughout the global technology landscape. Venture was impacted. Public companies were impacted, and some startups actually got a boost!
Chaos at OpenAI: Another weekend-powered period of high-drama in tech this year was the defenstration of Sam Altman from his role at OpenAI, only for the tide to entirely flip in short order, Altman back the co, and most of the folks who wanted him out gone themselves. This one is still developing, so we had Devin Coldewey on to help us understand what is coming next.
SBF’s trial: It was long. It was tedious. It was occasionally very interesting. But in the end, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was found super-duper guilty for various financial crimes relating to his now-failed crypto exchange. We invited Jacquie Melinek back on the show to tell us more.

You can find part one of our year-end roundup here if you need even more! And don’t forget, Equity has even more great stuff coming your way, so stick close to your favorite podcast app.

Connect with Equity on X and Threads @EquityPods, and keep up with all of TechCrunch's podcasts @TechCrunchPods on TikTok.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

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AI-driven gaming with Hilary Mason from Hidden Door Dec 20, 2023

Show notes

Today, we’re bringing you a special mini episode led by TechCrunch senior reporter and co-host of our sister podcast, Found, Dominic Madori-Davis. During this year’s Disrupt, Dom caught up with Hilary Mason from Hidden Door, an AI-driven narrative game engine. Dom and Hilary got into how generative AI is changing online gaming, building a team of creatives, fundraising in the gaming space, and more.

Connect with Equity on X and Threads @EquityPods, and keep up with all of TechCrunch's podcasts @TechCrunchPods on TikTok.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Startup Shutdowns and AI Showdowns: The 2023 chronicles Dec 18, 2023

Show notes

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 the first of a two-part series that we built for you going back over critical themes from 2023. It was a very, very busy year in the worlds of technology, startups, and venture capital. This is the first of a two-part series that we built for you going back over critical themes from 2023.

It was a very, very busy year in the worlds of technology, startups, and venture capital -- so busy that we asked for your 2023 in a headline, and you delivered!

Mary Ann and Alex dug into a host of key topics:

Venture capital in 2023: The numbers started off the year poor, but got a bit better as time went along. In part as year-over-year comps became less onerous as we got deeper into the year thanks to 2022's own results having a downward tilt. Still, there's a lot of capital still in the market so we are closing out the year far from a freeze.
Elsewhere in venture? California's new diversity reporting rule made an appearance, we discussed which stage of startups are struggling the most, and even riffed on some new fintech unicorns.
Then there was fintech in 2023: Despite a hot start to M&A in the fintech realm to start the year, deals slowed as the year went on. Though we did see a handful of critical transactions. Alex brought up some fintech-adjacent deals that he felt were notable as well, to round out our recap.
Then we had to touch on the creator economy in 2023: Recall that this was the year that we saw the writer's strike, the mess at Reddit, the brouhaha at Twitch, and the rise of several Twitter alts. Busy time for creators, even if the hopes of yesteryear that the middle class of creatordom would expand more rapidly than it has.
And then there was the return of key-person syndrome, which we'll explain more of on the show!

In Part 2 -- coming soon! -- we brought in several TechCrunch experts to help us get even deeper on the SBF trial and crypto more generally, the OpenAI fracas and where that technology is today, and more. Stay close to Equity! We have a lot planned for you.

Connect with Equity on X and Threads @EquityPods, and keep up with all of TechCrunch's podcasts @TechCrunchPods on TikTok.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

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