Happy Saturday! We have a special bonus episode for you from our sister pod, Chain Reaction.  Alex joins Jacquelyn Melinek to go over Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial so far before getting into his testimony on Thursday and Friday.

Today on Equity,  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. We covered a few deals of the week including news from I Own my Data and AgentSync. The big news we talked about included, Carta's CEO major comms floor where he alerted customers to some bad press by trying to tell them to ignore it, the recent roadblock for Cruise driverless taxis and why Waymo appears to be winning, and a few notes on Alphabet and Microsofts earnings.

This week, Alex talked to Theory Ventures founder Tomasz Tunguz on the show. As long-time readers of his work, having the former Redpoint investor on the show was a no-brainer. They got into Why Tunguz left Redpoint and started his own fund and the thesis that underpins Theory Ventures’ investments and the future of machine learning, why Tunguz is bullish on Ethereum and the value of software, the health of software companies, and why venture math still holds up at lower valuation multiples.

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. Today we previewed what earning to keep an eye out for this week, talked about Apple's big spending on generative AI, ad we touched on why it's noteable that Foxconn is under investigation.

Equity is closing out the week with deals from telehealth startup Allara, and Indian space tech company Agnikul. We also took a deeper look at why WeWork is irked by Codi, Plaid's new CFO, and what has VCs bullish about the current AI wave.

This week Gené Teare from Crunchbase and Crunchbase News joined the podcast. She's a well-known analyst of the global venture capital market, and was instrumental to Crunchbase's early life and remains one of its more tenured staffers. Gené, Alex and Mary Ann discussed what we should think about the Q3 2023 venture capital market as a whole and which startups are seeing the most - and the least - capital.

Today on Equity, we're looking into stocks around the world, the expense of running a modern social medial company, Creative Force's Series A, Japan's largest IPO in a half-decade, and why Q3 data doesn't look all that bad for web3 gaming companies.

Alex joined Jacquelyn Melinek on Chain Reaction to dive back into the Sam Bankman-Fried trial and what has transpired in its second week. Major witnesses who were involved in the downfall of FTX and its sister company Alameda testified like Gary Wang, CTO and cofounder of FTX, and Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda. The two of them plead guilty to a number of charges and could face maximum sentences of 50 to 110 years, respectively. It’s also worth noting Wang and Ellison testified as part of a cooperation agreement for pleading guilty. Jacquelyn and Alex talk about key points from the trial, anecdotes that you can’t read on a transcript and what she anticipates from both the prosecutors and defense going forward.

The Equity crew is parsing through the week's news in startups and venture, starting with an update on the California law that will require venture firms to disclose certain market data concerning whom they invest in. Looking elsewhere in Ventureland, we're talking about ALIAVIA Ventures' new fund, Canopy Servicing's Series A1, a $200 million deal between a private equity group and EVPassport, which startups have flown through turbulence lately and finally, if technology can solve a labor shortage in construction.

This week, Equity had Tony Stubblebine on the show, the CEO of publishing platform Medium.com. Medium has gone through a number of versions over the years, but what has been a steady focus in Medium's life in recent years has been its subscription business. Together, we're digging into the business of the written word, Medium's stance on AI and what its posture says about how the company views the value of writing.

Equity is kicking off the week with an update on global stocks, AI and startup news around the world. Alex is talking through China's move to bolster its national computing and data infrastructure, the Anthropic helping us understand more about LLMs, and raises from Wanda Fish Technologies and Lottie.

The Equity crew is talking about the week’s biggest startup and tech news with help from TC reporter extraordinaire and Found co-host Dominic Madori-Davis. We're keeping you updated on the SBF trial - which quite frankly, has us all riveted - and then diving into deals of the week from Rainforest, At One Ventures, Section 32 and Greylock, where venture funding has declined, and how Fearless Fund is being barred from awarding grants to Black women founders.

SBF's trial has started, and to talk through it, we teamed up TechCrunch's resident crypto reporter and host of the Chain Reaction podcast, Jacquelyn Melinek. We dove deep into the nitty-gritty details, what transpired the first two days of Bankman-Fried’s trial, as well as who the jurors are, the first two witnesses and who else is expected to speak.

Equity's kicking off Q4 2023 with a look at the global stock market, what's ahead for SBF, Amazon and the FTC, and why we're seeing so many seed-stage fintech deals.

This week, Equity has the update on the writer's strike's implications on AI, deals of the week from OpenAI and Arc, YC and the role of accelerators in the startup world, and shifts in the tech labor market as layoffs subside.

This week on Equity, Alex was joined by Nathan Baschez, the CEO and founder of Lex, an AI-infused online writing tool. We're digging into just how many AI-powered tools the market can support, what the generative AI movement could look like in the coming months, how to price an AI-powered service and more.

Equity is back from Disrupt and getting you caught up on stocks around the world, the Cisco-Splunk deal, why everyone loves Anthropic, how Meta is building AI chatbots while Apple is working to build more in India, and Correcto's latest round.

Alex, Kirsten and Becca sat down to recap a very busy (and dare we say successful) TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. We're talking through vc panel highlights, the latest from Cruise, providing early liquidity to founders and employees and why Shaq can do what he wants.

We were live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023! Alex, Kirsten and Becca took the stage with breaking IPO news, how Joby is all-in on the Buckeye state, growth in the Eldertech space and Writer bringing back nine-figure joy.

Before flying out for TechCrunch Disrupt, the Equity crew unpacked the latest from Divvy homes, companies we wish would just go public already (we're looking at you, Databricks and Lime), the quick grocery delivery market and transparency in venture capital.

This week, Equity brought TechCrunch+ senior climate reporter Tim De Chant on the show to talk climate tech, hardware breakthroughs, and why we have a whole stage this year at Disrupt focused on sustainability.

Equity is kicking off the week with another look at the stock market and upcoming earnings before diving deep into Klaviyo and Instacart's IPO price ranges, Coinbase and India, shared satellites and why the Apple event matters for startups.

The Equity crew is looking into Mentra's plan to help neurodivergent jobseekers, how SimpleClosure might be betting on the downturn, what's next for the Argo AI founders, Y Combinator's Summer 2023 Demo Day, and how the EU is cracking down on major tech companies.

In preparation for another Y Combinator Demo Day, we're throwing it back to Alex and Natasha's interview with Michael Seibel, current YC Partner and Managing Director of YC Early Stage. The trio discussed how was YC evolving to meet a changed market and top trends from the 2022 summer batch.

Alex is back on Equity with the latest on the never-ending earnings season, crypto, ARM's IPO range, a new Africa-focused venture fund, Chinese semiconductor fund and more.