Equity

By TechCrunch, Rebecca Bellan, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, Sean O'Kane, Theresa LoconsoloBusiness Entrepreneurship News Technology Business News

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Equity episodes

February 19, 2025How Slow Ventures is giving the creator economy a rebrand
Last week, the team at early-stage VC firm Slow Ventures launched its new $60 million fund entirely focused on investing in content creators.Today on Equity, Rebecca Bellan sits down with Lightcap to dive into YouTube remains the dominant platform for serious creators,how niche community trust translates into scalable businesses, and what this new fund means for the creator economy.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
How this new asset class has the potential to scale.
The firm’s success stories so far, including Marina Mogilko’s baby snack company and other ventures.
The parallels between backing creators and traditional seed-stage founders.
The “key man risk” and how investors navigate the challenge.

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
24 min
February 14, 2025Elon Musk and Sam Altman are basically in a rap battle
Tensions 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 offer, the response, and what it means for the AI company’s future, plus other headlines from the week.
Listen to the full episode to hear about:
What you missed from the Paris AI Action Summit: who’s backing global AI opportunity and who’s calling it a missed opportunity.
BNPL startup Tabby’s massive raise and $3.3 billion valuation, as well as its IPO ambitions in a turbulent fintech market.
Archer Aviation’s $300 million boost, and why its eVTOL development is leaning into defense.

Equity will be back with a new interview on Wednesday, so stay tuned!
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
31 min
February 12, 2025Sheel Mohnot says the fintech market is ‘hot again’
“The fintech market is hot again,” said Sheel Mohnot, fintech investor and founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV). “And we are going to see some more exits in the near future.”
According to recent reports, fintech funding is on the rise, with global investment hitting $60 billion in the first half of the year alone, marking a significant rebound from the previous year’s dip.
Mohnot – whose X account you’ve likely come across if you follow fintech – has invested in over 100 deals throughout the years, primarily in fintech, and co-founded the accelerator program The Mint. On today’s episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Mary Ann Azevedo is catching up with Mohnot to discuss why he thinks fintech is “poised to have a lot of outcomes in the near future,” the potential of AI in fintech, particularly in accounting and underwriting, and highlights the impact of DeepSeek on the AI landscape.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
Mohnot’s journey from founder to investor after co-founding companies like FeeFighters, which sold to Groupon in 2012.
Who’s getting it right in 2025? Mohnot highlights players in the accounting automation space such as Basis, Layer, and InScope
The optimistic outlook for fintech, with potential IPOs from companies like Chime, Klarna, and Stripe.
How Sheel built his impressive online following, and what a Taco Bell metaverse wedding and Justin Bieber have to do with it.

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
30 min
February 07, 2025Are 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 credits, a stark contrast to the costs often associated with OpenAI’s models.
TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec, Margaux MacColl, and Max Zeff are diving into the biggest news on today’s episode of Equity, including how the tide could be changing for OpenAI.
Listen to the full episode to hear about:
Notable new hires in startups and venture, from Stripe’s new lead for ‘startup and VC partnerships’ to Andreessen Horowitz’s controversial pick for its American Dynamism team lead.
Two space startups teaming up to build the next generation of telescopes.
Elon Musk’s latest play, and how Silicon Valley is reacting to the tech bros taking over the federal government.

Equity will be back next week, so don’t miss it!
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
30 min
February 01, 2025DeepSeek: separating fact from hype
Today, we’re bringing you a bonus episode zeroing in on DeepSeek, the Chinese AI lab that’s recently taken over the news and the app stores, beating out OpenAI's ChatGPT. Max Zeff is talking about it all with Ion Stoica, Professor of Computer Science Division at UC Berkeley and the cofounder and executive chairman of software startup Databricks.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
Why Stoica believes the future of AI lies in "doubling down on open source."
Microsoft's decision to host DeepSeek on Azure.
What the U.S. can do to foster accelerated innovation – with a look back at SB-1047 and a look ahead to 2025.
The controversy surrounding claims that DeepSeek used OpenAI’s models to train its own.

Equity will be back next week, so stay tuned!
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
26 min
January 31, 2025DeepSeek lights a fire under Silicon Valley
DeepSeek, 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 pulling ahead in the AI arms race.
Listen to the full episode to also hear about:
Tesla earnings -- from promises made to robotaxi updates, and questions left unanswered. Don’t worry, Kirsten brought her bingo board if you want to play along.
Nucleus Genomics’ $14 million raise for DNA sequencing and analysis.
The demand for fusion, and Helion’s $425M raise to build its own fusion reactor for Microsoft.

Equity has a special DeepSeek deep dive on the way for those who want more, so stay tuned!
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
30 min
January 29, 2025Forget ‘Founder Mode,’ what about Customer Mode?
You might have noticed in your time online that a lot of the services and the websites that you’re using are kind of getting…worse. The good news, though, is that this means that there are different sectors that are ripe for disruption.
On today’s episode of Equity, Rebecca's joined by Ed Zitron —CEO of EZPR, host of the Better Offline podcast, and author of Why Everything Stopped Working—to dig into why this shift is happening and what it means for startups.
Listen to the full episode to hear the pair discuss:
Why it’s time to ditch ‘founder mode’ for what Ed calls ‘customer mode’ – a more sustainable, customer-first approach that beats the growth-at-all-costs mentality.
The opportunities Ed sees for startups in what he sees as a declining market
The long-term outlook for generative AI companies like OpenAI. (Note: this interview was recorded before the DeepSeek news broke, but don’t worry – Equity will have that update for you later in the week.)

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
37 min
January 24, 2025How 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 nothing.
The IPO market for 2025: Who’s planning to make their debut, and who’s reconsidering going public?

Equity will be back next week, so stay tuned!

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
34 min
January 22, 2025AI's $100 billion impact: 2024’s venture capital surge and the road ahead for startups
Today on Equity, Julie Bort sits down with Crunchbase News’ Senior Data Editor, Gené Teare, to dive deeper into the year’s slight growth in investment, which reached $314 billion, up from $304 billion in 2023. The pair explores how AI became a dominant force in the landscape. As Teare puts it, “Tech rides on bubbles. What bubbles tell you is that if everyone's putting dollars into a certain sector, it means there are very big outcomes coming.”
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
The surge of AI investment and what it signals for the future
The challenges startups face in raising capital, particularly in Series A
Regional concentration of venture funding, especially in the U.S.
What’s next for the IPO market as we look toward 2025

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
26 min
January 17, 2025$200M woolly mammoths and a farewell to TikTok
The 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 full episode to hear about:
How Maki and Synthesia are rethinking the recruitment process – and yes, it involves AI.
Colossal Biosciences’ colossal raise. Where will the woolly mammoths go? Did we learn nothing from Jurassic Park?
Powerset’s decentralized venture fund, and the challenges ahead for mid-size venture firms.
And finally, are we stepping into risky territory with AI companions, from falling in love with ChatGPT to making an AI chatbot say it loves you?

Equity will be back next week, so stay tuned!
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

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

About Equity

From the publisher's feed

The intersection of technology, startups, and venture capital touches everything now. That’s why Equity, TechCrunch's flagship podcast, digs into the business of startups for entrepreneurs and…