AI-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-for-banks startup. Moving onto our themes, Haje took us on a deep dive into the fediverse, a decentralized network of social media platforms like Mastodon, Threads, and even Trump’s Truth Social. The fediverse has seen a surge in popularity, especially after Elon Musk acquired Twitter (now X). Mastodon, for example, has just about tripled its user base since Musk took over. The appeal lies in its decentralized nature, offering users more control and niche communities. Whether you’re a photographer, a journalism enthusiast, or just someone fed up with traditional social media, the fediverse has something for you.Last but not least, we discussed the ongoing debate around DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) in tech in a more controversial segment. Scale AI’s founder Alexandr Wang recently sparked a debate by advocating for MEI (Merit, Excellence, Intelligence) over DEI. This has drawn support from big names like Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey but also significant criticism.The stats are troubling: new women recruit levels in the U.S. data industry have dropped dramatically, and DEI-related job listings are down.Equity will be back on Wednesday with a new interview episode, so stay tuned!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, 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 over at Simplecast. 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.

Today, we’re bringing you a conversation from TechCrunch's StrictlyVC event in DC earlier this month, where TechCrunch Editor in Chief & General Manager Connie Loizos sat down with Luther Lowe, who serves as Y Combinator’s Head of Public Policy. Lowe joined the accelerator last fall from Yelp, where he was SVP of Public Policy.Connie and Luther touched on antitrust efforts to reign in big tech, Y Combinator’s impact, leadership and access to talent, and what competition, policy and regulation look like in the AI era. It’s a super interesting conversation, so press play and listen in!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, 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 over at Simplecast.  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.

In a press release this morning, the European Commission named Apple as the first of tech’s so-called “gatekeepers” to be charged for violating the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Apple is one of six tech giants named by the European Commission as “gatekeepers” last year, alongside Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft. While we continue to keep our eyes on the EU’s attempts to ensure a competitive marketplace, that’s not all we got into on the Equity podcast this morning. Rebecca Bellan led the show this morning and reported that X still has a Verified bot problem, but this time they came for TechCrunch writers (herself included). The experience had us wondering if X’s competitors will step up, and create platforms with more safety…and fewer bots.Rebecca also had an IPO update for our listeners this morning as Shein finally filed for its public debut in London, and we closed out our startup coverage with a look at Sir Jack A Lot’s startup for retail traders. The startup, which recently raised a $4.5 million seed round, had us hyped on the retail trading space and its continued growth.Finally, Haje closed out today’s show with a teardown for Feel Therapeutics. The startup recently raised a $3.5M seed deck to revolutionize mental health care with a science-forward approach that integrates wearable devices, mobile apps, and clinician dashboards. Hit play to hear how they did it!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, 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 over at Simplecast. 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.

This 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 downs.Next, they explore the intriguing case of Gynger, a fintech company that has raised $20 million led by PayPal Ventures. Mary-Ann explains how Gynger is shaking up the way startups handle tech purchases with its buy-now-pay-later model, working both with buyers and sellers to offer flexible payment terms. Kirsten and your trusty correspondent weigh in on the potential risks and rewards of this unique business model, especially in today's volatile economic environment.The third deal takes us into the realm of artificial intelligence with Safe Superintelligence. I'm delving into the story of OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever’s new venture, which aims to develop general AI with a focus on safety. We discuss the ambitious goals of this startup and the challenges of balancing rapid advancement with the ethical considerations of creating superintelligent AI.After dissecting these deals, the conversation shifts to a sobering topic: the wave of bankruptcies that have hit the startup world in 2024. Kirsten provides a detailed analysis of the factors leading to these failures, with a spotlight on high-profile cases like EV startup Fisker and fintech service Synapse. The team discusses the common pitfalls that led to these companies' downfalls and what other startups can learn from their mistakes.But it's not all doom and gloom—our hosts wrap up with an exciting discussion about the future. They dive into Voodoo's acquisition of social media startup BeReal for $537 million. Mary-Ann explores the reasons behind this bold move, how Voodoo plans to integrate ads into BeReal's platform, and what this could mean for the landscape of social media. Kirsten and myself debate the potential success of this strategy and the broader implications for user engagement and authenticity in the age of digital advertising.Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, 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 over at Simplecast. 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.

Last week, Brex announced that it would be ditching its co-CEO model, and that got Equity hosts Haje Kamps and Mary Ann Azevedo wondering about co-CEO teams and the effectiveness of the structure overall.Brex, founded in 2017 by Pedro Franceschi and Henrique Dubugras, initially thrived under the co-CEO structure, with Pedro focusing on internal operations and Enrique handling external relations. However, as the company grew, this setup began to slow decision-making, prompting a shift to a single CEO model. Pedro will now lead as the sole CEO, while Enrique transitions to Chairman of the Board.We discuss the broader implications and challenges of co-CEO leadership, highlighting how this change aims to enhance agility and appeal to investors as Brex eyes a potential public offering. We also explore other companies that have adopted or abandoned similar leadership models, providing a comprehensive analysis of the pros and cons of shared CEO responsibilities in the competitive tech landscape.Equity will be back with a full rundown of the week's startup and venture news on Friday, but if you want more from TechCrunch podcasts until then, Darrell and Becca spoke to both Brex CEOs on Found last year about why the duo chose to go down the co-CEO path in the first place.Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, 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 over at Simplecast. 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.

This week on Equity, we discussed some big news that really matters: How Black founders are addressing the diversity gap in AI chatbots. We’ve all noticed how OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other AI chatbot tools struggle with cultural nuance, often coming up with answers that reflect a largely Euro-centric worldview. Now, a handful of Black-owned chatbots and ChatGPT versions – like Latimer.AI, ChatBlackGPT and Spark Plug – have cropped up to ensure Black POVs are included in the AI conversation, and that Black founders get a cut of this trillion-dollar industry.That’s not all Rebecca talked about on Monday’s show. We also looked at how different social media companies are playing around with what’s real and what isn’t, an increasingly salient topic in the age of AI. On the one hand, we’ve got TikTok’s introduction of generative AI avatars, which creators and brands can use to speed up ad campaigns and spread them out to a global audience. And on the other hand, YouTube is experimenting with a “Notes” feature that lets users add context to videos. It’s an attempt to combat misinformation as AI threatens to inundate us all with deepfake and misleading political content in the lead up to the 2024 presidential election. In IPO Land, Rebecca touched on Tempus’s 9% rise and $441 million raise on its Nasdaq debut last Friday. The genomic testing and data analysis company, started by Groupon’s founder, need have only hinted at its future genAI integrations for investors to throw money at it. Meanwhile, Chinese e-commerce giant Shein is struggling to get Beijing to approve its London IPO, reports the Financial Times. Shein’s executive chair reportedly angered Chinese regulators last month by saying its corporate values meant it “could be considered a US company,” so now the retailer is trying to walk back on those comments. Shein is trying to raise £50 billion (US$64 billion) from its London IPO, and it needs Beijing on its side to do so.   Haje closed out today’s show with a teardown of Kinnect’s $250K angel deck. Founded just last year, the digital archive startup is already making waves with $100,000 in funding from Techstar’s Rising Stars program. Hit play to hear how they did it!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, 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 over at Simplecast. 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.

Welcome back to Friday Equity!In today’s episode Equity podcast, Mary Ann, Haje and Becca dug into three very different but all super interesting deals of the week. Haje wanted to discuss Raspberry Pi’s debut on the public market, and we all agreed that what this profitable company has managed to build – a tiny affordable computer that fits into the palm of your hand – is very neat. Mary Ann then wanted to talk about InScope, a fintech which just raised a $4.3 million seed round of funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners to automate financial reporting. Becca got to riff on Meowtel, a niche – and also profitable – startup focused on cat-sitting that has raised just $1 million in venture capital over its nine-year life.The trio then talked about all the Apple news (largely AI-focused) that came out of WWDC and its potential impact on the startup world. They then turned their attention to Elon Musk’s reaction to Apple’s announcement that it would be integrating ChatGPT into its iOS. While he clearly wasn’t happy about it, we discussed what his true motives for threatening to pull Apple devices from his companies might be. That’s it for this week, but we’ll be back bright and early Monday with more tech and startup news. Talk soon!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, 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 over at Simplecast. 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.

Vanessa Larco, partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), believes that Generative AI’s impact on the world of SaaS could be huge.The investor joined Mary Ann Azevedo on Equity to talk through, among other topics, her theories about how GenAI could alter the pricing models SaaS businesses use when charging customers.“I think where [SaaS] people aspire to get to is value-based pricing. This is really, really hard,” she said.  But “I think it's a North Star for a lot of different SaaS products.”Larco also touched on how incumbents’ AI strategies may impact the startup world in general and in particular, what Apple’s new intelligence offering might mean for founders.The venture capitalist also gave us insight as to why despite being a big believer in the enterprise, she’s also still bullish on consumer investing and what she looks for when evaluating startups in the space.“I'm bullish on it. Look, I think the consumer is always going to spend. They just are,” she said. “It just depends on what they're going to spend on, what their priorities are.”In addition to discussing the SaaS and consumer spaces, the investor also shared her thoughts on what she believes the next wave of fintech will look like. (Spoiler alert: think less neobanks and more SMB focus).It was a super fun conversation, so press play and listen in!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, 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 over at Simplecast. 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.

Apple’s WWDC is just hours away, and we’re gearing up for big announcements on – you guessed it – AI. We're kicking off  today’s episode of Equity with a list of what we can (and can't) expect from the highly anticipated developer conference. But that's not all we talked about this morning. Becca Szkutak also took a look at Byju’s alarming valuation drop. The Indian edtech giant, once valued at $22 billion, might now be worth nothing according to BlackRock. The news may not come as a surprise given the rocky year Byju’s has had, but as Manish Sing put it, its journey stands to be one of the most “spectacular startup slides in recent memory.”To close out, we had news of a new fund looking to give the Italian startup ecosystem a boost. We’re optimist about the Italian Founders Fund and what it could contribute to the market, so press play and join the conversation!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, 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 over at Simplecast. 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.

As always, there was a lot happening in startup land this week, and the Equity team had so much fun breaking it down for you.On today’s episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Mary Ann and Rebecca discussed Robinhood’s plans to buy European crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million in cash and why they weren’t really surprised by the news.The duo then dug into not just one but two exciting health-care related deals. Rebecca wanted to riff on Sword Health’s innovative AI-powered virtual physical therapy tech and recent fundraise and corresponding cool valuation bump. Mary Ann then brought up Eko Health, which just raised $41 million after getting FDA clearance to help detect the first signs of heart failure during a routine medical exam (really, how cool is that?!).From there, they got to grill transportation reporter extraordinaire Sean O’Kane about his in-depth investigation into the mess at electric vehicle manufacturer Fisker. Think hoods flying off and pinching parts from the production line kind of mess. Oof.From there, they talked about the drama at AI mortgage startup LoanSnap and how that company is being sued left and right among other things. On a more positive note, they then riffed about two very interesting fintech startups focused on Gen Z, Frich (which stands for ‘effin rich) and Fizz – the latter of which is a YC alum just raised $14.4 million in a seed round led by Kleiner Perkins.That’s it for this week, but we’ll be back bright and early Monday with more tech and startup news. Talk soon!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, 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 over at Simplecast. 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.