Grindr CEO is betting on AI to solve online dating's biggest problem

In this episode of StrictlyVc Download, Connie and Alex sit down with Grindr CEO George Arison to talk about how he’s transformed the company since taking over in 2022 and where he wants to take it next. Arison discusses Grindr’s rapid growth, why roughly 80% of its code is now written by AI, and how the company is using AI to rethink matchmaking and build new premium products. He also opens up about the so-called “Grindr discount” on Wall Street, the investor bias he says the company still encounters, and Grindr’s ambitions to expand beyond dating into healthcare, travel, and local discovery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Connie is joined by Vijay Pande, co-founder of VZ and former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, to discuss why he believes AI is poised to transform healthcare and create a new generation of trillion-dollar companies. Pande explains how AI could improve drug discovery and clinical trials, why better data could move medicine beyond unreliable animal models, and how technology is giving patients more agency over their own health. The two also discuss Pande’s decision to leave a16z and build a small, AI-native venture firm, why VZ plans to make only a handful of highly concentrated investments, and how AI is changing what early traction means for startups. Plus, Pande shares what he learned from more than a decade investing at the intersection of technology and biology, why go-to-market matters as much as groundbreaking science, and where he thinks the hype around AI curing disease gets ahead of reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we'r sharing a conversation from our colleagues at TechCrunch's Equity. Anthropic leaped to ⁠a $47 billion revenue run rate by May,⁠ compared to $9 billion in 2025. It’s the kind of growth that Menlo Ventures' ⁠Matt Murphy⁠ says he's never seen in 25 years of investing, not in the internet wave, not in mobile, not in the first cloud boom. Menlo led Anthropic's $500M Series D, and Murphy has had a front-row seat as the company went from a pre-revenue, pre-launch bet to one of the most valuable startups out there.    On this episode of TechCrunch's ⁠Equity⁠ podcast, Julie Bort talks with Murphy about backing Anthropic before anyone else would, why a great model was never the point, and what's driving the fastest-growing startups he's ever seen.    Listen to the full episode to hear more about:  Why Menlo bet on Anthropic at a $4 billion pre-revenue valuation when the deal didn't fit cleanly into any of the firm's funds, and why Google and Amazon signing on as investors was an early “green shoot.”  Why Murphy says the model was never the real moat, and how Claude Code, MCP, and Claude Skills turned Anthropic from a strong model into a full platform.  Murphy's take on the backlash to Anthropic's Mythos rollout, and why he pushes back on the idea that it was more marketing than safety.  Why companies like ⁠Lovable⁠ and ⁠Legora⁠ are growing faster than any startups Murphy has seen in 25 years, and what that speed means for founders trying to compete.  Subscribe to Equity on ⁠YouTube⁠,⁠ Apple Podcasts⁠,⁠ Overcast⁠,⁠ Spotify⁠ and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on⁠ X⁠ and⁠ Threads⁠, at @EquityPod.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Much of American-caught fish is processed overseas, and often in China, before it comes back to the U.S. Shinkei wants to change that with robotics, computer vision, and a vertically integrated supply chain built from scratch. This episode of StrictlyVC Download was recorded at StrictlyVC Los Angeles 2026. TechCrunch Editor in Chief Connie Loizos sat down with Saif Khawaja, founder and CEO of Shinkei, and Delian Asparouhov of Founders Fund to talk about one of the most unexpected bets in venture capital right now. They cover everything from the Japanese fish-killing technique that became a startup thesis, why American fish is now being imported into Japanese fish markets for the first time ever, and how Founders Fund thinks about contrarian bets in food and agriculture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Connie and Alex are joined by Reed Jobs, founder and managing partner of Yosemite, to discuss the firm’s ambitious mission to make cancer nonlethal by building biotech companies from the ground up. Jobs explains why Yosemite pairs venture capital with no-strings-attached research grants, how AI is accelerating drug discovery and clinical trials, and why he believes we’re entering one of the most important eras in the history of medicine.The three also discuss the current state of biotech fundraising, the importance of federal research funding, how Yosemite evaluates breakthrough science, the growing role of AI in healthcare, and why Jobs believes the biggest opportunities in medicine are still ahead of us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Connie Loizos sits down with Uber Chief Product Officer Sachin Kansal to discuss the company's expanding vision beyond ride-hailing, from hotels and travel planning to AI-powered shopping and autonomous vehicles. Sachin explains how Uber decides which new products to build, why the company believes a hybrid network of human drivers and robotaxis is the future, and how AI is reshaping the experience for riders, drivers, and merchants alike.They also discuss Uber's growing travel ecosystem, the strategy behind Uber One, the company's partnerships with autonomous vehicle developers, and why Uber sees itself as the platform connecting consumers, drivers, and AI in the years ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Connie Loizos and Alex Gove sit down with Agility Robotics CEO Peggy Johnson following the company's announcement that it will go public, making it one of the first pure-play humanoid robotics companies to reach the public markets. Peggy explains why she believes the industry is moving beyond flashy demos and into real commercial deployment and how Agility built a $300 million pipeline for its humanoid robot Digit. They also discuss the economics of humanoid robots, Agility's robots-as-a-service model, how AI is accelerating robot training, what separates real commercial deployments from pilot programs, and why Peggy believes safety will be the defining challenge for the industry. Finally, she shares her perspective on the crowded humanoid robotics race, why Agility chose to go public through a SPAC, and what it will take for robots to eventually work safely alongside people in factories and, one day, in our homes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Connie Loizos sits down with Rippling founder and CEO Parker Conrad to discuss the company's biggest product launch in years: Rippling Data Cloud. Parker explains why he believes the future of enterprise AI depends on giving AI access to an organization's people data and business systems, not just more powerful models. He also shares how Rippling is using AI internally, what the company learned from analyzing its own AI spending, and why measuring ROI—not just productivity—will become increasingly important as AI adoption grows. They also discuss Rippling's expansion into banking and financial services, the company's growth past $1 billion in annualized revenue, the state of today's fundraising and IPO markets, and Parker's advice for founders navigating soaring valuations. Finally, Parker weighs in on Rippling's ongoing legal battle with Deel and why he believes the outcome could have broader implications for the startup Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode features a conversation recorded live at StrictlyVC LA in El Segundo between Connie Loizos, Cheng Xu, partner at Basis Set Ventures, and Carter Reum, founder of M13. Together, they discuss whether today's AI boom represents a bubble, how investors are thinking about soaring startup valuations and ARR growth, and what it takes to build a lasting company in an increasingly competitive AI landscape. The conversation also explores the opportunities and risks facing founders, the impact of AI on venture investing, and where each investor sees the next generation of breakout companies emerging. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Connie and Alex talk with Goodwater Capital co-founder Chi-Hua Chien, whose career spans some of Silicon Valley’s biggest technology shifts, from helping source Accel’s investment in Facebook as a young associate to backing a new generation of consumer and AI startups. While much of the venture world is focused on models, chips, and infrastructure, Chi-Hua argues that history suggests the biggest long-term winners of the AI era may be the application companies built on top of them. They talk about why AI startups are reaching unprecedented revenue levels with remarkably small teams, what’s driving today’s soaring valuations, and why he believes many infrastructure businesses will eventually face the same commoditization pressures seen in previous technology cycles. He also shares what he’s seeing inside consumer AI, from hyper-personalized entertainment and women’s health platforms to new products built around voice, agents, and individualized experiences. And they discuss the increasingly public tensions between founders and VCs, why some of the most interesting fintech innovation is happening outside the U.S., and why Chi-Hua believes one of the biggest opportunities in consumer technology may be helping people reconnect in the real world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices