Equity Monday – Venture Capital

Equity Monday: A global selloff to kick off Disrupt week

September 20, 2021 by Alex Wilhelm

This post is by Alex Wilhelm from Fundings & Exits – TechCrunch

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here. I also tweet.
A few things this morning:
I shook up the show format a little, including how the script came together and how it was organized. Hit me up on Twitter if you have notes.
Disrupt is this week, so strap thyself in for the best tech event of the year, coming to your living room. The Equity team is hosting — between the group of us — a zillion panels and one of the two stages. Come hang out with us. It’s going to be on heck of a show.
User’s Guide to TechCrunch Disrupt 2021
On the news front, the global stock market is taking a whacking. US stocks are set to fall after European stocks went lower thanks to concerns that the Chinese property developer Evergrande and its constituent debt issues could spread to other parts of the market, possibly leading to contagion.
Cryptos are also off sharply in the last 24 hours, so there sems to be little refuge in today’s markets.
A French hosting company is going public, an Indian used-car marketplace raised a boatload of (Read more...)

Equity Monday: Market pessimism, new iPhones, and IPOs

September 13, 2021 by Alex Wilhelm
This post is by Alex Wilhelm from Fundings & Exits – TechCrunch

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here. I also tweet.
Vacation was good, and a big thanks to Mary Ann and Natasha — not to mention Grace and Chris! — for keeping things flowing while I mostly sat around reading books and playing video games. But enough being maudlin! To the news!
Investors are kinda thinking that the run-up in stocks needs to take a breather. And that the reset could land between 5% and 10%, with another 10% of respondents expecting a correction of more than 10%. Yowza.
China may break up Ant, keeping the pace of its regulatory deluge going as this week starts. And the Chinese government thinks that its country has too many EV companies. If the market or central planning will wind up taking point on solving the “problem” is not clear.
The Apple v. Epic decision is still driving conversation. Here’s TechCrunch’s coverage, and here’s the MG piece I mentioned.
Toast and Freshworks have new filings up. Which is good news if you want to dig into new S-1/A reports. Forge is going public via a SPAC.
And Babyscripts and Commercetools raised (Read more...)

Equity Monday: Y Combinator Demo Day Approaches

August 30, 2021 by Alex Wilhelm
This post is by Alex Wilhelm from Fundings & Exits – TechCrunch

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here. I also tweet.
We are heading into a simply crazy week, so make sure that you keep Twitter pulled up as often as you can. Why?
This is Y Combinator Demo Day week, which means a zillion startups are going to be doing their best to make noise, stand out from their peers, and raise capital on uncapped notes sans discount. TechCrunch is going to be busy as bees tracking the accelerator cohort, and bringing our favorites to your ears and eyes.
The Chinese regulatory story continues, with new gaming restrictions and fresh warnings about anti-monopoly action coming this morning. As before, the news is moving stocks. And the gaming news underscores that the Chinese state is not too bothered about directly undercutting its private sector to meet government goals.
All that regulatory work is harming venture capital investment, it appears. Despite a rapid-fire July for Chinese startups, August is looking thinner from a foreign-investor perspective.
Vietcetera has raised new capital, along with Urbanbase. In India, Ola Electric is looking to raise a huge amount of capital, (Read more...)

Equity Monday: Stocks up, cryptos up, regulation up

August 23, 2021 by Alex Wilhelm
This post is by Alex Wilhelm from Fundings & Exits – TechCrunch

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here. I also tweet.
Today’s show was good fun to put together. Here’s what we got to:
Global stocks are up to kick off the week. It’s a great way to start Monday, frankly.
Thinking broadly, the latest regulatory news from China regarding ByteDance is not super bullish for the nation’s tech industry. And what the Indian government is doing to its own technology industry is not encouraging. But all of that and tension between the two countries, is not stopping deals. You can’t stop deals!
Facebook bowed to pressure, and released a content report that it had previously shelved.
Zetwerk raised a $150 million Series E. The Indian startup scene is trucking right along, perhaps acting a bit as-if its government wasn’t increasingly authoritarian.
Shelf.io raised a $52.5 million Series B in what we’re somewhat considering a classic Tiger-led deal.
And the SPAC boom is not over yet, with yet another Virgin space company headed for the public markets.
Woo! And that’s the start to the week. Hugs from here, and we’ll chat you on Wednesday!
Equity drops every Monday (Read more...)

Equity Monday: Hacks, IPOs, and the next generation of American tech giants

August 16, 2021 by Alex Wilhelm
This post is by Alex Wilhelm from Fundings & Exits – TechCrunch

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here. I also tweet.
It’s a surreal day to talk about technology, but here we are. If you can pull your eyes away from the greater geopolitical tragedy that is our world today, here’s what we talked about:
T Mobile may have suffered a material breach. If this bears out, it could be a leading tech story for the week. Vice has confirmed that at least some of the data in the leak appears genuine.
Indian travel service ixigo is going public. The company’s IPO follows Zomato’s own domestic debut.
And speaking of IPOs, the Tencent Music offering in Hong Kong could be on hold until next year.
And a trio of American tech companies raised a raft of capital as last week concluded. Carta put together $500 million in a huge deal, as Chime raised $750 million. And as the week closed, Discord was reported to be hunting up a new round at a $15 billion price tag.
And stocks are set to open lower this morning. That’s the morning report. Equity is back on Wednesday.
Equity drops every Monday (Read more...)

Equity Monday: Apple’s privacy flap continues as crypto regulation looms

August 9, 2021 by Alex Wilhelm
This post is by Alex Wilhelm from Fundings & Exits – TechCrunch

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and me here.
It’s going to be a busy week, with a Samsung event and a host of earnings reports that we’ll have to pay attention to. But more important there are a few stories still dominating the news cycle:
Apple’s privacy choices: The American hardware company’s plans to scan iPhones for some illegal material is once again raising the issue of privacy versus safety.
China’s tech crackdown: The continued clampdown by regulators continued this weekend with Tencent once again under the spotlight.
The American crypto regulatory push: This is still causing waves this morning as Congress works to pass a major bill that could include crypto regulations that are opposed by industry leaders.
All that and we also riffed on the Siemens-Sqills deal, Cornerstone OnDemand going private, and Delivery Hero buying a piece of Deliveroo.
And, for added flavor and fun, Canopy Servicing just raised a $15 million Series A, while Siga OT Solutions raised a $8.1 million Series B.
All that, and we got to talk stocks! Hugs and love from the Equity crew — chat Wednesday!
(Read more...)

Equity Monday: China boosts pressure on its tech sector as Duolingo’s IPO looks to raise a few more bucks

July 26, 2021 by Alex Wilhelm
This post is by Alex Wilhelm from Fundings & Exits – TechCrunch

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and me here.
Ever wake up to just a massive wall of news? That was us this morning, so we had to pick and choose. But since this show is about getting you caught up, we decided to focus on the largest, broadest new information that we could:
Asian stocks were down, European shares are lower and U.S. equities are set to open underwater. Bitcoin had a great weekend, however.
China’s edtech crackdown continued over the weekend, with the country’s ruling party setting new rules for online tutoring companies; they can no longer go public and will be forced to become nonprofit entities. Chinese edtech stocks around the world fell.
China’s larger tech crackdown continued, with new moves against the present-day business models of both food delivery companies and Tencent Music. The former must ensure minimum incomes, while the latter must give up exclusive rights deals. Shares fell.
The Jam City SPAC is kaput. It will not be the last similar deal to fall apart.
And we chatted about this bit of Rivian news because it stood out to us.
All (Read more...)

Equity Monday: Cybersecurity startups see deluge of capital as Microsoft looks to buy RiskIQ

July 12, 2021 by Alex Wilhelm
This post is by Alex Wilhelm from Fundings & Exits – TechCrunch

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here.
It was a busy weekend for everyone, regardless of whether you were watching the technology, what Branson was up to, or the footie. I won’t take sides on the match, but I will say that it was gripping unto the very end and a great example of sport. Now, the news:
Microsoft is said to be hunting up the purchase of RiskIQ, a cybersecurity firm. The deal is reported to be worth around $500 million.
And this weekend, Twitter began to conform with new regulations in India, moves that come after it lost some legal protections during a scrap with the Indian government.
China’s tech market has been busy: News is out concerning ByteDance’s IPO delay, Tencent is being forced to drop some music label exclusivity, and the Chinese government recently blocked a merger of streaming giants in the country.
There’s big news out from Flipkart this morning, thanks to its recent and huge new funding round worth $3.6 billion.
And returning to the cybersecurity theme from earlier, startups in the sector are having a lovely (Read more...)

Equity Monday: China hates crypto, and the Vision Fund’s vision lives on

June 21, 2021 by Alex Wilhelm
This post is by Alex Wilhelm from Fundings & Exits – TechCrunch

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here.
Our live show is this week! And we’re very excited about it! Details here, and you can register here. It’s free, of course, so swing by and hang with us.
Back on theme, we had a lot to get through this morning, so inside the show you can find the following and more:
The Chinese cryptocurrency clampdown is a big damn deal: With lots of the nation’s mining capacity heading offline, there’s a scramble to relocate rigs and generally figure out what a crypto market sans China might look like.
In the wake of the news, the value of cryptocurrencies fell. As did shares of Coinbase this morning in pre-market trading.
Facebook’s Clubhouse rival is out. The American social giant follows Spotify into the live-audio market. You have to give it to modern software companies, who thought that they could be both leading tech shops and Kinko’s clones at the same time?
Revolut is unprofitable as hell but increasingly less so. That could be good news for fintech as a whole.
Amber Group raised $100 million; Forto raised (Read more...)

Equity Tuesday: Everyone is raising money at the same time

June 1, 2021 by Alex Wilhelm
This post is by Alex Wilhelm from Fundings & Exits – TechCrunch

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity ~~Monday~~ Tuesday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here.
We are back from a long weekend here in America. But not break here in the States can stop the flow of global tech news. So, here’s the rundown:
The Weekend: Tata bought BigBasket, setting up a fascinating ecommerce war in India. China is cracking down on edtech companies, leading to an IPO freeze. And Wejo is going public via a SPAC. You can read its investor deck here.
This Morning: The are a zillion funding rounds in Europe and globally this morning, the start of what could be a super busy week’s cycle. Private Equity is buying Cloudera, which is a surprise. Nio had chip shortage issues that impacted its delivery cadence. The Chinese EV company does expect to meet its Q2 delivery goal, however.
Funding Rounds: Truebill raised $45 million. Chipper Cash raised $100 million. Zenyum raised $40 million. WeFox raised $650 million. Malt raised $97 million. Sennder raised $80 million. idwall raised $38 million. Belvo raised $43 million. And that was not even close to (Read more...)

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