TechCrunch

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Kanaal • 2 programma’s

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3 DGN GELEDEN

Wiz's first investor breaks down Google's $32B acquisition

According to Index Ventures Partner Shardul Shah, cybersecurity startup Wiz sits “at the center of three tailwinds: AI, cloud, and security spend.” Those tailwinds powered what just became the largest venture-backed acquisition in history — Google's $32 billion deal, finalized after a declined 2024 offer, antitrust review on both sides of the Atlantic, and an extra $9 billion to sweeten the pot. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Anthony Ha, Rebecca Bellan, and Sean O'Kane sit down with Shah to dig into what made Wiz worth that price tag, and also cover more of the week's headlines. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why a DOGE employee allegedly walked out of the Social Security Administration with a thumb drive full of personal data, and the questions it raises about access to sensitive systems Taya and Sandbar, the latest startups betting voice is the next big AI interface — but do normal consumers agree? Palmer Luckey raising for a retro gaming startup at a $1 billion valuation Meta’s acquisition of Moltbook, the viral AI agent social network The latest in the Anthropic vs. DoD saga, including tech workers at OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft signing their names on a legal brief in support of Anthropic Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:16 Did a DOGE employee steal your SSN? 02:53 AI note-taking wearables are back: Taya & Sandbar 09:18 Palmer Lucky's retro gaming startup ModRetro 13:39 Meta acquires AI agent social network Moltbot 18:54 Inside Google's $32B Wiz acquisition with Shardul Shah 28:41 Anthropic's lawsuit against the DoD 38:40 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 dgn geleden

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41 min
5 DGN GELEDEN

How Poppi went from a Shark Tank pitch to a $1.95B exit

For years, venture capitalists have been skeptical of beverage startups, citing thin margins and brutal distribution as reasons most brands never break out. But a new wave of “functional soda” companies has been challenging that assumption, including Poppi, the prebiotic soda brand that grew from a kitchen experiment into a $1.95 billion acquisition by PepsiCo. On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan is joined by Poppi co-founder Allison Ellsworth to talk about building a beverage startup in a venture world dominated by SaaS and AI. From pitching on Shark Tank while nine months pregnant to scaling a digital-first brand during COVID, and now returning as a Shark herself, Ellsworth shares how social media, fast marketing bets, and customer feedback helped turn a niche drink into a category-defining company. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Ellsworth’s Shark Tank return, and how she evaluates founders on the other side of the pitch. How Ellsworth turned a personal health issue into Poppi and built early traction at farmers' markets. Why TikTok and community-driven marketing helped the brand rack up billions of views and loyal fans. The risky decision to buy a last-minute Super Bowl ad, and how the team executed it in days. What it’s like selling a startup to PepsiCo while trying to preserve the brand’s identity. Why beverage startups almost inevitably need acquisition-level distribution to scale. 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

5 dgn geleden

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28 min
27 FEB

Who's really running AI? Inside the billion-dollar battle over regulation, with Alex Bores

The Pentagon is playing chicken with Anthropic over who gets to control how the military uses AI while communities across the country are blocking data center construction. As the AI debate has been flattened to “doomers versus boomers,” one state legislator is attempting to walk a middle road. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan sits down with Alex Bores, New York Assembly member and congressional candidate. Bores sponsored New York's first-of-its-kind AI safety law the RAISE Act — and quickly became the target of a Silicon Valley super PAC with $125 million to spend on attack ads. Listen to the full episode to hear about: The dueling super PACs now fighting over AI's future, and why Anthropic's $20 million bet on the pro-regulation side matters. What the RAISE Act actually requires, why it's being called the blueprint for AI regulation nationwide. Whether AI regulation ends up looking like finance and biotech or goes the way of social media — largely unregulated until the damage is done. What's coming next from Bores’ office: bills on training data disclosure, content provenance, and a 43-point national AI framework. 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

27 feb

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23 min
26-12-2025

Equity's 2026 Predictions: AI Agents, Blockbuster IPOs, and the Future of VC

TechCrunch's Equity crew is bringing 2025 to a close and getting ahead on the year to come with our annual predictions episode! Hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Rebecca Bellan were joined by Build Mode host Isabelle Johansson to dissect the year's biggest tech developments, from mega AI funding rounds that defied expectations to the rise of "physical AI," and make their calls for 2026. The group tackles everything from why AI agents didn't live up to the hype in 2025 (but probably will in 2026), to how Hollywood will push back against AI-generated content, to why VCs are facing a serious liquidity crisis. Listen to the full episode to hear: Why world models are the next big thing in AI and how they're different from large language models The death of "stealth mode" for AI startups and the rise of alternative funding sources Predictions on regulatory chaos around AI policy and what Trump's recent executive order means for startups Hot takes on IPOs: Will OpenAI and Anthropic actually go public in 2026? Rapid-fire predictions including Johnny Ive and Sam Altman's inevitable public breakup, the return of dumb phones, and why everyone will be calling themselves "AI native" What's coming in Build Mode season 2: A deep dive into team building, hiring, and finding co-founders Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:43 - Rating our 2025 predictions 04:19 - Funding in the bubble era 06:35 - World models and the future of AI 09:05 - The year of AI agents (for real this time) 11:58 - Physical AI everywhere 15:19 - AI meets Hollywood 16:25 - Regulatory chaos and federal preemption 18:34 - The liquidity crisis and LP direct investing 22:19 - IPO predictions for 2026 23:57 - Startup trends for 2026 27:06 - Buzzwords we're sick of hearing 28:15 - Rapid fire predictions 32:50 - What's next for Build Mode Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

26-12-2025

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35 min
6 FEB

How far will Elon Musk take the ‘everything’ business as SpaceX and xAI merge?

Elon Musk has merged SpaceX and xAI, creating what might be the blueprint for a new Silicon Valley power structure. With his $800 billion net worth already rivaling historic conglomerate GE's peak market cap, and Musk being vocal about his view that "tech victory is decided by velocity of innovation," the question isn't whether a personal conglomerate can be built, but rather how far Musk himself is going to take it. Today on Equity, we're unpacking this new era of the "everything" business, whether we'll see others like Sam Altman follow suit, and more of the week's headlines. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Waymo's new $16B funding and why Alphabet staying as majority owner matters for an eventual IPO Why everyone from Intel to Tesla is trying to break Nvidia's AI chip dominance ElevenLabs’ $11B valuation, and why some investors are doubling — and quadrupling — down as it moves beyond voice AI Positron's $230M bet on power-efficient chips as the next frontier 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

6 feb

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39 min
18 FEB

Google Cloud's VP for startups on reading your "check engine light" before it's too late

Startup founders are being pushed to move faster than ever, using AI while facing tighter funding, rising infrastructure costs, and more pressure to show real traction early. Cloud credits, access to GPUs, and foundation models have made it easier to get started, but those early infrastructure choices can have unforeseen consequences once startups move beyond free credits and into real cloud bills. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan caught up with Darren Mowry, Google Cloud’s vice president of global startups who is right at the center of those tradeoffs. Together, they discuss what Mowry’s seeing across the startup ecosystem, how Google Cloud is competing for AI startups, and what founders should be thinking about as they scale. Listen to the full episode to hear about: How Google positions against AWS and Microsoft in the AI startup race. TPUs vs GPUs: How much does hardware choice matter for early-stage companies? Which AI verticals are seeing real growth, and what’s standing out in biotech, climate tech, developer tools, and world models. What red flags will signal that a startup isn’t going to make it. 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

18 feb

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32 min
2 JAN

How AI is reshaping work and who gets to do it, according to Mercor's CEO

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2 jan

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25 min
20 FEB

Why creators are ditching ad revenue for chocolate bars and fintech acquisitions

The creator economy is evolving fast, and ad revenue alone isn't cutting it anymore. YouTubers are launching product lines, acquiring startups, and building actual business empires. Even MrBeast's company bought fintech startup Step, and his chocolate business is outearning his media arm. This isn't just one creator's strategy. It's the new playbook. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Rebecca Bellan unpack how creators are diversifying beyond ads, what happens when influence becomes infrastructure, and whether this model can scale beyond the top 1%. Listen to the full episode to hear about: How Date Drop raised “a few million” on the idea that one curated match per week can fix college dating burnout Ex-Tesla VP Drew Baglino's $140M raise for solid-state transformers powering AI data centers The handshake that didn't happen: Sam Altman and Dario Amodei's moment at India's AI summit India's $200B AI infrastructure push and why its first AI IPO flopped ByteDance's Seadance 2.0 and whether AI video tools democratize creativity or just create an endless flood of content 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

20 feb

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33 min
11 FEB

Glean’s fight to own the AI layer inside every company

Enterprise AI is shifting fast from chatbots that answer questions to systems that actually do the work across an organization. But who will own the AI layer that powers all of it? Glean, which started as an enterprise search product, has evolved into what it calls an “AI work assistant,” aiming to sit underneath other AI experiences, connecting to internal systems, managing permissions, and delivering intelligence wherever employees work. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan sits down with Glean’s CEO and founder Arvind Jain at Web Summit Qatar to break down how enterprises are thinking about AI architecture, what's driving consolidation, and what's real versus hype in the agent space. Listen to the full episode to hear about: The fight between bundled AI from tech titans like Microsoft, Google and platform layers like Glean and its competitors. How AI adoption is reshaping leadership and organizational design. Why permissions and governance are harder problems than most companies realize. 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

11 feb

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30 min
9 JAN

CES 2026 was all about “physical AI” and robots, robots, robots

After years of chatbots and image generators, AI is finally leaving the screen. At CES 2026, that shift became impossible to ignore. The annual tech showcase in Las Vegas was dominated by "physical AI" and robotics, from Boston Dynamic's newly redesigned Atlas humanoid robot to AI-powered ice makers (yes, really). The companies in attendance clearly want consumers to know: AI isn't just capable of answering questions anymore. It's ready to movecar parts in factories, catchcatching drones with net guns, and dance in automaker booths. Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane break down everything we saw at CES 2026 and more deals from the week that caught our eye. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Discord’s rumored IPO, years after shutting down a Microsoft acquisition xAI's massive $20 billion raise and the dark side of Grok's content moderation failures How Mobileye is getting into the humanoid robotics game with its acquisition of Mentee Robotics OpenAI's potential shift toward audio-first, screenless AI experiences Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 00:38 - Discord's surprise IPO filing 03:24 - xAI's $20B raise amid CSAM controversy 11:06 - Mobileye's pivot to humanoid robotics 14:41 - Physical AI takes over CES 18:31 - Why humanoid robots still don't make sense 24:26 - OpenAI's war on screens and ambient computing 29:56 - Wrap-up 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

9 jan

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34 min

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Topprogramma’s

Wiz's first investor breaks down Google's $32B acquisition

How Poppi went from a Shark Tank pitch to a $1.95B exit

Who's really running AI? Inside the billion-dollar battle over regulation, with Alex Bores

Equity's 2026 Predictions: AI Agents, Blockbuster IPOs, and the Future of VC

How far will Elon Musk take the ‘everything’ business as SpaceX and xAI merge?

Google Cloud's VP for startups on reading your "check engine light" before it's too late

How AI is reshaping work and who gets to do it, according to Mercor's CEO

Why creators are ditching ad revenue for chocolate bars and fintech acquisitions

Glean’s fight to own the AI layer inside every company

CES 2026 was all about “physical AI” and robots, robots, robots

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