TechCrunch, Mary Ann Azevedo, Kell, Theresa Loconsolo, Rebecca Bellan, Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey, Margaux MacColl
The intersection of technology, startups, and venture capital touches everything now. That’s why Equity, TechCrunch's flagship podcast, digs into the business o...
Who knew you could get a $500 million valuation without launching a product?
AI agent startup /dev/agents announced a massive $56M seed round, putting the company’s valuation at a whopping $500 million. The amount is impressive given the company won’t have a first version of its product available until at least early next year. The reason behind investors’ trust, however, becomes a bit clearer when you consider the founders’ pedigree: /dev/agents’ co-founders were both on Google’s Android team during the early days of the smartphone era.
The round, as well as whether or not to include “slash” when pronouncing the company’s name, was the first of many deals discussed on today’s episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast.
Listen to the full episode to hear hosts Margaux MacColl, Devin Coldewey and Anthony Ha dig into:
How Yurts plans to become the DoD’s go-to AI integration platform and compete with AI chatbot the Pentagon is developing itself.
Why ServiceTitan’s IPO keeps getting weirder and if it’s a sign of IPOs to come.
The latest wave of VC turnover, including Brian Singerman’s choice to step back from Founders Fund and Sriram Krishnan’s departure from a16z, and where they’re going next. The crew was left wondering if we’ll see other investors following in Krishnan’s footsteps.
Strange AI. Who is David Mayer? And why does ChatGPT hate him so much?
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. Check out our full archive of episodes here.
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.
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29:57
'If you build it, they won't come': Bison Ventures founders on scaling frontier tech
How can founders scale frontier tech? Today on Equity, Rebecca Bellan is finding out with Tom Biegala and Ben Hemani, the co-founders of early-stage venture firm, Bison. Bison invests in what they call 'frontier tech' companies building in the material science, robotics, biotech, climate, and sustainability verticals.
Listen to the full episode to hear Rebecca and Bison's founding team discuss:
Why AI isn't a 'silver bullet' for biotech companies, although it is central to modern drug discovery
Which robotics startups are catching investors' eyes
How - and how not - to find product-market-fit when building frontier technology
When to seek out venture funding over grant funding
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 on TechCrunch.
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.
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30:55
Found: Taking on Nvidia and betting on transformers with Gavin Uberti from Etched
We hope those of you in the U.S. had a Happy Thanksgiving! And as a holiday treat this week, Equity is bringing you an episode of our sister show, Found.
AI startups are everywhere, but there can't be any innovation without proper computing power. Found hosts Becca and Dom sat down with Gavin Uberti, co-founder and CEO of Etched, an AI chip startup focusing on developing specialized chips. Gavin shares the bold bet his startup is making on transformer models for AI chips, aiming to take on industry giant Nvidia. They discuss how Etched is developing specialized chips that they claim will be an order of magnitude faster than competitors, and Uberti shares his insights on the future of AI hardware as models continue to rapidly scale up in size and capability.
Found posts every Tuesday. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to be alerted when new episodes drop. Check out the other TechCrunch podcast: Equity . Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each week.
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.
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39:55
Aerospace Corp's CEO talks literal moonshots and Space Agenda 2025
At this year's TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, President and CEO of the Aerospace Corporation Steve Isakowitz and Agency Chief Technologist at NASA A.C. Charanya Charania took the stage to discuss a literal moonshot: how to build a thriving lunar ecosystem. Today on Equity, we’re taking you behind the scenes of TechCrunch Disrupt once again, this time with Devin Coldewey at the helm.
For those keeping track, Devin’s kept the Equity podcast crew up to date on space startups over the past few months, including Starfish Space’s $29 million round and, more recently, SpaceX’s second commercial deal for the Starship lunar lander with Lunar Outpost.
Listen to the full conversation to hear Devin and Steve Isakowitz discuss:
What the path ahead looks like for space startups
The shift away from government-dominated space programs to a more commercial landscape
And what’s in store for Aerospace Corporation in 2025.
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate, and we’ll be back on Friday for a special episode from our sister podcast, Found.
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 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.
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12:18
The AI industry's 'next big bet,' and should we just buy Chrome?
Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey and Margaux MacColl dig into the week’s tech and startup news, including what a new scaling method could mean for AI startups if it works and for chip providers if it fails.
Listen to the full episode to hear about:
The DOJ’s latest proposal for Google: it should divest its Chrome browser. While we wait for a break in the monopoly case and a better search alternative to arise, the Equity crew thinks that Wiz might’ve been on to something when they said no to Alphabet.
Dual-use drone startup Tekever’s $74 million raise and its part in the European defense tech boom
How Converge Bio plans to build an ’everything store’ for biotech LLMs. While on the subject of LLMs, Kirsten took us deeper into ServiceTitan’s S-1, including its boilerplate warning about AI.
Network states 2.0. Margaux had the latest on Praxis’s unusual $525 million raise and the regions its founder is eyeing for a new city.
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 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.
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 enthusiasts alike. Every Wednesday and Friday, TechCrunch reporters keep you up-to-date on the world of business, technology, and venture capital.
Equity is ranked the No.2 podcast in the Top 100 Venture Capital All time leaderboard on Goodpods—As well as No.17 for the Top 100 Finance All time chart and No.32 for the Top 100 Business News All time chart.
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