Welcome to a recap of Equity, TechCrunch's flagship podcast about the business of startups. This episode is packed with deals, antitrust insights, AI, and more.
First, Kirsten explained that Elon Musk recently expressed his intention to move the headquarters of SpaceX and X from California to Texas. It remains to be seen whether Musk will follow through on this plan, but of course, the staff at Equity had an idea.
Then we talked about this week's deals.
First, we talked about Sequoia Capital emailing LPs from funds it raised between 2009 and 2011 with offers to buy up to $861 million in Stripe shares. The move is notable for two reasons. First, it's evidence that LPs are increasingly seeking liquidity in this dry IPO market. (So far in 2024, only four venture-backed tech IPOs have taken place in March and April: Reddit, Astera Labs, Ibotta, Rubrik.) Second, Sequoia's actions reflect the company's confidence not only in Stripe's future but also in its ability to ultimately exit in a way that provides a sufficient return for investors.
Next, Rebecca Beran led a discussion on how Andrei Karpathy, former head of AI at Tesla and researcher at OpenAI, is launching Eureka Labs, an “AI-native” education platform. There was a lively discussion about Karpathy's new initiative and when and how AI is appropriate in the classroom.
The deals section concludes with Mary Ann's scoop on PartnerOne's acquisition of HeadSpin, whose founder was sentenced to prison for fraud earlier this year, employees were upset they didn't get any options as part of the acquisition, and Marina Temkin reported this week that the deal was worth just $28 million.
The group then had an in-depth discussion about Silicon Valley's involvement in this year's election. Former President Donald Trump this week selected Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate in an attempt to reclaim the job he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020. Vance, best known for his autobiography “Hillbilly Elegy,” worked for many years as a venture capitalist before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022. We also discussed Andreessen Horowitz's vocal support for Trump and the startup-related reasons the firm's leaders support Republican candidates.
Lastly, in equity, we looked at the Latin American startup scene and how funding recovered in Q2, driven by later-stage funding in the fintech sector.
It was a great episode, so be sure to give it a listen!
Equity is TechCrunch's flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo and posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and allcasts.
To follow Equity X And check out Threads at @EquityPod For those who prefer reading over listening, check out our complete episode archive on Simplecast for full episode transcripts.