A ping-pong match between bulls and bears

In Equity, we unpack the numbers behind the headlines, where we discuss the business of startups.

We were once again at full strength this week, with Alex,Natasha, Mary Ann, and Grace.

We are in an odd time, that's what you can tell from the topic list. There are many signals that the startup market is slowing down. There are counter-narrative data points that show a more complex picture. Where do you stand? For some data to consider, read on.

• Natasha gave us a brief update on All Raise’s annual VC summit, but she’ll get into more on an upcoming Wednesday show (stay tuned!)
• Monte Carlo just raised a unicorn round, worth $135 million at a $1.6 billion valuation. On the other hand, Bolt is laying off staff amidst a correction in the larger startup market, and perhaps its own space.
• If startup news is pointing in two directions, so too are data from the venture capital world. While Sequoia is warning founders about a downturn, a16z just raised a king’s ransom to pour into the web3 market. Parse that as you will.
• There were other bits of news to consider as we work to understand where the startup world truly is today, including news from Zip and Nowports — two newly-minted unicorns that Mary Ann recently profiled.
• And we closed on, what else, drama in fintech. As Stripe and Plaid gear up to battle, Finix is either in the fray, or about to jump in, depending on your perspective. What’s clear is that increasingly overlapping fintech giants are going to rub up against one another. You can read more about that in The Interchange, out on Sunday.

We will talk to you next week.

Equity goes down on Mondays at 7 a.m. Wednesday and Friday are at 6 a.m. You can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, and all the casts.

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