Equity Monday: Tech’s stance on change, two funding rounds and fintech layoffs

@alex / 6:51 am PDT • June 1, 2020

Good morning and welcome back to TechCrunch’s Equity Monday, a brief jumpstart for your week.

A big thanks to the whole Equity crew for doing a stellar job last week with the show while I was on vacation, especially to Danny for taking on this particular installment of the podcast. Equity Monday is still pretty new, frankly, so him stepping up and into the role was a huge boon. Thanks, Danny.

Right, so, what did we talk about today?

In the face of outrageous police action and systemic racism, most of tech — both public and private, alike — said something or did something in the last few days. We go over some of the latest statements and pledges from the VC and startup world in the episode, but do take a look for yourself and decide if what’s been done and said is enough.
For more, read this.
Coming up this week: Zoom earnings. Zoom’s earnings report matters a bit more than a regular digest of three-months’ worth of corporate performance. The company is a key plank in the group of companies that have been buoyed by the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning that investors that have made similar bets will have their eyes on the videochatting giant’s results. And, SaaS and cloud stocks are trading at all-time highs. If Zoom can turn in good numbers, that run might be able to continue.
Tia Health put together nearly $25 million for women-centric telehealth.
Beam, a micromobility startup headquartered in Singapore, raised $26 million.
And, finally, fintech layoffs. I was off last week but was a bit surprised at the number of fintech companies that were cutting staff. Why? Well, we have a guess or two on that count. (You can read more here, and here, from our own Natasha Mascarenhas for background).

Equity will be back Friday morning with more. Welcome to the week, and please help others as much as you can.

Equity drops every Monday at 7:00 AM PT and Friday at 6:00 am PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.

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