Outsized seed rounds, neobanks and spicy M&A? Well hello, 2023

@nmasc_ / @bayareawriter / @rebecca_szkutak / 7:00 am PST • February 17, 2023

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

This week, Natasha Mascarenhas, Mary Ann Azevedo and Rebecca Szkutak got on the mic to talk startups, pet peeves and focaccia. What else did you expect?

Here’s what we got into:

Descope landed a $53 million (!) seed round, a Phenomenal new venture fund and a neobank out to make credit more accessible to young people in Mexico.
Then we pivoted to talk about buy now, pay later (BNPL), which included some chatter about Affirm’s recent woes and which areas of BNPL that do seem to be growing despite questions around whether this is the end of the BNPL boom as we know it.
Tech layoffs are as widespread as ever so we talked about what advice some VCs have for those laid off workers considering launching their own startups, and what we thought of that advice.
Finally, we ended with a jump over the pond to talk about EU’s tech scene. Mostly about the fact that it is far more put together than the U.S., and all that jazz.

With that, we’ll be skipping the upcoming week’s Equity Monday due to the holiday and be back with more on Wednesday, led by Becca!

Equity drops at 10:00 a.m. PT every Monday and at 7:00 a.m. PT on Wednesdays and Fridays, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders, one that details how our stories come together and more!