Equity Live: Self-flying helicopters, AI and the battle of the features

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

We were live at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023! Yes, even though our dear friend and colleague Mary Ann had to handle a family emergency, the larger Equity family rallied to put on a rollicking early-morning show at the venue. From the Builders’ stage where Alex had to introduce himself, Kirsten Korosec and Becca Szkutak rounded out our hosting crew and we had a blast.

Here’s the rundown:

• Instacart went public! Finally, at last, at long last, Instacart is a public company. It priced at $30, the top-end of its raised range, and then went on to trade higher. More here, but a solid result.
• Joby is all-in on the Buckeye state: What has batteries and goes straight up? EVTOLs, apparently, even if that acronym is a bit of a mouthful. Kirsten reports that a TechCrunch scoop was borne out when Joby picked Ohio for its manufacturing hub. A lot of state-derived help did not hurt, either.
• Elder tech is a growth market: Becca wanted to talk about her latest Deal Dive, which was all about getting senior citizens to move. Exercise is a pretty massive hack for a healthy body and life. We also had to point out that a graying world means that elder tech is only seeing expanding TAM.
• Writer brings back nine-figure joy! And to close out, Alex wanted to riff on the latest Writer round, which is building a generative AI service for other companies. With some demonstrated traction, and a model that we think seems well rounded, Writer is one to watch.

Whew! The Equity crew is all over Disrupt for the next few days so make sure to say hello!