The future of M&A and why founders are getting whiplash

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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. This is our Friday show, and we’re talking about the week’s biggest startup and tech news.

This week Mary Ann and Alex covered a host of news events, and even found time to dig up an old Natasha Mascarenhas post that has been vindicated recently. Here’s the rundown:

• Fintech + AI = ? News that Ramp and Brex are working to lever AI in the wake of reporting that Brex’s growth this year on a sequential-quarterly basis slowed had us thinking. Can AI help fintech startups grow more quickly? The fintech sector could use a boon at this juncture, perhaps this is it.
• Help, I drink too much: Alex dug up a recent venture round in the sobriety space. This time it was Sunnyside, which just raised $11.5 million for its subscription service that helps folks cut back on their drinking. We’ve discussed other players in the space before, including Reframe.
• What’s ahead for the startup M&A market? The Getir-FreshDirect deal had us thinking. Becca Szkutak thinks that it represents the sort of deal that we’ll see next year. Even more, we may see more, similar deals next year.
• Will AI help startups regain their former value? A recent report from Battery Ventures had Alex thinking about how AI-powered automation could help startups spend less as they grow; Rule of 40, here we come!
• Hormonal health will be is big: The Equity team dug into Allara the other week. Now we’re adding ​​Inito, which just raised $6 million, to our list of startups that are building in the hormonal health market. Natasha was right.

And that was the show! Next week is a holiday week here in the United States, so expect something special from us next Friday. We’ll be on our regular schedule Monday and Wednesday!