Who knew M&A would be the thing we couldn’t shut up about?

Equity

TechCrunch

Entrepreneurship, Business News, News, Business, Technology

4.2 • 372 Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This is our startup-focused, Wednesday episode, so today we're counting down important venture rounds, and chatting our way through other startup and VC news. Here's what we got into: Artisse AI's seed round caught our eye for two big reasons: First, its selfie app is cool; and second, despite competing in a crowded space, it's seen revenue climb rapidly. It's gotta be doing something right. Elsewhere, Bilt Rewards is proof that fintech is still alive and kicking, and Kittl is another example of a European startup taking on a massive global market. And Bulk Exchange has raised $4.5 million, and I'm still shocked at how far Byju's has fallen. In Venture Capital Land, General Catalyst might buy an Indian venture capital firm — further evidence of just how critical India might prove in the coming years for tech companies. Also: some former Xerox investors have their own new fund to report. We'll be digging into the Brex situation on Friday, so stay tuned for more about fintech soon! For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website. Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 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 and more! Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome back to Equity, the Tech Runch Podcast, where we unpack the numbers and the nuance behind the headlines.
0:17.0	Today is January 24th, 2004.
0:21.0	This is out.
0:22.0	Welcome to our Wednesday show,
0:24.0	where we dig into the critical startup and venture capital stories
0:27.0	from the week thus far.
0:29.0	As a reminder, this is our newly revamped Wednesday show format.
0:33.3	So if you have comments or feedback,
0:35.4	send them in to EquityPod at Techruncher.
0:37.9	We are always listening.
0:39.1	We want you to get what you need.
0:41.4	And speaking of things that you're going to get, well, on the show today we have Artis AI's
0:46.2	new capital round and what that says about consumer demand for AI products, built rewards,
0:51.3	massive new round that I wish had existed back when I was renting
0:54.4	and how Kittle is taking on Conva. Then we have a handful of smaller items
0:59.2	including what bulk exchange is up to and then we'll wrap up the pod today with a couple of venture
1:04.7	capital stories including a new fund from former corporate investors.
1:09.5	To work. First up, Artis. Now, this is one of the many AI photo creation apps out there that let
1:20.2	users generate photos of themselves. It just put together a 6.7 million dollar seed round
1:26.4	following what Tech Ranch calls AI Selfies viral moment.
1:30.5	Now similar to other companies on the market, Artis users upload photos of themselves to train the company's AI on their own images and then use a text or image prompt to essentially create new photos of themselves across various settings,
1:45.0	postures, and styles.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from TechCrunch, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of TechCrunch and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.