Equity Monday: All that VC dry powder is damper than you think
Natasha is back in the Bay after five weeks away, so some could say: San Francisco is back. She started off with some big tech news for Salesforce, Thoma Bravo, and Microsoft, then hopped into the Big Idea around VC's dry powder, and ended with some good news, some bad news and what to look out for in the startup world
Equity · TechCrunch, Rebecca Bellan, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, Sean O'Kane, Theresa Loconsolo
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Show Notes
Here's what Natasha got into now that she's back in The Bay:
- Big tech: Real quick, you should know that Elliott Management took a multi-billion stake in Salesforce, while Thoma Bravo scooped up a digital forensics company for $1.34 billion. Beyond that, the big tech news this week is Microsoft's multi-billion dollar, multi-year investment in Open AI. The extended partnership comes with lots of resources, quirks and legal headaches.
- Big idea: we're still thinking about this Anna Heim analysis, "The mirage of dry powder." Natasha talks about wet capital and failed capital calls, as to contextualize (not shut down!) some of the optimism in the market right now. (Use code "EQUITY" for 50% an annual TC+ membership).
- Big innovation (or in this case, reductions): Google's in-house incubator, Area 120, was severely impacted by Alphabet layoffs and Spotify cut 6% of staff, two layoff stories that had us thinking all about the fact that tech seems to have forgotten its umbrella. We end with tongue-twister note on Quordle, which just got scooped up by Merriam-Webster.
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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.
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