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

We had the whole gang together this week, which was fitting given the sheer number of news stories that we simply had to get through. So, what did Mary Ann and Natasha and Alex dive into? Here’s the rundown:

• A quick update on TikTok: The CEO of the popular social media service went before Congress yesterday. It was a pretty darn hostile meeting. Alex caught a chunk of it live, and also has a few thoughts on the matter.
• From there it was time for our ‘deals of the week’ section, which today included Duolingo’s new music product, a new DAO fund, and the latest eToro investment.
• Then it was time to talk payroll. We started with the Rippling deal to raise $500 million during the SVB crisis, and then discussed the larger HR tech space, which is both bigger and more valuable than we realized.
• We closed with AI. So, so much AI. Everyone and their least favored parental unit is building a large language model, and TechCrunch is busy covering it in all its glory, or lack thereof.

Whew! What a week. The show is back Monday morning. We’ll see you there.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website. 

Not-so-fake dry powder, AI and the future of DAOs by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch