Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This week was a lot of fun. Connie Lozios took the captain’s chair in San Francisco while I manned the sails, and we had Female Founders Fund’s founder Anu Duggal in the studio to round out our crew.
It was a week of conclusions. Our prior notes on YC and Uber and a few other things came home to roost. But, you’re busy so let’s sink our teeth into the good stuff:
Uber’s IPO lands in April: Right before we hit record, news broke that Uber’s IPO will land in April. This isn’t an unexpected result, but it is one that is long-expected. With Lyft’s S-1 live, and in the wild, it’s time for Uber to, ahem, shift and catch up? Regardless, the company’s possible $1 billion raise to fund its research arm is another indicator that Uber is serious about going public. You know, that, and the fact that it’s filed privately.
Q1 IPO pace was slack: Aside from Lyft’s public S-1, there’s been an annoying dearth of public progress on the IPO front from tech’s biggest players. Sure, some companies filed to go public privately, but that’s more annoying than helpful. My point here was undercut by the Uber news, but if Lyft doesn’t debut in March then it’s going to be a complete first-quarter miss.
Stash raises $65 million: Another of the neo-banks raised capital this month, with Stash stacking a fresh $65 million dollars. The firm was coy about the round’s participants (odd), and silent on its new valuation (more normal, but still annoying). What matters is that Stash now has more dosh on hand to compete with Chime and Acorns, each of which recently raised big new rounds this year.
Changes at YC: As expected, and presaged on this very show, Sam Altman is graduating himself to the chairman’s seat at Y Combinator. That and the firm is finding office space in San Francisco. That’s more evidence that the center of gravity has truly shifted here in Northen California. Sand Hill Road is more Route 66 than it is a hyperloop.
And with that failed attempt at a joke, I give up. We’re back in seven days!
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