Some good news, some Better.com news

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

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, and have a little fun. This week Mary Ann and Alex were joined by our regular guest host Kirsten Korosec, who is both a tremendous journalist and a great person to chat startups with.

Here’s what the gang got into:

FTX’s former CEO SBF is heading to jail: We struggled to find much pity for the former celebrity executive.
Better.com is going public: After much controversy Better.com’s SPAC merger is a go. The deal is a fundraising mechanism by our understanding, though we had a bit of a tough time coming up with a bull case for the company in the present moment.
Monday.com’s growth: Alex has kept tabs on the earnings cycle as always, which led him to write rather kind things about Monday.com’s most recent quarterly results. In short, the former startup is posting quick and cutting its losses and generating lots of cash. What’s not to like?
Vinfast went public, and investors are stoked: Another SPAC deal for the list today is the Vinfast debut. Vietnamese EV company Vinfast is now worth more than many major auto companies, despite falling revenues and massive unprofitability. So what, says the market.
The IRA turns one: The Inflation Reduction Act’s impact on American manufacturing is big, and growing. Europe might have been irked to start, but it appears that fans of domestic production have found their champion.
The fundraising market: To close out the show we chatted about Becca’s recent article on new venture funds raised by women, and a quick look at the pre-seed market for all the founders out there.

That’s all from us this week. We are back Monday morning, chat then!