Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
We had the full crew on hand this week with Matthew Lynley, Katie Roof, and myself, along with Mar Hershenson from Pear Ventures who stepped into the guest chair. It was a damn busy week, with news raining down from the skies. We had to pick the best, so we went with the biggest rounds and exits. You are welcome.
First up, Spotify’s massive not-really-an-IPO, which has a listed $1 billion maximum raise that won’t happen. Indeed, the company is racing ahead with its direct listing, which should see the firm just start trading. You need to get under the hood of its numbers to grok the music streaming business. But, to be clear, if anyone is making money off of streaming, it certainly isn’t Spotify.
Next up we chatted about the Dropbox IPO in light of Box’s recent earnings (and what Box’s recent earnings did for its revenue multiple). Dropbox publicly filed when Box was valued at essentially all-time-highs. Now, after Box shed about a quarter of its value, one of Dropbox’s most critical market comps is worth a lot less.
Also in the news this week was Amazon’s $1 billion purchase of Ring, a connected home company. The value of the deal was actually greater than $1 billion, though no one seems to know precisely how much more. Even more, it’s not the only deal in the space worth mentioning.
All that and we found time to noodle about DoorDash’s massive SoftBank feast, which far more than doubled its capital raised to date. Spending $100 billion, as it turns out, is hard.
Stay cool, and we’ll be back in precisely a week’s time unless something huge happens.1
1 Please god no we need a quiet week.
Equity drops every Friday at 6:00 am PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Downcast and all the casts.
