Uber shuts down alcohol delivery service Drizly | Equity Podcast

This episode is sponsored by Morgan Stanley atw work visit morganstanley.com Assessment to get your free transaction Readiness assessment [Music] Today hello and welcome back to equity The Tech runch podcast about the Business of startups where we unpack the Numbers and the Nuance behind the Headlines this is Alex good morning it's January 16th 2024 and from where I'm Sitting it's still snowing so if you're In a warmer part of the world Congratulations I'm jealous anyways the Show today shall be hot because we are Going to start with stocks and crypto Then we have startup news including a Shutdown a 2 million do seed raise and a Little bit about fintech then there's a New king of smartphone sales in a Shrinking market and then AI Hardware it Turns out is a big hit let's Go let's start start with the world of Money and that means the stock market if You spend the globe Shares are lower Over in Asia today and they are also Lower in Europe this morning the red ink Persists to the United States where Stocks are set to fall in pre-market Trading again it's a short week keep That in mind but still we can do a lot Of damage in four trading days now on The earnings front there is only one Company you need to know of this week

And that is the Taiwan semiconductor Manufacturing Company better known as Tsmc it will drop its Q4 numbers this Thursday now we already got its partial December results so I doubt that there's Going to be big shocks in these earnings But guidance could be pretty interesting If chips are your thing elsewhere there Is a lot of financial earnings this week So if you see banking headlines that's Why don't worry about it next week will Start to bring us the big Tech earnings So if you don't like numbers of that Sort this is your last week of freedom Because the tech Deluge begins next week And then there was crypto where I have For you a Puzzler after the launch of a Host of Bitcoin spot ETFs last week the Value of Bitcoin itself is uh off about 8% in the last week one Bitcoin will Cost you about $43,000 this morning and if you want More on all the spot Bitcoin ETF stuff Well over on Chain Reaction our sister Show Jackie melanic did a great Interview with the CEO of grayscale that I wholly recommend to you meanwhile Ethereum's token ether which in contrast Did not get a spot ETF last week is up Nearly 11% in the last seven days so What gives well we could be seeing a Classic case of buy the rumor sell the News but I think just more realistically We need more time to see what impact the

New Bitcoin investing Vehicles will have On the price of Bitcoin before we come To any firm conclusions elsewhere in Crypto tether a stable coin pegged to The US dollar is creeping closer to to $100 billion worth of circulating Supply Which according to my math is a lot usdc A rival stable coin built by Circle A Company that filed privately to go Public last week has about $25 billion Worth of circulating Supply to its name For [Music] Reference next up it's time for the Heart of the show what I call big news That matters and the news that I think Matters the most this morning is some Startup news involving a former startup Called drizzly and Uber is killing it Let me summarize sometimes the startup With a silly name becomes a meme and Then dies sometimes the startup with a Silly name sells to Uber for 1.1 billion And then later dies and of course Sometimes the startup with a silly name Eventually becomes alphabet anyways Alcohol delivery business drizzly is Getting the hammer according to axios Just 3 years after it sold to the ride Hailing giant now Uber will instead Focus on Uber Eats instead which has is A different product than what drizzly Itself offered so yes you can still get Booze shipped to your house if that is

Your jam 10 points though to the drizzly Team for selling when the market was hot And getting top dollar I guess sorry to Uber shareholders but we care more about The small companies here than the big Ones and speaking of dollars spot Technologies just raised 2 million of Them what does the L Salvador based Artificial intelligence startup do well Techwrench writes that the company is And I quote developing Cloud technology That turns cameras in retail and Logistics locations into an intelligent System tracking consumer behavior and Security I mean look I'm never going to Get up and cheer too loudly for more Surveillance Tech but I am sure that What spot Technologies is building has a Market and it's cool to see startups That are built in countries that we Don't hear often enough do well and Raise capital is your company planning To go public or conduct a shareholder Liquidity program within the next 18 to 24 months did you know that proactively Planning for your next private company Liquidity event or IPO can help you Maintain greater control over timelines And outcomes Morgan Stanley at work Believes that when you have the right Technology and systems in place working In harmony leading up to a transaction You can prepare and execute with more Accuracy and ease visit

Morganstanley.com for/ assessment to Connect with their issuer strategy and Excellence team for a free assessment to Find out if your company is transaction Ready again that's morganstanley.com Assessment to get your free assessment Today elsewhere in Venture Capital news Techr Zone Tage K Okafor broke the news This morning that Cuda KU a Nigerian online Challenger Bank Raised $20 million in the middle of 2023 At a flat valuation to the $500 million Price tag it raised $55 million ATB back In 2021 it's always good to defend a 2021 valuation no matter the Circumstances but don't think that Cuda Hasn't been busy teun reports that the Company quote managed to grow its user Base fivefold since 2021 by servicing Nigerians both at home and abroad having Expanded to the UK in late 2022 of Course the UK Market is very Fierce for Neo Banks but there are good things Happening at Cuda the Neo Bank concluded 2022 with nearly $20 million in an ual IED revenues according to our reporting That number nothing to sniff at is dated So we can presume that Cuda is a lot Larger today than it was then how much Bigger well Cuda projected $40 million In revenue for 2023 but declined to Comment to tequ on how close to or how Far it bested that figure see fintech Isn't doomed sometimes it just needs

More Time back to crypto being a Puzzler a Crypto exchange is raising money in 2024 who would have thought in this case It's Hong Kong based hash key which Raised quote nearly $100 million at a $1.2 billion evaluation now the company Crowed about its regulatory posture in a Release which we think is critical for Any crypto company operating in China But what blew our mind is that a crypto Exchange is Raising in 2024 after the Binance and FTX messes of last year you Got to love how bold some people are and Frankly maybe the market really does Need what hash key has on offer this is Just not the way we thought we were Going to start the [Music] Year all right let's talk about Hardware Because for the first time since 2010 IDC reports that Apple sold more Smartphones last year than any other Company Samsung was the firm that Apple Knocked off the top slot so if you are a Samsung Die Hard well I'm sorry however The good news for Apple Apple fans kind Of stops there IDC also reports that Global smartphone shipments fell by a Modest 3.2% last year to 1.17 billion units now is that number Good or bad well it was the lowest sales Figure for a full calendar year quote in A decade according to IDC the bright

Lining here is that Q4 smartphone sales Rose more than expected so perhaps 2024 Won't be a repeat of 2023 when it comes To hand set sales but let's be honest at More than 1 billion units yearly how Much bigger can the smartphone market Get without more total humans using the Devices on a daily basis so as we've Said on the show before perhaps we have Reached and passed Peak smartphone in Related news my iPhone 11 is Trucking Along quite happily and I see no real Reason to replace it perhaps that's part Of the Problem sticking to Apple sticking to Hardware good news to all the runners Out there because because Apple watch Sales in the US are not going to stay in Their legal sales limbo due to what tech Wrenches Daryl Errington calls a Software fix that will disable quote the Pulse oximetry features on models of the Devices going forward now Apple had run Into patent Trouble Over the feature Which it will be able to kill off via a Mere software update so sorry if you use That feature but surely Apple will be Happy to know that it can keep selling Its popular Gadget just Sans one feature Elsewhere in Hardware Land rabbit an AI Hardware startup announced that it sold Out of its fourth batch of Hardware that Means it has sold $40,000 of its $199 Devices very very cool and adds up to

Just under about $8 million in Revenue If my math holds up and closing two Small Notes One Microsoft is rolling out Its productivity helping co-pilot Service to Consumers and not just Enterprise customers of it Microsoft 365 Product which makes us ask the following Question where does open AI end and Microsoft start or the other way around And finally for the day Microsoft just Landed a huge $1.5 billion deal with Vone to use its Ai and Cloud tools again Open AI Microsoft what is the Difference that's a wrap friends we are Out of here but don't forget we are back On Wednesday which is tomorrow this week Because this week is only 4 days long if You need even more of us though we are Equity Pond over on X and threads and if You want more of me well I'm Alex over On X as I mentioned before we do have Some sister shows Chain Reaction all Things crypto found all things Founders We'll talk to you soon hugs we're out of Here Equity is hosted by myself editor And chief of Tech runch Plus Alex Wilhelm and Tech runch senior reporter Mary an aeto we are produced by Teresa Loans solo with editing by Kell Bryce Durban is our illustrator and a big Thank you to the audience development Team and Henry pette who manages Tech Wrench audio products thank you so much For listening and we'll talk to you next

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