Acquisitions are heating up, and Mercury eyes the fintech crown

May 10, 2024

Great news for FTX victims as they could reclaim billions, despite the crypto market's twists. Amae Health is making waves in mental healthcare with an in-person approach in a digital world. Motional faces hurdles with its robotaxi plans, while an intriguing North Carolina startup shifts from drone cleaning to robotics. Mercury expands into the crowded fintech arena, and M&A activity sees a refreshing uptick, with AI playing a role. The hosts also bid farewell to a cherished member, celebrating their journey together.

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ANECDOTE

FTX Payout

FTX victims are unexpectedly receiving some funds back, including interest.
However, this payout is less than the potential crypto appreciation had they held onto their assets.

INSIGHT

Amae Health's Approach

Amae Health offers comprehensive in-person mental healthcare services.
This approach addresses the limitations of virtual therapy for severe mental health issues.

INSIGHT

Motional's Shift in Strategy

Motional is halting commercial robotaxi operations and delaying its fully driverless launch to 2026.
The company will restructure and focus on core technology development after receiving funding from Hyundai.

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Finally, some good news! This week, we were pleasantly surprised to see that FTX victims would be getting some money back – even if it’s not as much as they might have hoped.

That wasn’t all, though: Mary Ann Azevedo, Kirsten Korosec, and Alex Wilhelm had plenty else to talk about this week on Equity.

We discussed why investors are drawn to the fact that Amae Health is building an in-person approach to mental healthcare in an increasingly digital space and also how one North Carolina startup that started out by building drones to clean windows in tall buildings has also become a robotics company.

Kirsten helped us understand what was behind Motional’s decision to delay its commercial robotaxi plans amid restructuring, and the greater context around that.

We then dug into digital banking startup Mercury’s plans to branch out into software, and how it now fits into the increasingly crowded spend management landscape. And, we riffed on the fact that we covered three M&A deals this week (read about them here, here and here) and how refreshing that was considering M&A activity has been lighter than expected. (Spoiler alert: AI was involved in at least two of them).

Last but certainly not least, we close out the show with an announcement. After 7 amazing years, Alex's time with the podcast, and TechCrunch, is coming to a close. We're excited to see what he does next, but we are sure going to miss him dearly. Thank you for everything, Alex!

This is not, however, the end of Equity. We'll be back bright and early Monday morning with your tech and startup news, along with another round of Pitch Deck Teardown. Talk soon! Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast.

Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

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