Alphabet is clearly looking to buy, so who's selling, and why did Wiz say no?

7 snips

Jul 26, 2024

Clio's monumental $900 million fundraise showcases growth in legal tech, even at late stages. Alphabet's $5 billion commitment to Waymo signals confidence in self-driving cars, despite a preference for human drivers. A 17-year-old founder raises $2.3 million from a high school bathroom pitch, inspiring many. Meanwhile, cybersecurity firm Wiz turns down a staggering $23 billion acquisition offer from Alphabet, raising questions about M&A dynamics. Lastly, recent banking policy shifts leave Ukrainian founders frustrated amid ongoing challenges.

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ANECDOTE

Clio's Success Story

Clio, a 16-year-old Canadian legal tech company, raised $900 million at a $3 billion valuation.
Their success is attributed to embedded payments and AI.

INSIGHT

Clio's Differentiator

Clio's established credibility in legal software over a decade contributes to their success.
Unlike newer AI-focused startups, Clio integrated AI into existing software, which is different.

ANECDOTE

Waymo's Funding and Skepticism

Alphabet will invest an additional $5 billion in Waymo, its self-driving car unit.
Despite Waymo providing over 50,000 paid rides weekly, both hosts prefer human drivers.

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This week felt like two weeks rolled into one. To kick things off, Mary Ann Azevedo walked everyone through Clio’s huge fundraise. The Canadian legal tech company raised $900 million at a $3 billion valuation — a very large sum anytime, but especially in this market. Impressively, the company is still growing rapidly, which isn't easy to do when you’re at such a late stage. We talked about the drivers behind that growth and how Clio differs from other legal tech startups raising capital these days.

Next up, Mary Ann and Rebecca Szkutak discussed Alphabet’s announcement this week that it would invest another up to $5 billion in Waymo. It’s an obvious vote of confidence on self-driving cars on Alphabet’s part, but both Becca and Mary Ann agreed on one thing: They’d prefer to stick with riding in cars with human drivers.

We closed out our deals of the week with a lively discussion on a 17-year-old founder and investor who pitched investors out of the stall of his high school bathroom. He just raised money for his startup, Aviato, and his story is an inspirational and fun read.

Next up was cybersecurity company Wiz turning down a $23 billion acquisition offer from Alphabet. We talked about potential reasons and looked at other examples of large M&A deals not working out.

We wrapped up Equity with a look at digital banking startup Mercury abruptly shuttering its service to founders located in certain countries, such as Ukraine. Founders were naturally not happy, but another fintech was waiting in the wings to help affected customers.

It was a super fun episode, so don’t miss giving it a listen!

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.

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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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