The podcast dives into the ongoing NFT boom, noting a record sale by Beeple. It dissects recent IPOs, focusing on Coupang's logistics edge and Roblox's listing challenges. Coursera's transition to degree offerings is analyzed, revealing revenue model hurdles. The rise of Preply in the tutoring market and strategic moves by Dropbox and Zapier highlight competitive dynamics in EdTech. Finally, barriers to Bitcoin access and the emergence of new search engines like Neva are discussed, emphasizing the challenges of competing with Google.
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Beeple's Record-Breaking NFT Sale
Beeple, a digital artist, sold an NFT artwork for $69.3 million at Christie's.
This makes him the third most expensive living artist, signaling a transformative moment for NFTs.
insights INSIGHT
Coupang's IPO Success
Coupang, a South Korean e-commerce giant, priced its IPO above its raised range, raising $4.6 billion.
Its success is attributed to early, aggressive investment in logistics, creating a barrier to entry.
insights INSIGHT
E-commerce Infrastructure and Barriers to Entry
Building e-commerce infrastructure requires significant capital expenditure, similar to cloud computing.
This creates a barrier to entry, potentially limiting future competition in markets like South Korea where Coupang dominates.
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Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
Natasha and Danny and Alex and Grace were all here to chat through the week’s biggest tech happenings. Like every week, we had to leave a lot of great stuff on the cutting-room floor. But, we did get to touch on a bunch of news that we feel really matters.
Also we do wind up talking about a few Extra Crunch pieces, which is where our deeper analysis on news items lives. If the paywall is a bother, you can get access while saving 50% with the code "EQUITY."
Here's what we got into:
Crypto-art and the NFT boom continue. Check out what Beeple just did. Danny has an opinion on the matter.
The Roblox direct-listing does very little actually solve the IPO pricing issue. That said, well done Bloxburg.
Language learning has a market, and it's big. We talked about Preply's $35 million raise and why tutoring marketplaces make sense.
Dropbox is buying DocSend, which makes pretty good sense. Even if the exit price won't matter much for bigger funds. We're still witnessing Dropbox and Box add more features to their product via acquisitions. Let's see how it impacts their revenue growth.
Zapier buys Makerpad. We struggled to pronounce Zapier, but did have some notes on the deal and what it might mean for the no-code space.
Sticking the acquisition theme, PayPal bought Curv. If you were looking for more evidence that big companies are taking crypto seriously, well, here it is.
And to close we nerded out about Neeva. Can a Google-competitor take on Google if it was founded by ex-Googlers?
The show is back Monday morning. Stay cool!
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.
Equity 
