Equity Monday: Social media crackdowns, earnings, and a funding deluge
Apr 26, 2021
This week, the conversation dives into India's controversial censorship of social media during the COVID crisis, raising alarms about free speech and government transparency. The focus also shifts to Substack's aggressive hiring of top writers, revealing a shift in the publishing landscape. Additionally, a wave of earnings reports from major tech companies is on the horizon, offering clues about their first-quarter performance amidst a hot venture market. Funding activity remains robust, highlighting innovation and ambition in the startup ecosystem.
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insights INSIGHT
India's Social Media Crackdown
The Indian government censored social media posts criticizing its COVID-19 handling.
This censorship amidst a devastating health crisis raises concerns about freedom of speech.
insights INSIGHT
Substack's Hiring Spree
Substack is aggressively hiring writers with large salaries.
It's questionable if Substack can provide the necessary editorial support to retain these writers long-term.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Tech Earnings Week
Keep an eye on major tech company earnings this week.
These reports will offer insights into the performance of various startup categories.
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Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here.
This weekend had a key story, earnings are on the way, and there is a huge number of funding rounds to talk about. Ready?
The Indian government's move to remove a number of social media posts critical of its handling of COVID-19 was the key news item this weekend. As the country's healthcare system buckles, and deaths spike, the move by the current administration to censor the Internet was just about as bad a look you could imagine. At least in terms of a tech response.
Also this weekend conversation continued about Substack's recent push to hire away well-known writers from traditionally-respected publications continued, with Insider reporting that six-figure offers to join the paid newsletter platform are the norm.
This morning we're focused on the impending earnings deluge. Major American tech companies, along with some key social media and ecommerce names will report, giving us a look into how tech companies performed in the first quarter of 2021. We already know that the venture market was hot during the period. How business fared, however, is less clear.
The Honest Company also set an early IPO price range after we stopped recording. More to come on the IPO front. Chat Wednesday!
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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