AI hardware, fintech woes and venture capital's shedding phase

Jan 10, 2024

Dive into the world of startups with a French AI photo editing app raising up to $60 million. Explore the challenging landscape as Treasure Financial downsizes despite prior success. Witness the merger of two micromobility companies following a U.S. scooter giant's bankruptcy. Discover innovative AI hardware like the affordable Rabbit R1, while Humane navigates staffing changes. Finally, catch the shifts in venture capital with notable investments in Seedstars Africa Ventures highlighting changing dynamics in emerging markets.

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INSIGHT

AI Disrupts Image Editing

PhotoRoom, an AI photo editing app, is raising significant funds at a high valuation.
This indicates investor confidence in AI's potential to disrupt image editing.

INSIGHT

Fintech Challenges

Treasure Financial, a robo-advisor for businesses, laid off a large percentage of its staff.
This occurred despite raising funds and experiencing growth, highlighting the challenges in fintech.

INSIGHT

E-Scooter Market Consolidation

Tier and Dott, two European e-scooter companies, are merging.
This consolidation suggests the e-scooter market is facing difficulties and may have been impacted by the pandemic.

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This is our newly revamped Wednesday episode, and we’re going to be digging deep into critical startup and venture capital news. If you are a long-time Equity listener, you will note that this is not the same interview show that we used to run mid-week! Don’t worry, we are still going to do interviews, so keep an eye out for those on Saturdays.

Here’s what’s we got into on the show today:

PhotoRoom is raising more money. French startup PhotoRoom is raising $50 million to $60 million at a $500 million to $600 million valuation. The round marks another potential win for AI in France, a market that is working to set itself apart in the EU.
Treasure Financial cuts 14 staff members. The reductions in personnel represent a material percentage of the startup’s headcount, which feels a little weird given that the company raised $7.5 million last year, and reportedly saw its AUM soar.
Tier and Dott are betting that 1+1=3. Two micromobility companies are tying the knot to try and use scale to their advantage. The moves comes in the wake of U.S. scooter company Bird filing for bankruptcy.
AI Hardware, Part 1: The new rabbit r1 looks super cool, and is surprisingly cheap. I dig it.
AI Hardware, Part 2: Humane trimmed staff before shipping its AI hardware.
On the venture capital side, Keith Rabois is heading back to Khosla Ventures, and Seedstars Africa Ventures added $30 million to its upcoming fund.

We’ll be back on Friday with our weekly roundtable!

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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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