Dive into the success story of Calendly, a scheduling tool that soared to a $3 billion valuation. Discover the latest in IPOs with Qualtrics and the evolving landscape of venture capital. Hear about Rhino's unique insurtech model, challenging traditional security deposits, while Fast raises $102 million to revolutionize online checkouts. The podcast also tackles the booming food delivery sector, including tech-driven innovations and sustainability issues, alongside an interesting look at ClassDojo's shift to a monetization strategy.
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Calendly's Success Story
Calendly, a scheduling tool, achieved a $3 billion valuation, becoming one of Atlanta's most valuable startups.
Its founder, Topwe Awatona, bootstrapped the company to profitability with 10 million monthly users.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Early-Stage Investing
Secure early-stage investments in promising startups to gain access to later-stage deals.
OpenView's early investment in Calendly allowed them to lead the $350 million round at a $3 billion valuation.
insights INSIGHT
Rhino's Innovative Approach
Rhino replaces traditional security deposits with monthly premiums, benefiting both tenants and landlords.
This innovative approach has fueled Rhino's growth and attracted significant investment.
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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 hopped online for our weekly show, sans Gamestop news (which you can find here) to talk about all the other busy news happening in startup world right now.
Here's a taste of what we got into:
Qualtrics IPO pricing, and the future of major acquisition pricing schemes. This company's path to the public markets has been a long-time coming, so we had plenty to say.
How Atlanta's Calendly turned a scheduling nightmare into a $3 billion company. This story was not only neat, but also operated as a sort of palate cleanser for the team.
Rhino'sinteresting insurtech play, and how it is pre-IPO pretty damn early. Revenue questions, the power of insurtech, and public markets impacting startups? This story had it all!
Alex talks about how Fast is raising fast money ($102 million to be exact). Even more, the Fast story fits into a broader narrative of online checkout startups raising a zillion dollars in recent weeks.
A boom in food delivery and restaurant startups, and why Danny is bearish on a plastic-free play. Natasha is in favor. Alex gets a company's model mixed up with Spoon Rocket.
Natasha explains how Clubhouse isn't the first company to raise millions off of millions of users with no known near-term monetization plan. Her piece on ClassDojo illustrates how a quiet edtech giant finally turned its 51 million users into a profitable base. There's also an investor survey for you to check out (Discount code: EQUITY).
TCV's record fund, and a female-focused angel fund coming out of Africa.
As always, it was a ton to get through because there is just so much going on. More Monday morning, until then 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