Leverage, red flags, and a changing venture landscape

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

Alex and Grace are back to cover the biggest, boldest and baddest technology news. This week we are not recording on a Tuesday as it’s a regular week. Though we would add that Equity will be live on Thursday, when we record our Friday episode. So if you wanted to come hang, make sure that you are following the show on Twitter.

Right, so what did we get into this morning?

• • Stocks are generally up, major cryptos are not doing too much this morning, and a Coinbase downgrade caught our eye.
  • Backstage Capital is laying off staff as it focuses on only investing into existing portfolio companies. With less capital than before going to Black founders, seeing a fund that focused on investing into underrepresented founders struggle is a bummer.

• The Strapi startup round was a fun one to look at, fusing open-source tech and CMSs, a tool that we use here at TechCrunch rather often.
• And then there is the mess at Digital World Acquisition Corp., the SPAC that wants to merge with former American President Trump’s digital media company. It’s in trouble with regulators.
• The chaos did not start there, however. 3AC is in default (like Russia!), the BlockFi rescue deal had internal pushback, Klarna may only be worth $10 billion, MilkRun loses lots of money, and we’re learning more about how India’s government is going after Twitter.

So, a great way to start the week. We kid. Chat soon!