Can you build centralized islands in a decentralized ocean?

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

We’re getting back up to full speed this week, so Mary Ann and Alex along with Grace behind the scenes took on our Friday show. Next week Natasha and Chris are back, and we’ll do our regular three-show lineup. Today, however, despite a smaller team we had just as much as always go chew through:

• OpenSea’s epic new fundraise: Alex did a little Fun Math on the company’s trading volume and possible revenue totals. The gist is that OpenSea is a big business. But with NFTs as volatile as they are, charting regular growth will prove difficult.
• During our crypto chat, we also dug into the Web 2.0 vs. web3 debate that has been raging.
• From there we pivoted to fintech, with notes on Petal’s funding round, Ribbit’s new fund, and how Mexican fintech Bankaya is going after its target customers via offline methods.
• Then it was notes on the private and public markets’ dissonance, and a few moments to complain about COVID.

We are back Monday morning! Chat you then!