This week on Equity, we discussed some big news that really matters: How Black founders are addressing the diversity gap in AI chatbots. We’ve all noticed how OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other AI chatbot tools struggle with cultural nuance, often coming up with answers that reflect a largely Eurocentric worldview. Now a handful of Black-owned chatbots and ChatGPT versions — like Latimer.AI, ChatBlackGPT and Spark Plug — have cropped up to ensure that Black POVs are included in the AI conversation and that Black founders get a cut of this trillion-dollar industry.
That’s not all Rebecca talked about on Monday’s show. We also looked at how different social media companies are playing around with what’s real and what isn’t, an increasingly salient topic in the age of AI. On the one hand, we’ve got TikTok’s introduction of generative AI avatars, which creators and brands can use to speed up ad campaigns and spread them out to a global audience. On the other hand, YouTube is experimenting with a “Notes” feature that lets users add context to videos. It’s an attempt to combat misinformation as AI threatens to inundate us all with deepfake and misleading political content in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.
In IPO land, Rebecca touched on Tempus’ 9% rise and $441 million raise on its Nasdaq debut last Friday. The genomic testing and data analysis company, started by Groupon’s founder, need have only hinted at its future GenAI integrations for investors to throw money at it. Meanwhile, Chinese e-commerce giant Shein is struggling to get Beijing to approve its London IPO, reports the Financial Times. Shein’s executive chair reportedly angered Chinese regulators last month by saying its corporate values meant it “could be considered a US company,” so now the retailer is trying to walk those comments back. Shein is trying to raise £50 billion ($64 billion) from its London IPO, and it needs Beijing on its side to do so.
Finally, we took a peek at crypto’s comeback. Over the weekend, Bloomberg reported that crypto startup funding has hit $100 billion in the past decade. Looking more closely, PitchBook data shows that crypto funding was up $2.5 billion in the first quarter of this year, up from a recent low of $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023. Considering these new numbers and Robinhood’s recent acquisition of global crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million, could more crypto M&A and IPO activity be on the way?
Haje closed out today’s show with a teardown of Kinnect’s $250,000 angel deck. Founded just last year, the digital archive startup is already making waves with $100,000 in funding from Techstars’ Rising Stars program. Hit play to hear how they did it!
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast.
