Weekly Recap June 13-19: Kraken CEO, Fungi Flour, Crypto Contagion, TikTok

Hey Everybody! (sending late because the website went down this weekend)

You probably saw the news of Sequoia India raising $2B, plus a dedicated $850M fund for Southeast Asia. That headline got Molly wondering why Jason rarely invests outside the US. He explains his rationale in?VC Sunday School.?

Producers Pick

The most interesting action by a "J Powell" this week was not the Fed’s interest-rate hike. It was Kraken CEO Jesse Powell’s conversation with Jason.

After recording, Producer Nick put it succinctly.?

In a NYT piece, Jesse was criticized for company culture and mentioned in the same paragraph has mass-shooters. We’ll let you listen to the interview and make up your own mind about the founder of one of the largest exchanges. Jesse provides some unique insights into current market conditions too. (Listen or Watch)

News and episode recaps below!

When to take a meeting (VC School) + Fungi Flour: Hyfé Foods Founder Michelle Ruiz (Climate) | E1488

It's hard to prioritize. In VC Sunday School, Jason shares when and what types of founders he will meet with. For This Week in Climate startups, Hyfé Foods Founder & CEO Michelle Ruiz explains how she creates low-carb, high-protein flour from mushrooms! It's a fascinating process than upcycles wastewater from food manufacturing.?

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell responds to NYT hit piece and breaks down the state of crypto + Alexander Olesen CEO of Babylon Micro-Farms | E1487

Jason speaks with Jesse Powell the Founder and CEO of crypto exchange Kraken. They discuss the state of crypto and the recent hit piece the NYT published on him. For this week's OK Boomer segment, Producer Rachel sits down with Alexander Olesen, co-founder, and CEO of Babylon Micro-Farms.

Apple & Disney’s sports streaming strategy, Facebook’s plan to be TikTok, Obi-Wan, Star Trek | E1486

Another streaming episode with Lon Harris! Spoiler alert: we dive into Obi-Wan Kenobi E5 and Star Trek E4-5. We cover Disney losing cricket streaming rights in India and Apple acquiring MLS soccer rights. Finally, we hit on an internal memo that shows Facebook plans to be more like TikTok.

News We Covered This Week?

• YouTube shorts vs. TikTok (Youtube shorts reportedly has almost as many users as TikTok)
• Crypto contagion, including contextualizing MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin comments in 2021
• Twitch ad changes
• Hallow prayer app?and its marketing partnership with Mark Wahlberg
• China found aliens?
• Crypto drops ~$200B
• Celsius freezes
• Binance’s BTC pause
• Google AI sentience
• Magic Spoon's $85M Series B: DTC isn’t dead?
• Coinbase lays off ~18%
• EU crypto regulation
• $NFLX & $ROKU ad-tech talks
• Prey laptop security?(I could’ve used this in a recent burglary)

Best,?

Producer Justin

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