How to avoid all the IPO work without annoying investors

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Hello, and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Equity turns 7 years old this week, so in honor of its birthday, drop us a review? More reviews helps more folks discover the show, and supports all our hard work!

Mary Ann is off on a well-deserved break, so we brought on fellow podcaster Rebecca Szkutak to take advantage of her insight and humor for this episode. Here’s what we got into:

• Regulators return with a resolve : The push to force a divestment of TikTok or ban it in the United States is making progress, and the EU is hammering out its new AI regulations.
• Deals of the Week: Peak XV’s new fund is fascinating, and we can learn a lot from it about the Indian startup market. Also, Ada Ventures’ new $80 million fund felt rather contra-narrative in the best possible way.
• AI and privacy: After AI got booed at SXSW, we took a look at several new AI startups that are raising rounds for their audio-focused projects. These include Nijta and Tavus, as well as a host of startups from the current Y Combinator cohort.
• What to do when there’s no liquidity? According to Becca, the answer is to stay private. That’s the bad news. The good news is that secondary transactions might be a way to resolve lots of founder-investor tensions regarding exit timing.

That’s it for today. Talk again on Monday!