How to avoid an IPO

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

We’re back to our old, weekly cadence. Which is all well and good, but after a run of doubling up episodes to keep up with the news cycle, showing up just every seven days nearly feels like vacation. But hey, we’re here for you (you follow us both on Twitter, right?).

There was a lot to go over, so please enjoy the following:

An IPO update: First up we checked in on our favorite children, the recently public. Uber and Lyft are still down. Fastly is still far up while Luckin Coffee is losing air like a pinched balloon. Also, Slack has a new ticker symbol, and we have thoughts about it.

Changes at YC: In case you hadn’t heard, YC has a brand new president by the name of Geoff Ralston. Sam Altman, opting to focus exclusively on OpenAI, is no more.

DoorDash’s capital hunger: We had to record a day early this week, putting us precisely one day ahead of the DoorDash round. Turns out it was a $600 million round at a $12.7 billion valuation. Listen on for our take on the round, the company and its space.

Sun Basket raises: Yet another food delivery — well, meal kit delivery — business raised this week, too. Sun Basket, which sends healthy meal kits to its customers, closed in on $30 million in Series E funding.

TransferWise’s not-an-IPO: What do you call a company more than doubling its valuation through a huge, sanctioned secondary transaction? Weird flex, but OK. Anyway. TransferWise is now worth $3.5 billion, up from its now-passé Series E valuation of $1.58 billion. If you want to dodge an IPO, this is one pretty good way.

Finally, TransferWise actually makes money. Quelle surprise, literally.