Cauldrons, Bolts and sour markets: Welcome to Halloween in July

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

It doesn't feel like a short week, does it? Alex, Natasha and Mary Ann got on the mic to bring an especially packed episode full of big news, fire transitions and even a pun or three.

• Deals of the week: Maolac raises $3.2 million to bring breast milk nutrition to adults, Peakflo raises a few million to scale its billpay tech in South East Asia, and Cauldron raises $6.6 million for its web3-themed gaming push.
• Declining drama at Bolt? A major lawsuit involving Bolt, the online checkout service, has been settled. We chatted through the company's numbers, and noted one more challenge ahead of the company.
• The unicorns aren't alright: Layoffs at Outschool and Loft are cutting staff, just as some venture capitalists reload. It's going to be a fascinating year.
• And we closed with some notes on the Q2 venture capital cycle!

Equity drops every Monday at 7 a.m. PDT and Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. PDT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.

Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

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