Reddit co-founder over GameStop: 'The collective population cannot overlook this.

 When Robinhood, a startup that promises to form finance accessible for all, temporarily limited trading on GameStop, AMC, and other memestocks, many retail investors were pissed that the fintech darling suddenly didn’t live up to its name. the precise reasons may are short-term and technical, but the selection looked corrupt to the typical person.

Here’s why: The presence of a huge hedge fund as a main Robinhood partner and supporter of the short-sellers is strictly what Robinhood users are rallying against. the apparent conflict shows that “democratizing finance” was always somewhat of an ironic tagline. Retail investors are already pouring into competitor apps like Public and Webull, and searching for more shorts to require on.

What can other startups learn? Here are some lessons:

First, the push for decentralized systems will become more aggressive, positioning startups within the cryptocurrency and overall DeFi space well. On Thursday, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian spoke to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on a Twitch stream about the GameStop saga.

“No one’s gonna awaken during a week and be like let’s all return to how it had been . The collective public cannot unsee this, then i feel that there’s getting to be more and more energy to seek out decentralized solutions. there's such a lot energy to rally behind something that isn’t capable of getting the sport rigged,” Ohanian said. As Bitcoin reaches record highs, the Robinhood meltdown only further adds momentum to the asset.

My second takeaway is that fintech startups within the retail trading space haven't been more conscious of the control of regulatory pressure. While one company may have fallen on the sword this point , it doesn’t mean that other startups are safe and/or ready to promise open doors and a free market forever. the large question for early-stage fintech startups is the way to innovate amid a revolution.

That’s all I can add up out of for now, and there’s more on the pod if you’re interested. What does one think the long-term ramifications of this wild Wall Street week are on startups?

Climate tech sprouts

Early-stage financing for climate tech is lackluster, but category startups need aggressive capital so as to grow to the right scale (and, you know, save the planet from eternal doom). Our reporter Jonathan Shieber covered variety of stories within the week that shed light on what percentage investors in the ecosystem are awakening to the importance of climate tech.

Here’s what to know: Robert Downey Jr., launched a replacement rolling venture fund, powered by AngelList, to back sustainability startups.

Etc: Why one speculator thinks SPACs are the thanks to choose cleantech startups. Also, an early-stage accelerator launched its latest cohort of sustainable startups.

Long live anything aside from ‘Zoom School’

It has been remarkable to witness the boom, and ensuing consolidation, of edtech in but a year. In yet one more busy week for the world , uplifted by the pandemic’s blunt force of remote learning, we've financings, public market debuts and what quite a dozen of investors are trying to find next.

Here’s what to know: 13 investors say that lifelong learning is taking edtech mainstream. Consumer edtech has always had a neater time selling, since parents spend quite a stodgy institution ever will. What’s new, though, is that there’s a chance to serve with learners beyond the varsity day. There’s far more in our investor survey, along side details on what opportunities are fading within the sector, and what's the most important hurdle for an early-stage edtech startup.

Etc: a corporation getting to be the Minecraft of science class just launched with seed financing from a flurry of investors. a corporation founded in 2011 spent eight years without monetizing, and now's profitable with many thousands of paid subscribers. Oh, and an unprofitable but growing edtech company goes public via SPAC.

SPAC it up

SPACs are like weeds: If you pull one out, another one pops right up! 300 of ‘em, to be exact.

Here’s what to know: in the week , Chamath Palihapitiya announced two SPAC deals for Latch and Sunlight Financial. My colleague and podcast co-host Alex Wilhelm unpacked the numbers behind these decisions in an additional Crunch post.

Etc: Coinbase goes public via direct listing. Squarespace filed privately to travel public. WeWork could be going public through a reverse merger. and therefore the Qualtrics CEO and founder sat down with TechCrunch to reflect on its debut: Qualtrics…had been told that it couldn’t bootstrap, that it couldn’t integrate Utah, that SAP had overpaid, that SAP had tousled then forth, Wilhelm writes.

Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and managing partner for Social+Capital Partnership, listens during a Bloomberg West Television interview in San Francisco , California, U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015. Palihapitiya discussed the way to improve diversity within the risk capital industry. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bain Capital, Felicis, and Lightspeed Venture Partners are giving notes and recommendations on the way to get checks

There’s a pitch deck vent and advice session together with your name thereon 

Tickets for TC Sessions: Justice are now purchasable (and only $5)

Across the week

How Atlanta’s Calendly turned a scheduling nightmare into a $3B startup

SoftBank earmarks $100 million for Miami-based startups

Internet of Cars: A driver-side primer on IoT implementation

Okta SaaS report finds Office 365 wins the cloud — kind of 

Three dimensional program Physna wants to be the Google of the physical world

Seen on Extra Crunch

Does a $27 or $29 billion valuation add up for Databricks?

How 2 startups scaled to $50 million ARR and beyond

Talent and capital are shifting cybersecurity investors’ focus faraway from Silicon Valley 

The 5 biggest mistakes I made as a first-time startup founder

@EquityPod

The news cycle may need been dominated by GameStop, but tons happened within the week in the world of startups and venture. So, your favorite trio put together an episode to travel over what you likely missed.

In this week’s show, we got into the superb founding story of Calendly, which just scored a $3 billion valuation, also as a rush of food-centric startups raising seed rounds. There’s also an edtech section, and notes on two new funds that you simply should probably be listening to.

Okay, exhale. lookout of yourselves this weekend, you deserve it always, but especially after every week like this.