When VCs fund the thing you didn't think they'd ever fund

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

Coming to hang with us at Disrupt, where Equity is kicking off the entire event? Use code "EQUITY" to save 15% on your tickets. Hell yeah, and see you there!

Alex, Natasha and Mary Ann jumped on the mic, with Theresa running production, to talk through the biggest headlines from the week!

• Deals of the Week! This time 'round we had Polywork raising $28 million, Block Party raising $4.8 million and Remofirst and its own recent fundraise. Naturally we had to leave 234 deals on the cutting room floor, but these were the ones we could not wait to chat more about. Also, don't Polywork, Block Party and Remofirst sound like fun people to get dinner with? Just us?

• Insurtech goes Niche: From there it was time to riff on a series of stories from Mary Ann, focused on specialized insurtech companies, and the fact that Pie just proved that it is still possible to raise nine-figures as an insurance-focused startup.

• The Great Delivery Wars: Next up was News from Instacart, including the fact that its IPO is still underway, and that it is busy launching products as it meanders toward the public markets. It turns out as well that a bunch of companies would love more than a slice of its business. DoorDash, for one.

• Layoffs and more: And then layoffs. Layoffs at Metafy, layoffs at Sundae and layoffs at Ola. We, however, found a silver lining and ran with that.

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. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders, a show that details how our stories come together and more!