When Newchip, an online accelerator promising to help startups, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2023, it was revealed that the company had just $1.7 million in assets and $4.8 million in liabilities. These numbers, however, didn’t account for an estimated $500 million in warrants of the startups waiting to be put through the accelerator program that Newchip held.
For months, TechCrunch senior reporters Mary Ann Azevedo and Christine Hall have been following the story and its impact on founders. Today on Equity, they’re joined by Haje Kamps to dig deep into how the accelerator’s bankruptcy threatened the cap tables of thousands of startups.
In some cases, founders are trying to buy their companies back, while others suddenly are so high risk to banks and investors that they have had to shut down.
The trio also discussed the broader accelerator landscape, considering the recent events at Techstars. It’s a lively and hopefully helpful discussion you won’t want to miss!
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast.
