This is our Wednesday episode, in which we dig into critical startup news to stay abreast of what founders and venture capitalists are working on.

Today on the podcast, we got through the following:

• New data from Carta digging into startup compensation, and how it is changing;
• How one startup is profiting off death, but in a way that is actually great;
• Bear Robotics, and its killer new round for cute serving robots;
• New stuff from BlueSky (all about moderation and choosing one’s own adventure) and Brave (getting a boost from the EU’s DMA);
• And finally, some venture capital news that was a legit surprise.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 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 and more!

Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.