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Hi Sifted Reader,

Episode 12 of the Sifted Podcast has hit the airwaves and this week we host our first billionaire, as reporter Tim Smith chats to tech investor and entrepreneur Christian Angermayer.

Meanwhile, Amy and Eleanor talk steward ownership: a new business structure that puts purpose over profit, and is gaining some serious traction in Europe. You can listen to all that and more on Spotify and Apple. Plus...

• Are Europe's startup valuations about to plummet?
• Europe's top climate tech VCs
• Why the metaverse is rubbish

— Kai, reporter & Tom, digital editor

As tech stocks crash and inflation rises, European tech is approaching a downturn. 

It's set to hit founders from pre-seed startups all the way up to growth stage as investors start to get the jitters.   

So what do they think will happen to Europe's startup valuations?

Want the secrets to startup success? Well, look no further. Our latest report delves into tops and flops of launching a scalable business as we hear from the founders and business experts who led the charge.

Download now.

In the fight against cybercrime GCHQ — the UK’s cybersecurity and intelligence agency — is trying to shift its public image away from secretive agency towards public ally. And it's turning to startups to do it. 

Freya Pratty took a trip to the agency's headquarters to find out about its startup programme, why it's so keen on a rebrand and how other spy agencies have connected to their tech ecosystems.

This way for the intel.

Last year funding into climate techs hit $10bn, nearly double the previous year's total.

So as investors begin to wake up to the opportunities in startups tackling the climate crisis, we reveal which VCs are shooting out the most cheques.

Can you guess who made the cut? 

Not yet a member? Use code NEWSLETTER10 for 10% off!

The UK the tech just hit a pretty significant open banking milestone: it now has 5m users. But challenges like regulatory roadblocks and security concerns remain.

So how much has open banking grown in Europe in recent years and what's the state of play?

We crunched the numbers to find out.

You're dooming your startup to failure if you think virtual worlds are any replacement for in-person interaction, says TravelPerk cofounder and CEO Avi Meir. 

Why? Because it's impossible to create a great company culture and hire properly in the one-dimensional world of Zoom. But, Meir tells Sifted, restoring pre-pandemic ways of working is also off the cards.

So what's a founder to do? 

🛒 From speedy grocery to SaaS startup. London-based Jiffy has announced it will stop flogging shopping to consumers this week. Instead it'll become a SaaS company that supplies software to other speedy delivery businesses. The startup says it thinks the SaaS route will help it turn a profit quicker. It's not the only news out of the grocery delivery scene this week either, as the sector shows signs of struggling in the current climate. Earlier this week Berlin's Flink acquired French rival Cajoo, as the long-predicted consolidation of the sector starts to gather pace.

💻 Modulr snaps up £83m. The London-based payments infrastructure fintech has raised its Series C in a round led by US VC General Atlantic. The startup already works with companies like Revolut and Wagestream, and says it'll use the funding round to cement its position as a leader in the European market.

☁️ Thought Machine hits $2.7bn valuation. The cloud-based banking fintech more than doubled its valuation after a $160m round led by Singapore's Temasek. Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase and Lloyds Banking Group also participated in the round. It comes hot on the heels of the UK scaleup hitting unicorn status last November after bagging $200m. 

🎺 Whistleblowing legislation shakeup. A new EU directive changes how companies with more than 50 employees handle complaints and concerns. Tim Smith finds out what's changed and how you can comply. 

🥘 The key ingredients for corporate partnerships. Sifted picked up some top tips from Wilfrid Obeng, the cofounder of AudioMob — a platform that creates in-game audio ads for brands — about snagging big client partnerships. The platform's just closed a deal with the creators of Grand Theft Auto, so is pretty well-versed on the topic.

🧠 Eastern Europe isn’t just for outsourcing anymore. The brain drain is reversing in the region as the "work from anywhere" mindset beds in following the pandemic. Victor Botev, cofounder and CTO at Iris.ai — an AI platform for research processing — shares why eastern Europe is the place to hire directly, and how to do it.

Managing payroll is a big pain for founders. Manually entering names and numbers often leads to mistakes and there are myriad steps and tools involved. 

The solution could well be one of the new kids on the fintech block: open banking. 

Here's how it can put an end to those payroll blues.

A seed round today would easily have been the size of a Series A three years ago. So how best to spend this extra cash? Our next Sifted Talks will explore what challenges come with entering the next phase of growth.

See you on May 25.

Tom Nugent

Digital Editor 

Get in touch with him at tomnugent@sifted.eu
Or tweeting at @TJNugent92

Kai Nicol-Schwarz

Reporter

Get in touch with him at kai@sifted.eu 
Or @NicolSchwarzK

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