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Hi Sifted Reader,

It's an exciting week at Sifted HQ — our newest reporter, Zosia Wanat, has just joined us from Politico. She'll be covering the CEE region for us and, probably, dabbling in a side of tech policy too. If you're a startup, investor or anything in between based in central or eastern Europe, get in touch. She's zosia@sifted.eu and she's ready for your emails. 

On to today's lineup: 

• Gorillas loses some HR heavyweights
• Europe's 10 fintech "soonicorns"
• May's hottest seed investments

— Sophie, editorial assistant & Amy, editor

Speedy grocery unicorn Gorillas has lost two senior members of its people team, Sifted has learnt, just two weeks after announcing it was laying off 320 employees.

Global chief people officer Deena Fox (pictured) is stepping down, along with vice president of human resources Linda van Velzen. Both were big gets for the company last year, with experience at companies like Oscar Health and Five Guys between them. 

Freya Pratty and Miriam Partington find out why they're leaving.

Seamless data onboarding is vital for a great customer experience, but inconsistent formats and having to manually input data causes delays — and frustrations. Use AI-assisted data importing instead, with Flatfile.

12 European fintechs have already gained unicorn status so far this year, including rising stars like GoCardless and Payhawk. 

Using Dealroom data and our spidey senses, we reckon we've identified Europe’s next fintech unicorns too, ranging from BNPL providers to digital banks.

Can you guess which startups made our "soonicorns" list? 

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

227 European seed-stage companies raised money this May — reaching a total of €442m — with healthtech and fintech topping the charts.

But which deals really stood out?

Here are May’s most exciting seed investments.

Last week, we brought together startup founders and corporate innovators at our latest in-person event, Sifted Session in Vienna, to discuss how small and big businesses can better work together.

And what did we learn? 

First up: do your due diligence.

🐈 Consumer-focused VC Felix raises a new $600m fund. With the moolah, Felix — which has previously backed TravelPerk, SellerX, Mirakl and Sorare — plans to back 20-25 startups, mostly in Europe. Kai Nicol-Schwarz has more details. 

💸 Crypto payments startup Fung raises $2.7m. Earlier this week, the Amsterdam-based startup raised $2.7m in a pre-seed funding round co-led by by Global Founders Capital, Kingsway Capital, Kindred Capital and Karatage. Fung hopes to carve out a niche building infrastructure that will allow SME ecommerce merchants to accept crypto payments and convert digital assets into fiat money.

🚗 Cazoo plans to reduce staff by 15%. The online second-hand car retailer is looking to cut around 750 roles and plans to freeze hiring for "non-essential" roles. It joins other well-known startups, such as Getir and Klarna, in planning drastic layoffs as a response to the current economic uncertainty.

Is your startup freezing hiring... or figuring out how to increase its runway?

An economic downturn looms on the horizon — and we want to know how our readers feel about it.

We'll share the results in a piece on Sifted soon. 

Fill in a quick three-minute survey now to share your thoughts. Thank you!

👀 Looking to improve your pitching skills? Drawing from the science of perception, UCL Associate Professor Chia-Jung Tsay explains what you’re missing.  

🚘 What do the electric vehicle patent wars mean for startups? Our climate tech reporter, Freya Pratty, spoke to patent lawyer Richard Howson to find out. 

👩‍💻 Are you thinking of switching jobs? We spoke to career experts about the dos and don’ts of job hunting whilst currently employed. (Sponsored by Jobbio)

SaaS startups are shifting from the age-old security of sales-led growth to a product-driven approach. But is this shakeup the golden ticket to success? Find out today.

Join our Sifted Talks at 12.30pm BST.

Sophie Zhang

Editorial Assistant

Get in touch with them at sophiezhang@sifted.eu

Amy Lewin

Editor

Get in touch with her at amy@sifted.eu
Or tweeting at @amyrlewin

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