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Hi Sifted reader,

The UK government isn't the only organisation in turmoil this week. Events startup Pollen — which Sifted first reported on in June — has been facing something of an internal uprising too. More on that below...

And, as if that wasn't spicy enough, you can also catch the latest episode of The Sifted podcast, where we discuss what it's like running a startup with your sibling and why we're seeing so many new climate funds. Plus:

• Which sector overtook fintech for seed funding in June?
• Five bootstrapped businesses explain the perks of avoiding VC
• Restaurant payments app Sunday pulls out of four markets 

— Alex, writer & Tom, digital editor

Embattled events startup Pollen misses payroll amid acquisition talks. The London-based events startup — after being hit by an avalanche of refund requests this year — missed payroll in June as it works to close fresh funding.

Could an exit be the only way to save Pollen?

Seed-stage funding in Europe went up in June. Some later-stage startups might be seeing their valuations get crunched, but Europe’s seed-stage companies had a strong June, bringing in a collective €595m. 

But which sector pipped fintech to top spot for funding?

Five European bootstrapped startups aiming to grow sustainably. While VC-backed businesses are wrestling with down rounds amid a choppy market, bootstrapped startups can face the next few months as they choose.

So how are they planning to ride out the downturn?

Restaurant payments app Sunday pulls out of four markets. The fintech  bagged a $100m Series A just last year, but now it's pulling out of four of its seven markets. 

What's turned sour, and do other fintechs need to worry?

If cybercrime was a country, it would be the world’s third-largest economy. So what’s the solution? Our latest video, in partnership with TrueLayer, explores whether open banking could be the key to solving the world’s fraud problem.

Find the answers.

💰 Headline raises seventh European fund of €320m. The San Francisco and Berlin-based VC has chalked up a massive new pot of cash to invest in European B2B and B2C startups from seed to Series A. It has already put a chunk of that into companies working on DeFi and SaaS. Portfolio startups will join a roster including unicorns like Sorare and Swile.

💸 More big early-stage funds: XAnge announces €220m pot. The Franco-German VC firm (one office in Paris, two in Germany) is planning to make 10 investments a year — particularly in deeptech and impact startups — with 50% saved for follow-ons. XAnge's portfolio includes six unicorns including speedy grocery company Flink and crypto wallet Ledger.

🪦 YuLife raises $120m for gamified life insurance. Selling life insurance to employers isn't everyone's cup of tea, but YuLife is trying to make it fun by including competitive leaderboards for policyholders on things like walking and meditating, then rewarding them with in-app currency. Its new round, led by Japan's Dai-ichi, values the London-based insurtech at $800m.

🇩🇪 AI startup CELUS raises €25m Series A. The Munich-based startup's platform uses AI to help automate the process of picking components for circuit boards and fitting them together. Earlybird led the round alongside participants DI Capital, Speedinvest and Plug and Play. The startup says that the number of engineers using its tool has increased 3,000% since December 2021.

Want the secrets to startup success? Well, look no further. Our recently published 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 our latest community survey, we want to know all about mental health in the workplace. Do you feel like you can talk to your boss about it? Do you get mental health perks? What’s the main cause of mental health problems at the startups you’ve worked at?

Share your thoughts — totally anonymously — and we’ll publish a piece featuring your responses in the coming weeks.

Take the three-minute survey.

🛥️ The Teslas of the sea. Across Europe — but especially in the Nordics — taking the motorboat out for a spin is a summer tradition. But they're fuel guzzlers, and with the rocketing price of petrol and fears about the climate crisis, startups are hoping to bring electric dreams to water-based transport. Mimi Billing meets five of the most promising electric boat startups. (Member).

🎧 Will Gorillas-owned Fleet Street's riders ever get paid? In the latest episode of The Sifted Podcast we dive into the latest controversy to hit speedy grocery, quantum computing as a service (QCaaS) and compare Glastonbury to... a festival in the metaverse?

🏢 What kind of workspaces will bring employees back to the office? (Sponsored by Level39).

Here at Sifted we're always looking for new people to join our team. If you want to get involved in Europe's leading voice for startups, check out one of the vacancies below!

Interested in writing, editing, planning and executing Sifted's wide array of commercial content? We're looking for a head of content to oversee the production of our branded content, including articles, newsletters, videos — or any other idea you might have!

We're hiring for a membership manager to take charge of engaging with our most dedicated audience members, and selling the perks of membership to prospective users as well. Happy to work with clients and have experience with subscriptions? Apply here.

Business development executives are the beating heart of our sales team, scouring the media landscape for new leads and new revenue streams. If you want to be part of an industry-defining company that's growing fast, there's no better place to work than Sifted.

Alex Oscroft

Subeditor

Get in touch with him at alex@sifted.eu

Or find him on Twitter @alex_oscroft

Tom Nugent

Digital Editor 

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

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