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Hi Sifted reader,

The latest episode of The Sifted Podcast just dropped, and coming to your airwaves today are Eleanor and Anisah talking Pollen’s dramatic fall, moonshot innovation and Elon Musk’s foray into investing in carbon removal technologies. Listen here.

Also from the Sifted newsroom:

• The startup hoping to capitalise on Klarna’s valuation dip
• The Swiss startups you should be watching
• Why policymakers matter for startups

— Sophie, writer & Tom, digital editor

Nearly two years ago we wrote that Tioex — a Swedish startup building a platform for ordinary people to buy and trade shares in private tech companies — managed to buy shares of Klarna for its members. 

But given the buy now, pay later star's valuation has plummeted recently, those shares are now worth a whole lot less.

So is the game up, or does Tioex sense an opportunity?

The pandemic accelerated the shift towards remote working — but should the "new normal" affect your career progression? How can startups ensure they’re compensating global talent fairly?

Find out on August 17.

Last year, VCs invested a record $4.1bn into Swiss startups — driven by strong interest in the country's healthtechs, biotechs and university spinouts. 

But which emerging startups will be next to drive up the value of the Swiss tech ecosystem? We turned to VCs to find out. 

Here are the Swiss startups they think you need to know about. 

61% of startups don’t engage with or voice their concerns to policymakers — hardly surprising, when only 12% of European startups think politicians understand the realities they face. But that needs to change. 

Every day, policymakers on the European and national level make decisions that determine how European startups are run — from crypto regulation to setting directives on employee stock options. 

So founders, here's why you should lobby more.

Gaming is big business: last year, global revenues for gaming companies hit $175.8bn — and they're expected to rise to $218.7bn in 2024.

And that's attracting plenty of attention from Europe's investors. 

So where are they putting their money?

On August 31, we’ll explore how startups can continue to grow while protecting their business during this economic downturn. Our panellists will discuss how to stay laser-focused amid a challenging and ever-changing environment.

Sign up to hear from the experts.

📱 Agave Games raises $7m. The Istanbul-based puzzle game studio hopes to use the new funding to continue to develop casual puzzle games for mobile gamers. The round was led by London-based Balderton Capital — its second bet on Turkish gaming — with participation from Felix Capital.

❗ Pollen goes into administration. Earlier this week, the London-based events company sent an email to employees confirming a restructure after failing to find a buyer. It follows a rocky few months for the startup, after it failed to meet payroll in July and was accused of owing thousands to customers in unpaid refunds for cancelled events. 

🩺 Last year, four European digital health startups — Kry, Alan, DocPlanner and DentalMonitoring — became unicorns. But which startups will be next? In our latest soonicorns roundup we list the digital health startups vying for unicorn status. 

The best of our recent "soonicorn" coverage (member):

💸 Europe’s fintech soonicorns

♻️ Europe’s climate tech soonicorns 

💼 Europe's future of work soonicorns

Elsewhere on Sifted:

🗒️ We round up the most important takeaways from a recent Sifted Pro Roundtable on the state of early-stage funding in Europe.

💌 If you’re having trouble finding a cofounder, why not try a matchmaking platform? That’s how Damilare Ogunleye, cofounder and CEO of FoodLama, found his cofounder trio.

💭 Elon Musk has $80m to fund a carbon removal startup. Here's what he's after.

👩‍💼 As a CEO there might come a time when you want to step down and step away from a company's helm. But getting it right can be tricky. Monique Hoell, who stepped down as CEO of D2C cosmetics brand HelloBody last April, shares her advice on how to step down the right way.

Sophie Zhang

Editorial Assistant

Get in touch with them at sophiezhang@sifted.eu

Tom Nugent

Digital Editor 

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

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