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Hello Sifted reader,

US VCs have been busy in Europe the last week — a16z led UK fintech Sequence's $19m seed round; New Enterprise Associates led equity management platform Ledgy's $22m Series B; and TQ Ventures got involved in Tilt's seed round — a new startup launched by two ex-Revoluters. 

In Sifted news, we won an award for our journalism and welcomed our new editorial assistant Sadia Nowshin. Say hi to her here.

From the Sifted newsroom:

• Glovo founder launches new VC fund
• Klarna's second wave of layoffs
• What founders need to know about pre-seed funding in 2022

— Tom, digital editor & Amy, editor

🛍 Two Revolut alumni bag $3m for new startup. Tilt is a shopping app designed like a social media app — think the love child of Instagram, TikTok, Depop and a flurry of Chinese livestream shopping channels. Earlybird led the pre-seed round, and was joined by Seedcamp and US-based TQ Ventures.

💸 Visionaries Club sets sights on European B2B tech startups. The Berlin-based VC firm has just raised €400m, which will be split into three separate funds: a €150m seed fund; a €200m fund to invest post-Series B; and €50m to back pre-seed and seed science and tech startups. 

💳 Klarna to make second round of layoffs. The announcement comes four months after the buy now, pay later giant cut 10% of its global workforce, and just three weeks after CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said all layoffs were done and the company was "moving on". 

🛵 Glovo founder launches €50m VC fund. Oscar Pierre, who's already an active angel investor, is now raising a fund to invest in startups from idea stage to Series A . Sifted understands he will personally invest €10-15m into the fund.

💰 Ledgy bags $22m Series B. US VC New Enterprise Associates led the round for the Swiss equity management platform, which helps founders, investors and employees keep tabs on how much of a startup they own. Ledgy says it'll use the cash to scale further across Europe. It's also actively hiring across all functions, with a particular focus on junior software engineers. 

Crucial security practices need to be in place in order to grow beyond borders. Early-stage startups often have limited resources – so how can you ensure your compliance framework is ready to overcome the obstacles and reach your next scaling milestone?

Hear from the experts on October 19.

Does the world need a 'Disney for mental health'? Berlin-based Aumio is a mindfulness app for children which has been used by over 200k families. But... should tech be used to tackle children's mental health? Not everyone thinks so.

Can quantum computing disrupt pharma? Using quantum computing for drug discovery could be one of the first — and most lucrative — applications of the technology in the pharma industry. And with several startups in the sector raising this year, investors are clearly keeping their finger on the pulse. But how soon will we see quantum have an impact?

How CEE is escaping the tech downturn — for now. Central and eastern European tech didn't get the message that we're in the midst of a downturn — investment is booming. The region hasn't been hit by major layoffs, startups aren't scaling back their operations and VCs keep announcing new funds. So is CEE "crisis proof"?

Pre-seed funding: what founders need to know in 2022. Pre-seed funding is often the first real cash injection a startup will get — besides personal savings, loans from family and friends or, if you're a serial founder, money from a previous exit. But when it comes to raising, where do you start? Here.

From crop predictions to grain silo tech — meet Europe's up-and-coming agritech startups.

Startup to human — a founder's guide to human-to-human marketing (In partnership with Literal Humans).

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Tom Nugent

Digital Editor

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

Amy Lewin
Editor 

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

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