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OCTOBER 10, 2022

Hello Sifted reader,

Today, we're digging into the companies working on science-based solutions to stop people getting old, as investors continue to pour cash into the longevity sector.

In startup news Amazon aggregator unicorn SellerX could find itself in hot water — it's being sued by an American games company over a deal it made last year, and industry insiders think it could be the first of many lawsuits in the sector.

And Czech VC Credo Ventures has closed its fourth fund at €75m —following other VCs in the region like Inovo and 500 Emerging Europe — signalling investors' appetite for CEE despite the downturn. 

Also from the Sifted newsroom:

• 12 longevity startups to watch
• Becoming a “unicorn nation” is a public policy failure
• Does Europe have a university spinout problem?
• What happened at Sifted Summit, days one and two 

👴 Meet the company builders that think they can reverse ageing. It's been a science traditionally reserved for Silicon Valley billionaires — but a growing number European startups are looking at solutions to getting old. From the reprogramming of cells to the rise of longevity clinics, here's the state of play in the European longevity market.

👀 12 longevity startups to watch. In 2021, about $1.9bn globally was invested in the longevity sector. That number looks set to grow as clinical trials see results and investors become ever more interested in the tech. Here are the startups you should be keeping an eye on.

🦄 Becoming a “unicorn nation” is a public policy failure. French president Emmanuel Macron has set the nation a goal of 100 unicorns by 2030, after reaching his original goal of 25 three years early. But, thinks Cyrine Ben-Hafaïedh of IÉSEG School of Management, European politicians who only want to focus on the creation of startups worth more than $1bn are barking up the wrong tree.

🎓 Does Europe have a university spinout problem? It's often said that Europe's spinout funnel is broken — but what do the experts think? A VC, a spinout founder and a former UK minister shared their thoughts at the Sifted Summit last week. Here's what went down.

🔥 Facebook's "disastrous" metaverse strategy. Herman Narula kicked off day two of the Sifted Summit by slamming Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse ambitions and the company's strategy after it changed its name to Meta last year. The founder of Improbable, which is building technology to make large-scale, simulated virtual worlds, said that “every single company and enterprise wanting to build services relevant to the metaverse felt a deep fear [about Facebook owning it]”.

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🛒 The Amazon aggregator legal battles. Unicorn SellerX is facing a lawsuit from a gaming company it bought a brand from last year over claims its failure to promote the product led to sales plummeting — and it avoiding a follow-on payment. It's not the only lawsuit in the industry, and insiders say there could be more on the way.

🇨🇿 Czech Credo Ventures closes its fourth fund of €75m. The Prague-based VC is looking to focus more on Poland, and is one of the most active early-stage investors in CEE. It counts unicorns UiPath and Productboard among its portfolio, and with the new cash will invest €100k to €5m in pre-seed to Series A startups across the region.

😬 How diverse are European startups? Not very (unsurprisingly). Research by HEC Paris professors Thomas Astebro and Carlos Javier Serrano, and angel investor Ramzi Rafih, tracked thousands of startups and founders across the UK, France and Germany between 2010 and 2020. It found that just 13% of startups had at least one female cofounder and only 12% had an ethnic minority cofounder. It also found that when startups cofounded by women can raise more than $1m, they can raise as much capital as the rest.

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🤩 Sifted Summit day one round up. If you missed it (where were you?!) or just want to relive it, here are the best bits from day one of the Sifted Summit, which brought together 1900+ founders, operators and investors from across Europe last week. Monzo founder Tom Blomfield reunited with old frenemy, ex-TechCrunch journalist Steve O'Hear, British TV star Trinny Woodall took to the stage and Balderton’s Suranga Chandratillake offered some sage advice for founders looking to tough out turbulent times.

😎 And if that wasn't enough for you, on day two Improbable founder Herman Narula talked all things metaverse — and how Mark Zuckerberg got it very wrong. We also heard from Olympic medallist-turned-entrepreneur Jessica Ennis-Hill and the (still taboo) world of sextech was laid bare. Catch those highlights and more here.

🎧 Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast. Tune in to the latest episode of the podcast, recorded live from the Sifted Summit. Amy and Eleanor jump head first into the metaverse, chat cultivated meat startup Gourmey's massive €48m Series A and the new fund in France targeting early-stage startups with at least one women cofounder.

🍃 The biggest opportunity in climate tech — in numbers. Despite investors growing more cautious with their cash across European tech, confidence in climate and clean tech has stayed steady. Sifted dug into the sector's key numbers. (Sponsored by BCG Digital Ventures.)

Kai Nicol-Schwarz

Reporter

Get in touch with him at

kai@sifted.eu 

He tweets from

@NicolSchwarzK

Tom Nugent

Digital Editor

Get in touch with him at

tom@sifted.eu

He tweets from

@TJNugent92

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