View this email in your browser

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

Hello Sifted reader,

We've got goss from the ground today, as our reporters reveal some of the more interesting tidbits they've overheard at Web Summit this week. Among them the CEO and founder of Revolut dismissed reports that the fintech had only two years of funding left, claiming that it's actually reached profitability — though it's not releasing 2021 financial statements until December. 

In funding news a couple of climate-conscious startups have cause for celebration: German spacetech ConstellR wants to use satellites to tackle water wastage, and just raised a $10m seed round; and Portugal's Smartex, which hopes to fix fast fashion's textile waste problem, drummed up a $24.7m Series A. 

From the Sifted newsroom:

• What happened with seed funding in October?
• Checkout.com CEO doesn't care about its valuation
• Inventure closes €150m fund
• The fintech unicorn out for acquisitions

☄️ October's hottest seed rounds. From sustainable shoewear to augmented reality textbooks, Europe's startups raised €373m in seed funding last month. Among the stats was a surprise change in sectors at the top of the list.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR TRUELAYER

Ever struggled to cancel a subscription? Customers can easily get resentful of a brand if they make their subscriptions hard to amend. But could the ease of Variable Recurring Payments be the answer to this problem?

💸 Carta's out for acquisitions. The US fintech unicorn, which sells software to help funds manage administration and startups manage their ownership, has already bought up the UK's Capdesk and Vauban this year. Its CEO tells Sifted that that's only the start of its M&A spree. 

😤 Revolut will raise if it wants to. That's what founder and CEO Nik Storonsky told Amy O'Brien at Web Summit, dismissing reports that the fintech only has enough funding to last two years. “We don’t really need to raise," he claims — but will tap fresh investors for cash if faster expansion is on the cards. 

🤷 Who cares about valuations? Not the CEO of Checkout.com, that's for sure. He made it clear that as a founder, all that's on his mind is building, net revenue growth and margins.

🤝 Inventure closes €150m fund. The Nordic VC closed its fourth fund, which will be used to back early-stage startups in the Baltics and Nordics. It'll also venture into writing angel investor-sized tickets for companies at even earlier stages. 

🚀 Solving waste from space. German startup ConstellR reckons it can use satellites to fix water wastage in agriculture, and help farmers produce enough crops to cater to a growing population. It's raised a $10m seed round, which will be used to build and launch its first two satellites. 

👗 Fixing fast fashion. Portuguese startup Smartex, which hopes to tackle the climate impact of the fashion industry by reducing textile waste, has raised a $24.7m Series A led by US-based Lightspeed Ventures and Tony Fadell’s Build Collective. 

👀 “Elon hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing,” says a former Twitter exec, overheard at Europe's biggest tech event.

Tim Smith has fed back the drama (and given us FOMO) from the ground, from the huge names taking to the stage to unnamed investors overheard complaining that they're "just soooo hungover from listening to David Guetta all night".

Here's what you missed.

1️⃣ Only three of Europe's most valuable scaleups are profitable. Of the 20 top unicorns in Europe, only three are in the black. Sifted reached out to the companies making a loss to find out if profitability is on the horizon — and if so, how far off that horizon might be. 

2️⃣ The UK govermnent-backed startups that failed. Rishi Sunak's Future Fund invested £1.14bn into 1,190 high-growth businesses affected by the Covid pandemic. 67 of those businesses, however, have since gone bust. 

3️⃣ Layoffs at Kry. Around 300 employees will be let go from the digital health provider, known as Livi in the UK and France, as the company responds to worsening market conditions. It reported losses of €110m in 2021. 

4️⃣ Monzo employees intend to unionise. Employees at the UK-based neobank asked the company to formally recognise its union, a box it needs to tick before management are required to consult them on things like pay and redundancy negotiations. If it goes through, they'll join the United Tech and Allied Workers, part of the CWU. 

5️⃣ Term sheets are a-changing. It's no secret that fundraising for startups is difficult in today's climate — but that's also having an effect on term sheets. So what's changed, and how should founders adapt? 

We're opening up some exciting new roles in the Sifted team:

Business development executive: London, commercial team

Senior front-end engineer: remote, product team

Senior finance reporter: remote, editorial team

Office manager: London, in-office, operations team

🛍 How not to do Black Friday. The time of year is upon us when businesses and consumers work themselves into a frenzy trying to drive up sales and hunt for a bargain. But Black Friday's "consumption on steroids” sucks for the planet, says cofounder of sustainable underwear brand Pantee, Katie McCourt. So how can you do it differently?

🤝 Your guide to compliance. Often one of the more annoying parts of the startup life, navigating compliance isn't an easy task. Here's what you need to know to make the process a little less painful. (Sponsored by Vanta.) 

Newsletters → Get even more from Sifted with our range of specialist newsletters. Sign up below for bonus news, wisdom and gossip you won’t find anywhere else — not even on the Sifted site:

• Climate Tech 
• Fintech
• Startup Life
• Venture Capital

Pro → Our top level of membership lets you dive deep into the latest trends from startup Europe with our must-have research and community, including our new in-depth report on psychedelics for mental health, exclusively for Pro members. 

Sadia Nowshin

Editorial Assistant

Get in touch with her at

sadia@sifted.eu

She tweets from 

@sadianowshin_

Tom Nugent

Digital Editor

Get in touch with him at

tom@sifted.eu

He tweets from

@TJNugent92

Copyright © 2022 SIFTED (EU) LTD, All rights reserved.

Want to tailor what you receive from us?
You can update your preferences to manage your newsletter subscriptions,
or you can unsubscribe from Sifted if you never want to hear from us again.