Hello Sifted reader,

If you want to start the week off right, the latest episode of Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast is the way to go. It actually breaks a world record: it's the first ever podcast (we think) to mention Idris Elba, farts and astrology in under 30 minutes. Don't say we don't spoil you.

And in other news, investors are missing out on £500m in annual returns by failing to do one simple thing: back disabled founders. That's according to a survey by Access2Funding, which found that 84% of respondents — entrepreneurs living with a disability — believe they don't have equal access to the same opportunities and resources as non-disabled founders.

Also from the Sifted newsroom:

👀 How do founders feel about accelerators?

In Sifted's latest community survey we scoured Europe for the founders who've graduated cum laude from a host of startup accelerators, to discover what they really think about the process.

“It’s like networking on steroids,” says one founder, while another highlights that some programmes just teach you skills or tips that could just as easily be looked up “on YouTube.”

Read what else they had to say here.

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🔥 November's hottest seed rounds. It was a funny month for seed funding in November. Though the number of rounds fell compared to October's total, the total amount raised increased in several sectors. From taking sports fans into the metaverse to a TikTok approach to upskilling, here are some of the rounds that caught our eye.

🕳 The £500m investment hole. More than four in five disabled entrepreneurs in the UK feel they can't tread the same path as their non-disabled counterparts because access to opportunities and resources is lacking. And that's not just hurting them, it's hurting investors too.

Buckle up for a financial storm. The economic downturn is in full swing with a recession just over the horizon — which may lead to more financial fraud. How can consumers protect themselves? On December 7 hear from Anthemis Group, Enfuce, Plaid and an exciting stealth startup to find out how to stay safe. Join us virtually.

Exploring the turbulent VC landscape. It’s been a rocky year for raising cash as the market has taken a tumble. But what are 2022’s major learnings for VCs and angels as they look ahead? At our virtual Sifted Talks, we’ll dive into the sectors that snatched the most deals and the actionable insights to take from the last 12 months. Join us for free on December 14.

🧑‍💻 What does a late-stage European deeptech startup look like? The continent doesn't really have a reputation for nurturing deeptech giants — and, as Zoe Reich and Amy Nommeots-Nomm from Octopus Ventures suggest, the main obstacle could be defining what that actually looks like.

Keep your eyes peeled for a steady stream of opinion pieces this week, shining a spotlight on European deeptech. Next up: Why you need more than world-class science to be successful.

🌍 Want to build a global open banking fintech? Then you need to move to America. That's according to Banked CEO Brad Goodall, who after eight years in London swapped the shores of Europe for San Francisco — and he hasn't looked back since.

🌊 Avoid being flattened out of the blue. The role of PR and comms in the early days of running a startup is to grab the limelight with quirky headlines, right? Wrong. Here's how deploying this "vacuum mindset" can end up destabilising your startup, and why it's always the right time to plan for the unexpected.