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Tech Nation, the UK startup organisation that helped bring thousands of talented tech workers to the country, will cease operations in March after the UK government pulled its funding. The shutdown puts the UK's global tech talent visa in limbo.

From the Sifted newsroom:

— Sadia, editorial assistant & Tom, digital editor

Brussels' climate tech boost

📸 The snapshot: Later today, the EU is announcing plans to boost funding for climate tech. Spoiler: it involves making it easier for member states to hand out tax credits for green investment.

🖼 The bigger picture: The move comes in response to the US’s Inflation Reduction Act — which promised no less than $369bn in subsidies for companies addressing climate change. The legislation led to worries that European climate tech companies would up sticks and head west. The founder of Marvel Fusion, a German startup working on zero-carbon fusion power, told the FT he’s already being pushed by investors to move to the US. The EU hopes its proposals will encourage homegrown climate tech companies to stay put.

How exactly this will be funded remains to be decided — it'll likely involve repurposing some existing EU funds. The Commission may also push governments to use some of their pandemic recovery budgets on tax breaks for green tech and retraining.

According to leaked copies of the proposal, Brussels is also suggesting easing restrictions around state subsidies for hydrogen, carbon capture, zero-emission vehicles and energy efficiency measures, as well as lowering regulatory barriers to roll out new green tech solutions.

⏩ What happens next? As ever in Brussels, there will be plenty of debate. After the details are laid out, they'll be discussed in the European Parliament and by EU leaders at a regular summit later this month.

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💰 Series A

Fibery, a platform for startup teams to manage company processes, has raised $5.2m from Tal Ventures and Altair Capital.
Entocycle, a data-driven insect farming startup, has raised £4m from climate VC Climentum Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, Teampact ventures and ACE & Company.
Mlean, which offers software to automate processes for manufacturing businesses, raised €3m from Caixa Capital Risc.

💰 Pre-seed + seed

Fuelfinance, which streamlines finance management for businesses, raised $1m in seed funding from San Francisco-based StratMinds and Eastern Europe-focused BADieas.fund, plus angels Markus Villig (Bolt) and John S. Kim (Sendbird).
Titan Academy, which offers virtual sport gamers automated coaching, scored $1m in seed funding from the venture arm of Romanian betting platform Superbet, Ascension, APX and Concept Ventures.
Cohort, the customer engagement platform powered by NFTs, announced a €3.2m seed round led by IRIS and Axeleo Capital, with participation from Kima Ventures and 3founders.

💳 Monzo on track for rare profitability. The neobank experienced record revenue growth of 250% in 2022 and looks in good shape to break even this year.

🌧 Tech Nation closes. The UK startup organisation that helped bring tech talent to the country has had key government funding pulled, and will cease operations in March.

👣 UiPath alumni. Several employees of the successful automation software startup have gone on to launch startups of their own: here are five companies founded by ex-UiPathers.

💻 Europe's fastest-growing open-source startups. A new report by Runa Capital has ranked the companies that grew the fastest on GitHub last year.

👶 Pregnancy startups in Europe. Here are 10 companies to watch in the space, according to VCs and Sifted research.

🤑 Why can't founders just name a number? Founders often skirt around disclosing their target fundraising goal — but one investor says the coyness puts VCs off.

⏭ The people moves in fintech. The start of the year feels like the transfer window for career moves: but which fintech execs are shifting to pastures new?

🌳 Inside Poland's plan to create Europe's new climate tech giants. Its state-owned fund of funds PFR Ventures has invested €55m across four green VC funds actively searching for Polish climate tech startups to back.