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Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the former billionaire who brought the world Klarna, has had a rocky year. His buy now, pay later scaleup saw its valuation slashed by 85% last summer, losses at the company tripled in the first half of 2022 and it had to make two rounds of layoffs.

But things are, perhaps, looking up. Siemiatkowski has said he expects Klarna will hit monthly profitability in the second half of this year, and in January Klarna saw the US, where it has 32m customers, become its biggest market by revenue.

What’s more, he has a hot date on March 8 — with Sifted. He’ll be taking to the stage at Sifted Sessions in Stockholm for a fireside chat covering all of the above and much more. We’d also like to hear what you, dear readers, would like us to ask Siemiatkowski. Send your ideas to me, amy@sifted.eu.

And, of course, register to attend the event. Startups, apply for a free pass. Investors, trust us, it’s worth it.

— Amy Lewin

Whether you’re a software engineer, game designer or UI artist, the British metaverse company could have an open role for you — either in London or remote.

💰 Series B+

• Tau Group, a Finnish startup that manufacturers parts for the electric mobility industry, has raised €9m.
• French insurtech Garantme has raised €15m in a round featuring state-backed investor Bpifrance.

💰 Series A

• Phlo, a UK startup that helps pharmacies go digital, has raised £10m.
• Ziflow, a proofing software for agencies and brands, has raised $20m.

💰 Seed

• UK climate tech Kelpi, which makes a single-use plastic alternative out of seaweed, has picked up £3m in funding, which includes a £665k grant from Innovate UK's Combined Investor Partnership.
• Coderblock, an Italian recruitment marketplace, has raised €1m.
• Staxxer, a Dutch ecommerce platform, has raised €1m.

• Consumer goods marketplace Situ Live has raised £1m.

• Entrepreneur First alumnus Ever Dye, a French sustainable clothes dying company, has raised €3.4m.
• Milluu, a Romanian property renting platform, has raised €1m.
• Electric vehicle charging startup Vool has raised €1.7m, with investors including Startup Wise Guys.
• Instill AI, a data platform for developers, has raised $3.6m.

💰 Pre-seed

• Artisio, a UK-based SaaS platform for auction houses, has picked up £250k.
• Lateua, a Spanish home decor marketplace that uses AI to pick out furniture, has raised $150k.
• CazaTuPlaza, a Spanish study assistance tool, has raised €407k.

🤖 People to know in generative AI in Europe. It's the hot sector in European tech right now, so we've put together a list of 20 key figures you should pay attention to.

🍆 $80bn sextech market still too taboo for VCs. Despite attitudes towards sex shifting and the huge market opportunity, sextech startups are still struggling to raise cash from investors.

⚡️ 8 tips for helping your team stay motivated when cost-cutting. The downturn has seen hundreds of startups go through layoffs and cut costs as they look to make every penny go further. Sifted asked the experts how to avoid morale dropping during the tough times.

🛠️ How to be a DIY CTO. The secret to building a minimum viable product when you don't know how to code: no-code tools. Here's how one founder did it.

🔫 The “real” defence investors in Europe. As defence tech turns from taboo to opportunity for VCs, Sifted spoke to industry insiders and crunched the numbers on recent deals to find out who the major investors are.

💰 Insurtech in 2023: Where the sector’s going and why it’s ripe for expansion. (Sponsored by Prima)

February 23 | Is your sales team set up for success?

Putting the customer first remains fundamental for SaaS founders, so how can they build trustworthy sales teams? When things get tough, how can founders keep teams empowered and motivated? Join us for our next online Sifted Talks on February 23, where we’ll answer all of these questions. Don't miss it.

March 1 | As the cookie crumbles, who’s picking up the data crumbs?

81% of companies admit they have a dependence on third-party cookies for advertising strategies. With a cookieless future on the horizon, what does this mean for customer growth? On March 1, we’ll share tips and tricks to prepare for this earthquake in digital business.

RSVP for free.

The gist:

Militaries used to be leaders in technological innovation, but now much of their equipment comes up short compared to commercially available alternatives.

At a time where a country's security goes beyond the battlefield to include things like safeguarding power grids, transport systems and other digital infrastructure, there's growing pressure for militaries to work with startups on things like autonomous vehicles and threat detection software.

Why the gist matters?

Nato announced a €1bn investment fund in 2022 to back early-stage defence tech companies and in the wake of the war in Ukraine national defence budgets are increasing.

“In the past, there was really a clear border around what VCs invest in or not, and defence tech tended to be on the other side of that line... with the war in Ukraine there has definitely been a shift in paradigm," says João Nunes, an investor at Playfair Capital.

But there are still lines in the sand. While investors are increasingly drawn to "dual-use technology" (tech with both defence and civilian applications), for startups creating explicitly offensive technology, VC funding is still pretty much off the table.

The challenges: 

• Securing government contracts can take a really long time. As for most governmental procedures, procurement for the military is a notoriously tedious process.
• For dual-use startups, having to pursue both defence and civilian applications at the same time — and the split focus that requires — can actually make it harder for early-stage companies to raise.
• The traditional 10-year VC fund cycle is often too short a timeframe for a defence startup to successfully commercialise its tech and exit.

Who’s investing?

Deal count based on 40 defence and security tech startups tracked by Sifted.

• Seraphim (accelerator) — 3 deals
• Bpifrance (state-backed) — 3 deals
• Tech Nation (accelerator) — 2 deals
• Startup Wise Guys (accelerator) — 2 deals
• European Union Agency for the Space Programme (public fund) — 2 deals
• ESA business incubation centre (accelerator) — 2 deals
• Cyber Security Academic Startup Programme (accelerator) — 2 deals
• Crédit Agricole (CVC) — 2 deals
• Astropreneurs (accelerator) — 2 deals

The stats:

• Total invested in Europe 2015-2022 — €11.2bn
• Country with most investment 2015-2022 — The UK, €3.9bn
• Avg launch to seed — 2.2 years
• Avg seed funding — €1.5m
• Avg seed valuation — €6.2m
• Avg seed to Series A — 2.2 years
• Avg Series A funding — €38m
• Avg Series A valuation — €63m

On the subject of... defence

👉 Russia’s war prompts ’emotional’ defence tech rise in CEE countries

👉 10 European defence tech startups to watch, according to investors

For an in-depth market dive into defence tech, see Sifted's latest Pro briefing.

Know something you think we should explore further? Let us know, confidentially.

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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