Hello Sifted reader,

There are a lot things you can bank on seeing at a startup conference: strobe lighting and techno at 11am; some free but disgusting snacks (often vegan); one of those robot dogs; and a life-size statue of a unicorn.

It’s time for nearly all of them — but especially the horned horse — to go.

We’re 12 months into a downturn. Thousands of people have been laid off from European tech companies. We’ve just survived a full-scale bank run caused in part by interest rate rises and VC groupthink. And all this still hasn't broken the industry’s collective idolisation of the mythical creature.

Shouldn’t we be finding another animal to put on a pedestal?

2023 is, after all, the year of profitability. This year VCs are (still) advising startups to break even and posting on LinkedIn about revenue over growth. It’s the second year in a row in which startups are laying off 10%, 20%, 30% of their teams to achieve said goal. And it’s so far a year in which just one new billion-dollar business (DeepL) has been minted — and far more unicorns have been de-horned.

So what should we elect our new mascot? My vote is for the honey bee. (Bear with me.)

Bees are good for the planet. They work well in teams. They have a woman in charge (and we could do with a few more of them). And they are extremely productive.

We’re on track for climate disaster, says the latest IPCC report. We have no real idea how to care for our ageing populations or properly fund our creaking health systems. Paris is burning, British doctors are striking. But technology could help — if we focus on the right kind.

Let’s start idolising the businesses that sort out the world’s BIG, BIG problems (we’ve recently written about a few) and make stuff we really, really need. Let’s start giving headline speaker slots to the founders who figured out how to build happy hives. And let’s start celebrating the startups that do a lot with a little.

After all — unicorns aren't real.

— Amy Lewin, editor

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Do you want to get in front of Sifted's audience of startup founders, operators and VCs? Get in touch here.

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💰 Series A+

Raisin, a Berlin-based savings manager, has raised a €60m Series E from investors including Goldman Sachs.
1X, a Norwegian robotics startup developing androids, has raised $23.5m in Series A funding from OpenAI's Startup Fund and Tiger Global.

💰 Pre-seed & seed

HeavyFinance, a Lithuanian marketplace for agricultural financing, has raised a €3m seed round.
GoJoe, a UK-based social fitness app, has raised £1.2m in seed funding.

💰 Undisclosed

Hadean, a UK-based metaverse startup, raised an additional $5m in funding. It raised a $30m Series A in September last year.

Sifted Talks | Online | March 29
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Sifted Sessions | Berlin | May 25
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