Hello Sifted reader,

Today we bring you funding news for a Danish AI nurse and a London-based startup trying to help gig economy workers land better pay cheques. Scroll for that.

Plus... fintech reporter Amy O'Brien brings you the scoop on Checkout.com, which has seen a flurry of execs out the exit door and, according to sources, has been cutting its headcount on the down-low.

Also from the Sifted newsroom:

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🥷 Checkout.com's exec exodus + "layoffs by stealth". In the last nine months the fintech has lost six people who reported directly to CEO Guillaume Pousaz — and sources tell Sifted it's also been quietly cutting its headcount.

🇸🇪 Inside Polarium, the Swedish battery unicorn. There are rooms at the startup's new R&D facility where experiments are happening with voltages so high even CEO Stefan Jansson isn't allowed in — Sifted's Mimi Billing took a tour of the unicorn that seems to have slipped under the radar.

🍔 5 reasons alt-meat is still alive and well. Galloping inflation and health concerns hit the alt-meat boom hard last year — but European founders think the dream of a vegan burger paradise is far from over.

😇 250+ female angel investors across Europe. Our list has had an update and the angels have been rolling in — have we missed anyone? Let us know here.

A chart showing the amount of seed funding raised by sectors in March 2023 — SaaS is the leader with €56m.

🌱 March's hottest seed rounds. Last month European seed-stage startups grabbed €413m across 272 rounds, a slight dip on February's numbers. But there were still some startups that caught Sifted's eye — from one making fuel from thin air to another speeding up cancer treatments.

🇭🇺 Hungary's 2022 startup stats. Startup Hungary, a non-profit organisation, has published its a report summing up the Hungarian startup ecosystem in 2022.

It found that:

Despite the economic slowdown, Hungarian startups raised 60% more in 2022 than the year before — over €180m in total. Though that's mostly driven by fraud prevention startup SEON's $94m Series B.
Most Hungarian startups work on B2B SaaS — with AI emerging as the main vertical.
Half of the startups moved their legal headquarters outside of Hungary in 2022 or are planning to do so in the next 12 months (33% to the US, 16% to the UK and 12% to Estonia).
Around 20% of the startups are bootstrapped.

🛴 Paris votes to ban escooters. Just over 7% of citizens in the French capital turned out to vote against renewing escooter company licences. That doesn't bode well for TIER, Lime or Dott, the three emobility companies currently operating in the city:

The companies will have to remove all escooters from the city by September 1.
Each currently has a licence to operate 5,000 escooters in Paris; Tier and Lime both say they also have ebikes in the city, which can remain.
The three operators between them have 800 employees based in the country.

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

💰 Series A+

British unicorn Quantexa, which offers decision intelligence solutions for the public and private sectors, raised a $129m Series E.
AMSilk, a German startup that produces sustainable silk proteins, has raised €25m in additional Series C funding.
45-8 ENERGY, which is developing an eco-friendly way to produce helium and natural hydrogen, has closed a €20m Series B round.
Metaverse builder LandVault has raised an additional $3m in Series B funding.
HeatTransformers, a startup making it easier to install heat pumps, has closed a €15m Series A.
Berlin-based MakerVerse, an AI-powered platform offering on-demand supply chain manufacturing, has secured €9.4m in Series A funding.

💰 Pre-seed & seed

Teton.ai, a Danish startup building an AI assistant for nurses, has raised a $5.3m seed round led by Taavet Hinrikus's Plural.
Rodeo, a London-based app that helps food delivery workers earn more by comparing the best pay across delivery companies and offering insight into gig economy salaries, has raised a $5m seed round led by LocalGlobe.
French startup Fairjungle, a B2B platform that rewards employees for saving money on travel expenses, has raised €4m in seed funding.

💰 Undisclosed

Sweden's X Shore, which creates electric-powered boats, has secured €26.5m in a round led by the investment arm of Swedish Bank SEB. CEO Jenny Keisu confirmed to Sifted that its valuation has come down since it last raised.
German home heating startup tado has raised an additional €12.5m, less than two months after raising €43m.
Fourthline, an AI-powered solution to help businesses comply with anti money laundering laws, has secured €50m.
Period cycle tracking app Clue has raised €7m from Balderton Capital and Union Square Ventures, ahead of launching a crowdfunding round on Crowdcube.
Acre, an automation platform for mortgage advisors and home buying intermediaries, has raised £6.5m.
Forefront RF, a UK based semiconductor startup, has secured £3.75m.
Bringly, a platform for companies to make shipping logistics more sustainable, has raised €1.5m.

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