Hello Sifted reader,

This week's episode of the Sifted Podcast drops you into the middle of a cave lake below the town of Tapolca in Hungary, as senior reporter Freya Pratty goes microbe hunting with biodiversity startup Basecamp Research — which is mapping out a database of all life.

Plus... the Sifted Summit is back this year on October 4-5. Want to secure your ticket at the cheapest price possible? Catch the worm and grab your super early bird ticket now.

Also from the Sifted newsroom:

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR MICROSOFT

Wondering how to make the most of SaaS in your startup?

Featuring industry experts including Open AI, Microsoft SaaS Day for Startups on May 9 will help businesses accelerate their journey using SaaS — with actionable insights and best practices from both business and technical perspectives.

Secure your seat for free

A map of Europe showing where speedy grocery companies are active.

🛒 A spree of speedy grocery acquisitions and shut-downs in Europe has left only a handful of startups in an industry that brought in $5.5bn through the 2021 tech boom — here's what the industry looks like now, and what could be next.

Chart showing funding going to AI drug discovery startups in various European countries between 2015 and 2022

💊 AI drug discovery startups in the UK grabbed the sector’s biggest chunk of funding between 2015 and 2022, raising more than $3bn and streaking ahead of the rest of Europe — the country also leapfrogged Switzerland in 2020 to grab top spot. In the latest Sifted Briefing, we dig into the trends you need to follow, the most active investors and the rising stars of the sector. (Exclusive for Sifted subscribers)

➡️ “I just don’t see that [there's] enough in favour of startups to create new value." — the EU's €43bn Chips Act is leading some founders to question whether Europe's the best place to be as a semiconductor startup — and it looks like a familiar story of smaller innovators looking to relocate.

🧬 Scientists scraping stuff off million-year-old cave walls, grabbing plankton samples from central Europe's largest lake and working out of a tent behind an Airbnb — it's all part of Basecamp's plan to plot a database of all life. Freya Pratty finds out what they're up to.

💼 How to hire an external CEO for your startup — where to look, what to look for and how to tell your team.

🤝 When should you bring in the startup grownups? Expanding the C-suite is a natural step for a scaling business — but when do you start hiring, how do you find the right people and what should you be looking for?

🇬🇷 5 Greek startups to watch, according to VCs.

🥱 Bored of the daily grind? Yana Maeva, career coach and head of people at insurtech Embea, shares her top tips on how to switch up your career.

🎶 Sony Music UK and Digital Catapult have launched an accelerator programme for Black founders. The 16-week programme will accept up to 10 founders working in digital entertainment sectors, offering workshops and mentoring to support startups looking to raise funding. Applications close May 29.

💰 Series A+

Polymateria, a UK-based startup developing biotransformation technology to reduce plastic pollution, has secured £20m in Series B funding.
TympaHealth, a UK-based digital platform for hearing health assessments, has raised $23m in Series A funding led by Octopus Ventures.
The UK's M3ter, a platform to help software companies with pricing, has raised $14m in Series A cash.
Hived, a UK parcel delivery startup that uses electric vehicles, has raised a £10m Series A round.

💰 Pre-seed & seed

Bits Technology, which helps fintechs onboard customers using multiple data sources, has raised €4m in seed funding from investors including Unusual Ventures, Fin Capital and Cherry Ventures.
Onin, a UK startup that combines and integrates personal calendars with existing messaging apps, has raised £2.75m in a seed round led by Octopus Ventures.
Bastion, which was founded by four ex-Palantir execs and offers cybersecurity options for SMEs, has raised €2.5m in seed funding.

💰 Undisclosed

Ctrl, which is based in London and Tel Aviv and helps sales teams automate tasks, has raised $9m led by LocalGlobe and Earlybird.
Top Doctors, a Spanish platform for medical professionals, has drummed up €8m in non-dilutive funding.
Elmo, an Estonian startup that is developing tech for remotely controlled electric cars, has raised €2.6m.
UK-based HydRegen, which is developing climate-friendly alternatives to metal catalysts used in chemical manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, has raised €2.5m.