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The metaverse: a briefly popular oddity from prehistoric times (2022) that promptly died in the water.

Okay, virtual gaming platform Roblox is still going strong — but everywhere else is looking rather lonely at the moment. Data aggregator DappRadar reveals that there were fewer than 400 “active users” on Decentraland in the last 24 hours — not many for a company that was reportedly valued at over $1bn. Other platforms including The Sandbox have seen user numbers plunge too.

It was likely the moment Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook (sorry, Meta) put his two arms around the “immersive virtual world” that it became categorically uncool; the moment it became the “meh-taverse”.

Undeterred, France wants to make the virtual world happen. The government just closed its call yesterday for public comment on how it should create its metaverse strategy. It wants ideas for what tech should be prioritised for funding to create “an alternative to the virtual immersive universes currently offered by the international giants”.

Will it be metaverse or metamerde? These government-led tech pushes are often a bit rubbish — more likely to churn out smoky steampunk contraptions than cool internet things.

Still, it’s not like the corporates are doing much better. Over the last few months, companies like Meta, Microsoft, Tencent and Disney have decided to scrap their metaverse projects. Meta lost $13.7bn last year on its virtual reality lab. That’s as much money as was invested in German tech last year.

So with everyone making an absolute casserole out of their metaverses, why shouldn’t the French have a go?

We do, at least, have a rough sketch of what the French metaverse could look like. France’s president Emmanuel Macron, hoping to cement his reputation as King Tech, created his own virtual world last year in Minecraft to get some publicity for his re-election.

Visitors to the “Macronverse” were invited to wander around a wobbly looking town square, visit a cafe or kebab shop and gaze up at an enormous billboard with a photo of the president. You could also fall in a virtual river and drown.

So… will the French save the metaverse? Actually I think it’s more likely French people wouldn’t care to visit their own virtual world.

Didn’t we recently see all those French restaurant diners not put off one bit by fiery protests in the streets of Paris ("This is fine... dining")? The metaverse is just another horrorshow to ignore.

— Eanna Kelly

Company card and spend management solution Spendesk is looking for new employees — from software engineers to business developers.

🦄 Want to become a unicorn? Then you might want to expand your senior leadership team — that's according to new data from executive search service Erevena, which also digs into the departments most unicorns fill with senior hires and how hiring priorities shift in their first five years.

💰 The number of exits in Austria and Switzerland so far this year is looking healthy: we've already seen 78, compared to a peak of 158 in 2022. Here's the state of play across Swiss and Austrian tech.

Today Sifted's also launched a ranking of the Swiss and Austrian startups to watch in 2023 — from seed to growth stage. Subscribers can check it out here. Not a Sifted subscriber? Join our exclusive community for essential insights on Startup Europe.

🇺🇸 Entrepreneur First launches in the US. Europe's answer to Y Combinator has announced that it'll be launching a New York cohort this October, and ending its programmes in Berlin, Toronto and Singapore. 

😬 VCs aren't the only ones retreating — non-traditional investors like CVCs, PE firms and sovereign wealth funds are also tightening the purse strings, which is bad news for unicorns in search of megarounds. 

💰 What role do private investors really have when it comes to ESG? (Sponsored by Isomer Capital)

The dotcom crash has played out again with the fall of SVB and a looming economic downturn. So how can startups survive — and thrive — through the highs and lows of the tech market? EQT Ventures’ Alastair Mitchell and Flow Engineering’s Pari Singh share their top tips.

💰 M&A

• The UK's Paragraf, which mass-produces graphene electronics, has acquired Cardea Bio, which makes graphene-based biocompatible chips.

💰 Series A+

• HelloBetter, a German digital therapeutics for mental health startup, has raised a €7m Series A extension led by MassMutual Ventures.

💰 Pre-seed & seed

• Biolytica, a longetivity startup that collects genomic, microbiome, blood and epigenetic biomarker data to give an overview of a patient's health, has raised a €5.3m seed round. Though its introductory programme for individuals will set you back €10k.

• Prematch, a German content and stats app for amateur football players, has raised €2.4m in seed funding from the Schadeberg Family Office. 

• Anavo Therapeutics, which uses phosphatases in drug discovery, has extended its seed round with €8.5m. 
• Turkish digital cargo shipping platform Diginak.com has raised $5.3m in seed funding. 
• Quaisr, which offers digital twin simulation technology, has raised a $3.1m pre-seed round. 

Sadia Nowshin

Editorial Assistant

Get in touch with her at

sadia@sifted.eu

She tweets from 

@sadianowshin_

Tom Nugent

Digital Editor

Get in touch with him at

tom@sifted.eu

He tweets from

@TJNugent92

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