Hello Sifted reader,

There are only a few crosses on the calendar left before Sifted hits Berlin on May 25 for our next Sifted Sessions, where we'll be joined by some of the DACH ecosystem's biggest movers and shakers.

Consumed by FOMO? There are still a few tickets — nab one for the chance to network with the likes of Ecosia, EQT Ventures and Climeworks.

From the Sifted newsroom:

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR BALTIC VENTURES

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↘️ Startup valuations have continued to plummet in 2023 — and later-stage startups have taken the biggest hit. Despite solar startup Enpal's huge €215m Series D at a €2.2bn valuation, average venture growth valuations in Q1 2023 are only about a third of their peak in Q3 2021.

🌱 Seedcamp raises $180m. The early-stage investor’s sixth fund is double the size of its last, and it'll invest in any sector across Europe at pre-seed and seed, with a target of 100 deals.

🛴 German micromobility scaleup Tier is in late-stage acquisition talks to be bought by Estonian rival Bolt — Sifted understands a valuation is yet to be agreed upon but the deal could be closed within weeks. That's after we learnt that Tier had raised a convertible note from existing investors — which include Speedinvest, Northzone and Mubadala Capital — as it looked for a buyer.

🇫🇷 French startup star Pigment has raised a $70m round from US investor ICONIQ. Sources tell Sifted it's attracted an $850m valuation — an extremely steep 'multiple' of its revenue.

💳 Who's left at Revolut? Sifted's noticed the CFO isn't the only senior person to have resigned from the neobank recently. Here are the five most significant recent departures — and the people left with the power.

🏙 Because building a business means following the money, founders outside hub cities face big travel costs which hit their bottom lines and stall momentum — and for Ash Phillips, founder of Dffrnt and Rebel Meetups, that's simply not good enough.

👀 Gen Z investors to know. It's not just TikTok and wide-leg jeans: the next generation have entered the VC space, and we spoke to eight worth keeping an eye on.

🧬 How do you turn a company of researchers into a team that knows how to build a product? Gary Brotman — the CEO of Cambridge-based AI startup Secondmind — shares the three ways he did it.

What’s the M&A scene looking like for startups?

In a cold fundraising environment, more startups are turning to M&A. But how do you know if it’s the right move for your startup? In our podcast mini-series, EQT Ventures’ Gautam Nadella and Sonantic’s Zeena Qureshi reveal what you’ll need to know, including when M&A isn’t such a good idea.

Listen in

💰 Series A+

ANYbotics, which is building four-legged autonomous robots for industry, has drummed up $50m in Series B funding led by Walden Catalyst and NGP Capital. Bessemer Venture Partners and AramcoVentures also participated in the round.
Smart, a UK-based pensions and retirement platform, has raised $95m in Series E funding.
Dualyx, which is developing advanced immune modulators that are used to fight infections, disease and cancer, has raised a $40m Series A round.
Aibidia, a platform for multinational transfer pricing, has raised €13m in Series A funding.
Pledge, a climate tech that helps logistics and supply chain companies embed climate impact calculating and offsetting into websites, has secured a $10m Series A round.
Tenzo, an AI-powered restaurant management platform, has raised $5m in Series A funding led by Amadeus Capital Partners and S28 Capital.

💰 Pre-seed and seed

Ocell, a management platform for the forestry industry, has raised a €4.9m seed round.
Personalised medicine startup Nia Health has secured €3.5m in seed funding from High-Tech Gründerfonds, Ventura BioMed Investors and Adesso Ventures.

💰 Undisclosed

Faks, which digitises communication between pharmacies and suppliers, has drummed up €5m from Connect Ventures, Seedcamp and Cocoa Ventures.
anotherblock, which lets fans own parts of their favourite songs through NFTs, has raised €4m led by Stride.VC, with participation from Axwell of Swedish House Mafia.
Springpod, a platform offering students virtual university class tasters and online work experience, has raised £3m.

Your next role could be one of these:

Klarna, the buy now, pay later giant, is looking for a new business development manager in Manchester.
Signal AI, an AI startup based in London, is on the hunt for a new senior site reliability engineer.
Deel, a HR and payroll system, wants a new lead product designer in London.