Hello Sifted reader,

Huge news in last night — the Bank of England is reportedly planning to reject Revolut's banking licence application.

Before that news broke, Amy and Eleanor were also discussing the exec exodus at the digital bank on this week's podcast. Get your popcorn ready; we don't think this story is over yet.

Plus...

— Kai, reporter

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🙅‍♀️ The Bank of England is reportedly planning to reject Revolut's banking licence application. The neobank applied for the licence back in 2021 — and The Telegraph reports it's now urgently trying to reverse the decision.

🇬🇧 UK government announces £1bn semiconductor package — the investment will be made over the next decade, with up to £200m deployed between 2023 and 2025.

🇫🇮 Wolt and Oura backer Lifeline Ventures closes new €150m fund — it's the Finnish VC's largest fund to date, backing around 10 startups a year and signing cheques of €500k-2m.

🇮🇪 Elkstone closes Ireland’s largest early-stage VC fund. The €100m fund will back Irish founders across all sectors with €1m-2m over the next three to four years.

💸 Revolut and Ledger alumni raise €12m for new crypto startup Deblock. Investors in the crypto wallet's seed round include Harry Stebbings’s firm 20VC, Headline, Hoxton Ventures and Kima Ventures.

📉 The average stake taken by UK universities in spinouts has been steadily declining in the last decade, according to a new report by the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub and data platform Beauhurst.

The report also digs into emerging spinout hubs, founder diversity and the current state of grant funding.

🐦 The most successful VCs aren't the ones tweeting. Twitter pseudo-wisdom doesn't equate to returns, according to a new analysis of the Forbes Midas List — a ranking of the world's top 100 VCs. It found that nearly half of them weren't active on Twitter and just four of them tweet several times a day.

🏭 Inside Northvolt’s plan to tap Portuguese "white gold" — the battery maker's planning to build Europe's first lithium refinery at a site near Lisbon, but not everyone's happy.

😬 VCs, do you know what your weaknesses are? Two coaches with a decade of working with investors reveal the blind spots you might not know are holding you back.

🪄 Why Harry Potter is the copyright timebomb under generative AI models. Last week the EU greenlit a proposal for its AI law — which would mean companies making AI models like GPT-4 would have to disclose any copyrighted material used to develop their products. And that could put a host of generative AI startups in the legal line of fire.

👀 15 DACH startups to watch, according to VCs from 3VC, Earlybird, La Famiglia, High-Tech Gründerfonds and HV Capital.

Europe’s leading startup hubs — apply and evaluate now!

Incubator or accelerator programmes within Europe — or people with knowledge of startup centres — can register to be considered for a guide of Europe’s leading startup hubs, to be published by the Financial Times and Sifted. The survey only takes a few minutes to complete and is open until June 15.

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💰 Series A+

Mitiga, a Spanish startup that analyses climate risk for businesses, has raised a €13.3m Series A.

💰 Pre-seed and seed

Deployed, a London-based project management startup, has raised $4m.

💰 Undisclosed

HR DataHub, a UK-based pay and benefits benchmarking tool for businesses, has raised £1.4m.
Amlyze, a Lithuanian startup providing anti-financial crime solutions for fintechs, has raised $1m.

Final call 📣 Sifted Sessions \ Berlin is next week!

Sifted journalists will be leading the line-up, asking some of the DACH region’s leading founders and investors the biggest and boldest questions. Find inspiration and meet new contacts next Thursday at Vollgutlager.

Get your pass now.

How to get the pre-seed funding you need | May 24

Got a breakthrough idea but need to get it off the ground? Learn from Debite and Pocketlaw as they explore how to raise — and spend — pre-seed funding.

Register for free.