Hello Sifted reader,

Before you read on, consider this your one-week warning: early bird tickets to the Sifted Summit — two jam-packed days of networking, amazing talks moderated by our stellar team of journalists and expert-led roundtables — are only available until this Friday. Grab yours while you still can.

From the Sifted newsroom today:

— Amy, editor

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First look: mWISE 2023 Session Catalog

What’s in store for Mandiant’s mWISE 2023? Check out the topics, see the speakers, and start planning. It’s a security conference you don’t want to miss. Join us September 18-20 in Washington, DC for this vendor-neutral, community-focused conference.

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💰 Giano Capital raises €20m of a new secondaries fund with a €50m target. The Geneva-based firm plans to buy shares from existing investors — secondaries — in late-stage private companies. It should also be able to give its investors their money back much more quickly than the average VC fund.

📉 Corporate venture investment in European startups drops off. CVCs have done fewer deals in startups this year so far — and they're increasingly selling off their portfolios. Eleanor Warnock and Freya Pratty find out why.

👀 The most active European LPs. Meet the family offices, funds-of-funds and pension pots investing the most in European VC (excluding those owned by a government or state).

📝 How to use investor feedback productively. Founders, here's how to separate the good advice from the bad.

🎙️ Alternative pesticides backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Eleanor and Amy’s thoughts on the UK government’s plan to unlock billions for startups from pensions, and philosophical questions about cats... Welcome to the latest Sifted Podcast.

💭 How to launch on Product Hunt. For startups targeting product people, designers or developers, Product Hunt is the place to be. Sélim Benayat, founder of Bento, shares his top tips for launching on the platform.

🕵️‍♀️ Mythbusting the startup rumours of H1. Is France streaking ahead, are we over the worst of the layoffs and will generative AI really suck up all of the VC funding? Sifted debunks some of the most prominent myths that have been floating around this year.

🚨 Final call! If you're an incubator or accelerator, fill out our survey before the end of July to help us find Europe's Leading Startup Hubs, in a research project alongside the Financial Times and Statista. The results will be published in both Sifted and the FT — and operators can nominate their favourite accelerators too!

💚 From compostable razors to reclaiming metal from used electronics: Four startups breaking new ground on sustainability. (Sponsored by Amazon Sustainability Accelerator)

Funding has shown signs of recovery following two quiet quarters:

Average round size at Series C+, Series B and pre-Series A stages are all up in Q2 compared to Q1.
Around €14.6bn was drummed up across Europe in Q2, with 4,106 investors active in the rounds.
Later-stage startups at Series C and beyond raised the most funding since Q3 of 2022, with $8.7bn.

Unlock the secret to hiring top talent
Are you ready to grow your headcount but don’t know where to start? This Sifted Talks will dig into how to attract and recruit a top-tier team alongside Pitch, Vinted, Deel and Northzone. RSVP.

Sifted Summit super early bird rates end on Friday!
Don’t miss out on saving up to £125 on your ticket to Sifted Summit this October! There’s only one week left to book at this rate — join 3,000 other attendees from across startup Europe for an unforgettable event where startups make headlines. Get your ticket now.