Hello Sifted reader,

The Amsterdam police force started receiving some unusual requests yesterday. Customers of newly bankrupt e-bike startup VanMoof — who may soon not be able to use their $4,000 wheels — wanted to know if they could report a "theft" to the police.

Their requests were in vain. "Bankruptcy is a civil and not a criminal matter," the police clarified.

Other customers asked Elon Musk for help. "i’m totally going out on a limb here, but @elonmusk hear me out pls [...] @vanmoof is worth saving - anything that could be done to help??" tweeted Viv (who seemingly also works for Tesla).

VanMoof's competitors have been quick to take advantage of the situation. Belgian e-bike startup Cowboy built an app over the weekend to help VanMoof users to stay in the saddle, while German e-bike subscriptions company Dance kindly offered VanMoof customers a discount on its service.

Elon, meanwhile, is yet to reply.

— Amy, editor

From the Sifted newsroom today:

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🌆 Eurazeo closes a new smart city fund at €400m. It will back companies that are working to make cities more sustainable, investing primarily in Europe, at all stages. LPs include sovereign wealth and development institutions such as the European Investment Fund, Bpifrance, PFR, FRC and the Korean Venture Investment Corporation.

🇫🇷 New fintech Pivot raises €5m. The startup, which Sifted understands will focus on procurement (business spending on goods and services), was founded by the ex-product chiefs of French unicorns Qonto and Swile. Sources say the round, led by Visionaries Club, brings its pre-money valuation to €20m.

🇬🇧 Two British carbon credit startups raise $82m in one day.

Isometric, a startup launched by the serial entrepreneur Eamon Jubbawy — founder of fintechs Onfido and Sequence — has secured a $25m seed round led by LowerCarbon and Plural to build a carbon removal registry.
Sylvera, which provides data on carbon credits to companies and asset managers, also raised a $57m Series B round led by Balderton.

👀 Solar SaaS startup PVcase has raised a $100m Series B: here's the pitch deck it used to secure the deal.

🚲 VanMoof declared bankrupt in the Netherlands. The e-bike maker, which has raised close to $200m in funding from investors including Balderton and Felix Capital, may have reached the end of the road. Fans of the $3,998 wheels are not happy.

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💡 Lessons learnt building one of the world's most successful software businesses. Snowflake cofounder Marcin Żukowski has some words of advice for his fellow European entrepreneurs.

☀️ Can Germany take solar top spot? The country's so-called Solar Valley was booming — until regulatory changes pushed solar panel startups to move to China instead. Now a new generation of solar tech businesses are on the up — and could help Germany become a leader in the field again.

🦄 Founders: you don't have to build a unicorn. Patrick Ryan, founder of investment platform Odin, thinks startups need to focus less on becoming the next big thing and more on building something people actually want.

💸 9 payments startups to watch, according to investors.

🤑 Want to get on the path to profitability? Marek Talarczyk, former CEO of Netguru (a startup that was profitable since day dot and never took on external funding) shares his top tips.

Looking for the next step in your career? Check out these roles:

Shift Technology, an AI insurance company, is looking for a head of technical product management for a remote or hybrid role in Paris
Lyst, a fashion marketplace, is on the hunt for a new software engineer in London
Revolut, the neobank and wannabe superapp, wants a new people partner for a remote role in London

💰 Series A+

The UK's Optalysys, which makes photonic chips, has raised £21m in a Series A round led by family office Lingotto, imec.xpand and Northern Gritstone.

💰 Pre-seed and seed

Aviwell, a French startup that uses AI to help develop sustainable solutions for food and agritech industries to improve animal growth and food yield naturally, has raised a €9m seed round led by Elaia Partners and MFS.
Turkish mobile game developer Fortune Mine Games has raised $2m in seed funding.
Tromero, a UK startup that combines machine learning training with crypto mining, has raised £1.5m in seed funding led by BlueYard Capital.
NeoKe, which is building a digital ID alternative for travelling, has raised €1.3m in seed funding from investors including Dreamcraft Ventures, ff Venture Capital and Plug & Play.

💰 Other

OrganOx, a spinout from Oxford University building a device that can boost the number of livers that can be preserved for transplants by mimicking the environment of a human body, has raised £25m led by Lauxera Capital Partners.
Dutch e-bike maker Ellio has secured €5m in funding.
Huq Industries, a UK-based startup that offers data on footfall for local councils, shops and real estate developers, has raised £4m.