Sifted - Investor ghosting 👻

Good morning there,

Earlier this week a general partner at a European VC firm told me he must've had literally hundreds of fundraising conversations with LPs, the folks who invest in VCs, over the years — and probably received just a handful of outright 'nos'. 

That's ghosting to rival most dating apps. 

Is he an especially unlucky chap? Or have most partners experienced something similar?

If you're a VC investing in Europe, I would be delighted if you'd take our quick survey on the state of LP <> VC relations in 2023 and let us know. 

Once we get enough responses, we'll whip up our findings in an article or two to share with our readers.

— Amy Lewin, editor

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👩‍💼 Revolut has hired a new CEO for its UK arm. Francesca Carlesi, who’s the cofounder and former CEO of mortgage lender fintech Molo, will be hoping her time at the helm of the digital bank is blessed with something that eluded her predecessor: a UK banking licence. 

Is Ozempic going to change the world? On the pod this week, we discuss:

• Where weight-loss ‘miracle’ drug Ozempic’s maker Novo Nordisk is investing now — and which industries its most famous creation could upend
• Klarna’s battle with the unions
• Why AI is an existential threat, contrary to what many would have you believe 

If you’re not a subscriber to Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast, do yourself a favour and sign up now. 

🎪 The main takeaways from the UK AI safety summit: the US is calling the shots; the UK isn't in a rush to pass any AI laws; and France just really loves open source.

👨‍🎨 Which are the most active French investors not based in Paris? 

🗽 17% of central and eastern European startups move abroad — primarily to the US and London. Why is it still so tricky to grow a UiPath-like company on home turf? 

⛽ BP Ventures, the CVC arm of oil and gas giant BP, plans to plough 90% of its spending between 2023 and 2026 into climate tech startups.

• It’ll focus on five areas: hydrogen; bioenergy; electric vehicle charging; convenience; and renewables and power.
• This will mark a dramatic change of direction; to date, it’s invested a lot in technology for the existing oil and gas industry, but “that’s an element that we are significantly reducing”, says Gareth Burns, head of BP Ventures.

😔 Insurance startup Zego and fintech Thoughtmachine are among the startups to have laid off employees in the past month. Here are dozens of other startups which have had to let go of staff this year. 

Founders who went to university in Europe raise less funding than those who studied in the US, Israel and India. 

That’s according to a new study from VC firm Runa Capital, which used Crunchbase and LinkedIn data to look at companies started by 17k founders from 89 universities — and then rank universities by the median funding of alumni founders who have raised more than $1m. 

• Cambridge took top spot in Europe, with 304 founders raising a median of $15.9m 

• Zurich-based Memo Therapeutics scooped a €26m Series C to advance its treatment for infections in kidney transplant recipients.
• Cambridge University spinout Nu Quantum, which helps quantum computers network with one another, has raised £7m from Amadeus and IQ Capital.
• Viennese biotech Heartbeat.bio, a drug discovery platform for heart disease, has raised a €4.5m round co-led by i&i Biotech Fund, Invest AG, aws Gründungsfonds II and Tensor Ventures.
• Dutch payments startup Fero has raised a $3m seed led by US hedge fund Coatue.

If you’d like to submit a deal, get in touch.

Head of policy? Overseer of AI? Master of M&A? 

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