Sifted - Hottest (and nottest) startups RN 🔥

Good morning there,

Way back in 2015, Stripe's then head of comms published a blog post about the narrative around tech companies that can only be described as genius.

Aaron Zamost posited that most startups go through a cycle — starting out by attracting lots of praise and hype, before running into difficulties and finding sentiment around them sour.

So, which European startups are sitting where on the cycle today?

Here's our view. What's yours? 

Elsewhere, we speak to BlackRock's digital wealth lead on the strategy behind its European fintech partnerships, and find out what startups actually want from AI regulation.

— Amy Lewin, editor

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🤝 UK-based equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube has acquired French secondaries platform Semper. 

• Semper will be integrated into Crowdcube, enabling retail investors (along with professional and institutional investors) to deal in secondaries.  
• Early-stage investors are driving an uptick in secondaries at the moment, says Semper founder Mathias Pastor. 
• The most discounted sectors are currently those that saw big Covid booms, like healthtech and fintech. 

🧑‍🏭 The dispute between trade unions and Klarna in Sweden over the introduction of a collective agreement has come to an end. 

• The strike that was planned for this week was cancelled after the buy now, pay later giant signed a collective agreement late on Friday evening. 
• The agreement gives unions the right to be informed of any big changes that are happening at the company — like issues regarding layoffs, outsourcing of roles and holidays.
• From January 1, Klarna will be a member of BAO, the banking institutions' employer organisation, and will be covered by the collective agreement between BAO and the Financial Association, Sweden's Engineers and Akavia.

🦊 German insurtech unicorn Wefox has raised $55m in debt financing from Deutsche Bank and Unicredit at the end of last week, reports CNBC. It raised an earlier $55m debt round from J.P. Morgan and Barclays in May, alongside a $55m internal equity raise. A sign of success, or a sign of struggle?

🚀 Europe's first operational spaceport, located on the icy island of Andøya in the northwest of Norway, is now open for business. It's been built by German startup Isar Aerospace and once finished, will have several launch pads. It'll be able to send small- and medium-sized satellites into space, for a mere €10-12m per flight. 

Blackrock, the world's largest asset manager, is keen to tap into Europe's fast-growing market of first-time investors — and it's partnering with fintechs to do so. 

• It's partnered with Monzo, the neobank with the most customers in the UK — and saw 200,000 customers join the waiting list in just two days. 
• And there are plenty more partnerships in the pipeline, Timo Toenges, head of BlackRock’s digital wealth business EMEA, tells Sifted.
• “Overall, it’s a huge growth space for us. The digital wealth industry is currently worth around €2tn, and it’s growing 20% per year." 

Amy O'Brien finds out how Blackrock's fintech partnerships work — and which new markets it has its eye on. 

How VCs spent $70.1bn on climate tech

In 2022, VCs spent $70.1bn on climate tech globally, nearly double the record in 2021. Find out who the winners and the underdogs are in our new report, along with what this means for climate tech in 2023.

Read the report

🤔 What do startups want from AI regulation?

• Clearer rules around cybersecurity 
• Rules tailored to the particular needs and risks of different sectors
• Independent oversight of the big tech companies' models 

👩‍👦‍👦 Exited your startup and not sure what to do with all that $$$? Here's how these founders set up a family office:

1. Hire a family officer to run the show.
2. Figure out what level of risk you want to take.
3. Build a brand around a USP; why should startups take your money? 

👋 What's the best way to onboard a fractional exec? 

1. Don't onboard them like full-time staff; focus on the immediate needs of the business and avoid filling them in on every granular detail.
2. Do give them a very clear goal and key deliverables.
3. Do think about how long you can afford them for.

+ For more on working with interim C-suiters: Why to hire a fractional CFO 

Energy storage is in — and, especially at the growth stages, it's attracting a lot of funding.

• Sweden leads the pack, followed by Germany and the UK, in terms of capital raised since 2015.
• Europe boasts four energy storage unicorns: Northvolt, 1Komma5, Octopus Energy and NW. 
• Northvolt, Zenobe Energy, Verkor, 1Komma5 and Jolt Energy have raised the largest rounds in the past 12 months. 

For more on the sector, see Sifted's latest Pro briefing. 

• UK-based Accelex, which helps automate private market data reporting and analytics, has raised a $15m Series A led by FactSet.
• Arm, the UK chip designer, has acquired a minority stake in microcomputer company Raspberry Pi.
• Paris-based serverless infrastructure startup Koyeb raised a $7m seed from Serena, ISAI, Samsung Next and MongoDB. 
• Berlin-based Smalt raised a €4.1m pre-seed led by La Famiglia, with Owl Ventures, Axel Springer and Porsche Ventures also participating. It's built a platform to train people to work in the green energy sector in roles like heat pump installation.

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

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