Sifted - Tech hiring drops 40% 😦

Good morning there,

The fastest-moving story in tech right now — the bizarre ouster of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — won’t give reporters a break. And sure enough, late Tuesday, Altman was reinstated as CEO of OpenAI. Still, it shouldn’t matter much to EU startups — as we reported yesterday, none of the founders of companies using OpenAI’s models that we chatted with were planning on ditching the company, even amid the messiness.

Elsewhere, we dig into what the NHS’s controversial decision to award a contract to Palantir could mean for the future of public-private partnerships, what the UK’s autumn statement means for startups and Germany’s big new fund of funds to invest in European VC.

— Anne Sraders, senior reporter

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⏬ European tech hiring has cratered 40% in 2023, as founders have grown cautious about adding to their headcount amid a dearth of funding and soaring interest rates, according to a new report by compensation platform Ravio. 

🍁 The UK’s autumn budget statement yesterday included funding for manufacturing and investments in supercomputer centres for the AI sector. Here’s what it means for startups. 

🇩🇪 Germany announced the close of a €1bn fund of funds to invest in European VC.

• The new fund aims to provide more growth capital to startups in Europe. It’s largely backed by private investors, with €650m of the capital coming from over 20 institutional investors, including insurers, foundations, asset managers and large family offices such as Allianz, BlackRock, Debeka, Generali Deutschland, HUK-Coburg and Gothaer Versicherung. 
• It’s a significant move for Germany, whose VC ecosystem historically hasn’t been widely funded by insurance companies and pension funds, unlike the US.

🚘 Embattled second-hand car platform Cazoo’s founder and former CEO Alex Chesterman is likely to see his 24% stake in the company crater to just 2% as bondholders agreed to an exchange of debt for equity in the company.

• The beleaguered company’s market cap has crashed over 90% in the last year.

🇫🇷 Marie Ekeland, the renowned French VC and founder of the investment firm 2050, has an unconventional take on the industry. Her firm has no traditional limited partners; instead, the fund is managed by a trust and makes no promises on when it will return money on its long-term bets.

• “Venture capital has been designed to fuel digital companies that have a seven-year cycle of hyper-growth or growth at all costs,” Ekeland told Sifted over breakfast. “And not to fuel those systematic shifts. So that means if you think that way, you need to understand first what is missing for a value chain to shift and to invest all along the value chain.”

🇮🇪 Ireland’s 10 fastest-growing startups.

The number of ESG-related startups in France is growing. 

• The count of startups whose work impacts the environment or society in some way — measured by criteria like avoiding CO2 emissions and tonnes of waste — is up 6% in 2023.
• Together they’ve raised almost €10bn, according to a new study of 1,142 startups by France Digitale, a startup and investor lobby.
• In France, startups in the energy sector have raised more than €3bn since creation; startups falling into the mobility category, meanwhile, have raised €1.6bn; and those in agriculture have raised €1.4bn.

🔥🔥

Nantes, France-based Obat, which makes software for construction contractors to manage their projects, raised €12m in Series A funding from Crédit Mutuel Innovation, New Alpha Asset Management, NCI, Kima Ventures and angel investors. 

London-based Relay, an ecommerce parcel delivery platform, raised €10m in seed funding from Project A Ventures and Prologis Ventures.

London-based HumanForest, an ebike company, raised £5.7m in extended Series A funding from investors including Güil Mobility Ventures and Fen Ventures.

🔥

Lyon, France-based Vizcab, which is creating a platform to design low-carbon buildings, raised €5m in Series A funding. KOMPAS VC led the round and was joined by investors including Rise PropTech Fund, CEMEX Ventures, Altur Investissement and A/O. 

London-based Generative Engineering, which is building a platform designed to help make engineering processes more efficient, raised €4m in pre-seed funding. EQT Ventures led the round and was joined by Join Capital.

Prague-based Blindspot, a cybersecurity firm focused on protecting against DDoS attacks, raised €1.4m in seed funding from Presto Ventures, Gi21 Fund and IT company Prozeta.

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