Sifted - Chilling with tech's elite

Good morning there,

We’re no strangers to on-the-ground reporting at Sifted — but Europe editor Mimi Billing can probably stake a claim for tracking down a story in the coldest temperatures. Earlier this week, she stepped into a -87°C cryo chamber with digital healthcare unicorn Kry cofounder Johannes Schildt, who’s paid for it to be installed below the company’s Stockholm offices. 

It’s one of the latest trends in the booming longevity space that’s seen US billionaires like Peter Thiel and Bryan Johnson desperately scramble to eke out their lifespans. And, increasingly, Europeans are getting involved too — including Spotify’s founders, who’ve backed a new longevity clinic opening in Sweden soon. 

Elsewhere today: French neobank Qonto has announced it’s set to acquire accounting fintech Regate; we look into last month’s seed investments; and share what it takes to be a top angel investor.

— Kai Nicol-Schwarz, reporter

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Daniel Ek’s new longevity clinic

Earlier this week I found myself half naked in a small box cooled to -87°C in the company of Johannes Schildt, cofounder of digital healthcare unicorn Kry. 

Perhaps this sounds like the start of a nightmare but it’s not. We were testing out the cryotherapy chamber that Schildt’s paid to have installed in the gym below Kry’s Stockholm office. Like fasting, cryo chambers are believed to put the body in survival mode and help cells repair instead of reproducing, which is good for living long, healthy lives.   

It’s well-documented that US billionaires like Peter Thiel and Bryan Johnson are keen to extend their lifespan. Now, European tech billionaires are all-in too. Spotify founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon have invested €4m in a new longevity clinic in Stockholm (for a 50% stake) — a rare joint deal.

This isn’t Ek’s first go at healthtech; he’s also cofounder of diagnostics startup Neko Health. 

The longevity clinic, Sand Clinic, which I visited the day before the cryo chamber, feels like a mix between an expensive spa and a private healthcare facility for the ultra-rich. It’s set to open to the public in a few weeks and will offer preventative health and longevity treatments customised to each member. 

Sand Clinic plans to have up to 600 members, who will pay somewhere between €1,000 and €10,000 a month for an individual plan and an annual three-hour check up. Yet, how many middle-aged individuals in Stockholm are prepared to cough up that cash remains to be seen.

Back in -87°C, I ask Schildt whether he plans to make the cryo chamber a perk for his employees. (Cryo preservation — being put on ice until the technology has been developed to awaken a person from the dead — is a work perk for a small number of employees in Silicon Valley.)

“Do you think I should?” he replies. 

Tell me what you think of lifespan-extending work perks and the billionaires’ obsession with longevity. And, if you’ve heard of any other longevity projects out there that we should try out, let me know. (I’d like the cryo chamber as a work perk.) 

— Mimi Billing, Europe editor

💸 French business bank Qonto has announced it’s set to acquire accounting fintech Regate, confirming previous reporting by Sifted, for an undisclosed amount. The deal will enable Qonto to expand its suite of products and attract a new class of customers: accountants and accounting firms. Regate’s 100 employees will all join the neobank in a new business unit dedicated to accounting.

• The move cements Qonto’s position as a top player in the market. In the past few years, the French unicorn — last valued at almost $5bn — has seen its customer base grow fast, while also cashing in on high interest rates. With plenty of M&A pocket money, Qonto has made a reputation for itself as wanting (and being able) to “buy the world”.

Last chance to apply for the Sifted 100: UK & Ireland

Be in with the chance to shine a spotlight on your business by applying to the first of our brand-new regional Leaderboards launching on March 27, which will rank the fastest-growing startups in the UK and Ireland — don't miss out, applications close today!

😇 What does it take to be a top angel investor? Founder and angel investor Anh-Tho Chuong and Kima Ventures’ Jean de la Rochebrochard have seen their fair share of good — and bad — investors in their time. So what does an absolutely brilliant angel investor look like? They share their standard for “angel etiquette” with Sifted today. TL;DR: it starts with leaving your ego at home. 

🍃 Direct-air-capture (DAC) technology is all the rage — and startups are getting up and running faster than ever. The number of DAC patents filed globally each year is soaring, while the price of removing CO2 from the air is plummeting. But how much further does the price need to fall before the industry can have some serious impact? Climate reporter Freya Pratty found out in this week’s Climate Tech newsletter. Subscribe here. 

🩺 Healthtech takes the top spot for European pre-seed and seed funding for the second month running, according to Dealroom data. Healthtech startups picked up €137m — way ahead of the amount raised by the two next-best funded sectors — in a month that saw VCs invest €474m across 336 pre-seed and seed rounds.

• Enterprise software startups and fintechs completed the podium, raising €49m and €48m, respectively. 
• Paris-based biotech Bioptimus landed February’s largest round of €31.8m, with Copenhagen-based drug discovery startup Orbis Medicines’ €26m coming in at second.
• The UK retook the top spot for seed funding — after being deposed by Germany in January — raising €136m.

Paris-based Zama, which is an open-source cryptography company helping developers to build privacy-preserving applications for blockchain and AI, raised a €67m Series A. Multicoin Capital and Protocol Labs led the round and were joined by investors including Metaplanet, Blockchange Ventures and VSquared.

Edinburgh, UK-based Wobble Genomics, which is developing RNA sequencing technology, raised €9.9m. Mercia Ventures and BGF led the round and were joined by investors including IQ Capital, EOS Advisors and Old College Capital.

Turin, Italy-based Kurs Orbital, which provides docking technology for in-orbit servicing, space debris removal, satellite relocation and inspections, raised a €3.7m seed round. OTB Ventures led the round. 

Paris-based Ask for the Moon, which provides knowledge management software to the nuclear, aerospace and defence industries, raised €2.5m from investors including Matterwave Ventures and UI Investissement.

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