Fintech 

Banking the rich and famous

🤙 Spending across borders? There’s a smarter way 🤙

Managing business spend in different countries is no mean feat. Thankfully, Soldo's multi-user, multi-currency platform puts business-wide spending in one place. 

Find out more here. [Sponsored post]

 Strategy 

How to change course with your startup

If you haven't rethought your business plan since the crisis hit, you might want to do that ASAP. 

 Government 

Germany starts doling out startup support

🗻 Scaling advice for B2B startups 🗻

It's hard for B2B companies to grow globally. Many fall into the same traps — like building custom products, or focusing too much on new leads rather than existing customers.

To avoid those mistakes, read this step-by-step scaling guide. [Sponsored post]

 Robotics 

Post-Covid, robots rule

In the age of social distancing, robots are likely to be more useful than ever. 

News that matters

🎮 Buzzy French startup Back Market has raised $120m from Goldman Sachs and other investors. The refurbished electronics marketplace has seen sales double during the crisis, with used laptops and Playstations among the most popular items. Marie Mawad finds out more.

💁‍♀️ Founders backing founders. The Fund, an early-stage investment firm part funded by a network of founders and operators, has launched in Europe. It will write $50,000-100,000 cheques and source deal flow via its members. Amy Lewin finds how the model works. 

🛁 A squeaky clean funding round. Oxwash, an Oxford-based sustainable laundry startup has soaked up £1.4m in seed funding.

🛵 Tier launches e-mopeds in Berlin. The German mobility startup continues to work towards its multimodal master plan, two months after it acquired 5,000 e-mopeds from now-closed scooter service Coup.

🥗 Uber Eats exits seven markets. And three of them are in Europe — Romania, Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Some startups in the online food space are still sizzling though — but for how long?

💳 N26 taps the market for another $100m in tough times. The Berlin-based challenger bank announced a $100m+ extension of its Series D funding, bringing the total funding round to $570m. It’s in the process of applying for a fintech licence in Brazil.

🔦 Passing the CEO torch. Mandeep Singh, cofounder of e-commerce platform Trouva has announced that he’s handing over the CEO role to his cofounder Alex Loizou.

🔬 Funding chemistry. Liverpool ChiroChem, a UK-based chemtech startup focusing its R&D on drugs for dementia, cancer and more, has secured £2.25m in funding from Deepbridge Capital and Praetura Ventures.

Sifted Suggests 

🚴‍♂️ Cycling, virtually. What was already a relatively popular sector before Covid-19 has seen a further boom as people swap outdoor biking for a virtual spin in idyllic global locations. More from the FT here.

🌐 The inevitability of the internet. Om Malik’s insightful piece explains why through every downturn, technology adoption becomes widespread, rather than a luxury endeavour. And the latest pandemic has amplified this further.

⏳ A VC’s purpose in the new world. ACT Venture Partners calls out how VCs should take new purpose-driven approaches surrounding AI, health and more in response to Covid-19.