Sifted - Finally, a listing! 

Good morning there,

This morning Sifted’s getting a bit of a refresh. You’ll notice that some of our crunchiest, most deeply-reported and data-rich articles will now be available exclusively to our Pro subscribers.

The majority of our pieces will remain free-to-read for registered readers — but to really understand what’s going on in Europe’s innovation ecosystem, Pro is the way to go.

Where relevant, our subscriber-only articles will now include downloadable data — like today’s piece analysing Europe’s most active deeptech investors so far this year.

Subscribers, please let me know what you think of these new features — and let me know what else you’d like to see us report and research.

And a reminder: if you’re a founder or work at a startup, you’re eligible for a free Sifted for Startups subscription which will also give you access to those new features. Find out more here. 

Elsewhere today:

• SET Ventures doubles the size of its last fund with €200m for climate tech adoption startups
• Finnish food tech scaleup Solar Foods sets date to go public on Nasdaq in Europe

— Amy Lewin, editor

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🌊 SET Ventures closes €200m fund to back climate tech adoption solutions. The Amsterdam-based firm doubled the size of its last fund, and will use the pot to invest between €2-5m into 20-25 Series A startups working on ways to make it easier for consumers to adopt renewable energy solutions.

• “Many of the technologies that we need to achieve a carbon-free energy system are already here — and that's why we believe that it makes sense to focus on scaling what is right in front of us through the right business models and applications, rather than trying to focus on inventing more new technologies,” managing partner Anton Arts tells Sifted. 

😋 Finnish foodtech scaleup Solar Foods sets date to go public on Nasdaq in Europe. The company, which uses fermentation to develop a novel protein product, is planning to go public on Nasdaq’s First North Growth in Finland next Tuesday. This is called a “technical listing”, and means the company won’t create more shares but instead only trade those that its 2k existing shareholders decide to sell.

• A technical listing is generally done to create liquidity for existing shareholders, as a strategy to prepare for larger fundraises in the future or to boost the profile of a company. Solar Foods is hoping it’s a way to get on the radar of institutional investors.
• The company’s biggest shareholders are its two cofounders, Pasi Vainikka and Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, early-stage Finnish VC Lifeline Ventures and the Finnish food corporation Fazer, who each own around 10%. 

🇫🇷 Only 16% of France’s leading 120 startups — which appear in the government’s annual French Tech 120 list — have published their financial statements for 2023, according to data released by company data platform Pappers and first picked up by Les Echos.

• Companies are required by law to publish their statements, but the fine for non-compliance is relatively low, at €1.5k (€3k for repeat offenders). As a result, some startups choose to bypass the rules.
• Although the deadline for filing the documents for 2023 has technically passed, it’s also possible that some startups have requested an extension. When looking at data for 2022 accounts, the proportion of companies that have published their statements to date jumps to 34%.

Deeptech startups — like those building robots or quantum computing — have been a hotspot for VCs of late, with big startups like defence tech Helsing and autonomous vehicle developer Wayve raising huge sums. But which investors are doing the most deals so far in 2024? Sifted's tracked Europe's most active deeptech investors here.

How to find the best startups to invest in. (In partnership with Barclays)

Extended reality

• Once one of VCs’ biggest bets, the metaverse has lost its mainstream appeal over the past three years. Yet Apple’s Vision Pro and new training applications — particularly in hospitals and factories — are breathing new life into a sector that’s still figuring out how to make the most of its tech in the short term.
• Startups like Pixee Medical, Oxford Medical Simulations, Apoqlar and Innerspace have all raised healthy sums this year to scale their XR-based healthtech products, including medical training, surgery simulations, rehabilitation therapies and room sterilisation.
• But it’s still early days — Sifted has only recorded one growth or late-stage deal so far this year: Finnish augmented reality car dashboard startup Basemark’s €22m Series B.

To discover every extensive reality funding round announced in Europe this year, here’s a sneak peak of our funding tracker — exclusive to Pro subscribers. And to swot up on the sector, read the latest Sifted Briefing.

Want to keep track of who’s working where in the VC industry? Our VC newsletter, Up Round, lists the latest people moves every week. Here’s a taster of what’s happening this week. For more, sign up to Up Round for free.

Rebekah Kasumu has left LocalGlobe, where she’s been head of finance for nearly three years. In a LinkedIn post, she hinted that she might be launching a fund of her own: “It’s hard to be surrounded by so many inspirational entrepreneurs everyday and not want to try your hand at becoming one yourself [...] I want to use my expertise to build more amazing Venture Capital funds, keeping impact and values at the core.”

Louise Boucher has joined Northzone in London as an investor. She was previously at French early-stage firm Frst. 

Antonia Eneh has been promoted to CEO at Helsinki-based, student-run VC firm Wave Ventures. 

Jørn Haanæs has left impact investor Katapult, where he’s been an investment director for three years. He’s now an associate partner at Oslo-based climate tech investor Climentum Capital. 

Christian Guba has left Berlin-based foodtech investor FoodLabs, where he was a principal, and joined climate tech VC Extantia as a principal.

Meet the startups revolutionising airports

The market for smart airport technologies is expected to grow from $7.1bn in 2022 to $24.3bn in 2032. Our report checks in on the startups at the forefront of innovation in airports right now, from AI predicting when a plane might develop a fault to autonomous vehicles moving luggage.

London-based Soil Capital, a regenerative agriculture startup, raised €15m in Series B funding. Trill Impact Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Société Fédérale de Participations et d’Investissement, Sandwater, Santander Alternative Investments, Ring Capital and Edaphon.

Copenhagen-based REDUCED, a producer of upcycled food ingredients, extended its Series A to €8m with funding from the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund.

London-based Palm, a cash management platform for enterprise treasury, raised €5.5m in seed funding. Speedinvest and Target Global led the round and were joined by investors including Upfin, Liquid 2, Greens, Job van der Voort and Philippe Teixeira da Mota.

London-based Skarper, which manufactures devices that convert regular bikes to e-bikes, raised €5.3m in funding. Adjuvo led the round and was joined by investors including Yaron Kottler, Starry Group and Mobilitech Capital.

Hamburg-based OceanScore, a German startup providing maritime data and compliance solutions, raised €5m in Series A funding from investors including theDOCK, Stolt Ventures, Motion Ventures and Portline.

Hamburg-based Zive, a German, AI-powered enterprise knowledge platform, raised €2.8m in funding from Headline.

Ghent-based Zero Friction, a Belgian startup that’s developing a billing and customer interaction platform for heating and cooling suppliers, raised €2.5m in a funding round led by Shift Invest.

Berlin-based Lucid Genomics, which uses genetic data for drug discovery, raised €1.3m in pre-seed funding. Caesar Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including BIF Partners, Another.vc and MPF.

Stockholm-based Tiptapp, a platform for moving, recycling and delivering items, raised €1m in a non-dilutive debt facility from Gilion.

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

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