Startup Life 

Post-lockdown Ayahuasca retreat; why not?

🎈 Are you improving people’s quality of life? 🎈

Do you want to test and launch your solution with an international partner? The Ageas INsure Open Innovation Program is offering to fund your proof of concept — and, if it’s successful, help you scale up internationally.

Calling startups working on the future of healthcare, tech for insurance or wellbeing.

Find out more and apply here. [Sponsored post]

 Marketing 

Why you might want to splash the marketing cash

🇬🇧 Meet the North's top tech businesses 🇬🇧

Not all pioneering technology companies are born in London. 

The fast-growing businesses of the North could soon give the capital's startups a run for their money.

Discover who they are at the first virtual Northern Tech Awards on May 27. Read more here. [Sponsored post]

 Startup Life 

Be the best (remote) mentor

Plenty of founders need their mentors now, more than ever — but offering support remotely isn't exactly a piece of cake. 

 Funding 

How to apply to the Future Fund

🎒 Sifted Talks: What's happening to the talent market? 🎒

Is now a great time to be hiring? Is there less competition than usual for great talent? And how can you keep the brilliant people already in your team happy while working remotely?

We'll cover all this and more on our next online panel discussion with:

- Keji Mustapha, Head of Network and Brand, Connect Ventures
- Sam Franklin, Cofounder and CEO, Otta
- Mark Seemann, Founder and CEO, StaffCircle

Thursday 21 May | 12.30pm BST | Sign up here.

News that matters

🛴 The great UK e-scooter race. Plans for Britain to launch e-scooter trials next month has startups like Bird, Lime, Voi and Tier racing to get their electric vehicles on the UK’s streets.

🤝 Benedict Evans, of newsletter and Andreessen Horowitz fame, has joined EF. He's taken up a role as a venture partner, advising the company builder's existing portfolio and future cohorts. 
 

🛵 Finnish food delivery company Wolt has raised €100m in a 'coronavirus round'. “We would not have raised this round if it wasn’t for the global Covid-19 crisis and the potential downturn we see in the near future,” CEO Miki Kuusi said. Existing investors EQT Ventures, Highland Capital, 83North and ICONIQ weighed in, joined by newbie Goldman Sachs. 👉 For more on how Europe's food delivery firms are holding up, see our analysis here.

❌ Uber lays off a further 3,000 employees. Just weeks ago, the ride hailing firm let go 3,700 people. Uber has now cut its total workforce by around 25%. 

👋 Monzo has lost another member of its C-suite. Chief credit officer Tim Trailor (previously at Klarna) has joined Credit on Tap, where he'll be helping dish out loans under the coronavirus business interruption loans scheme (CBILS). 

🚗 Upgrading the production line. Arculus, a startup which is bringing robots to factories to make manufacturing less linear and more modular, has raised €16m from Atomico. 

💰 Paris-based Pennylane has raised €4m. It helps other startups to manage their admin (and doesn't seem to know how to employ women). Seed funding comes from Global Founders Capital, Partech and Kima Ventures.

Sifted Suggests 

🎧 Angel investors, VC twitter and diversity debates. Listen to Northzone's Paul Murphy and Sifted's Amy Lewin discuss the big startup stories of the week on the Secret Leaders podcast.

🎒 How to talk to VCs. A smart guide on how to adapt your communication depending on the kind of VC you're pitching to. 

🙅 A lesson in how not to write a job spec. Revolut is hiring for a head of engineering — but don't think about applying unless you won a string of maths, physics or engineering prizes at school and uni. Yes, really.

🤨 Are you getting paid enough? If you work at a London startup, find out how your pay compares to others with similar roles and experience. From recruitment platform Otta.