Sifted - Is Infarm in trouble again?

Good morning there,

Founders are always telling stories about how much creativity and tenacity it takes to run — and finance — a startup. When I met Claudine Adeyemi-Adams, founder of AI-powered employment support startup Earlybird, at a Sifted event a few months ago, she told me one that encompassed those qualities.

While fundraising last year, she found herself stuck halfway up Table Mountain in Cape Town on a family holiday when an investor called her — but she perched herself on a rock and took the call anyway. 

“The call was at 1:30 pm — at literally 1:28, my [three-month old] son started screaming and was hungry. Now, not only do I have to be sitting on this rock, I have to get comfortable and be in a position to breastfeed,” she told me. Despite the surprise, those VCs went on to become Earlybird’s most significant investor. 

When she told me that story, I thought: she can’t be the only founder who’s had to pitch in less-than-ideal surroundings. So I sent out a callout on LinkedIn and Twitter, and rounded up some others. You can read their stories here. 

Elsewhere:

• Vertical farming company Infarm’s new entity moves to appoint administrators
• ‘It’s more inspiring than the Bay Area’: Why European founders are choosing NYC over Silicon Valley
• The most active investors in Europe in Q3

— Sadia Nowshin, reporter

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😯 Vertical farming company Infarm’s new UK entity has filed a legal document announcing its intention to appoint administrators — a step that is typically taken when a company is insolvent or about to become insolvent, according to court records accessed via Caseboard.

• The notice was filed on Wednesday by Infarm Technologies Limited — an entity set up by Infarm’s founders that acquired the original company’s assets after it declared insolvency in its major European markets in 2023.

🇩🇪 Berlin neobroker Trade Republic posted its first full year of profitability in 2023, as high interest rates and an increase in revenue from commission on trades buoyed its top line. 

• According to its latest financial accounts released on Monday, the trading app posted a pre-tax profit of approximately €14m for the financial year ending September 30, 2023, compared to a pre-tax loss of €145m the previous year. 
• The positive turnaround was fuelled by a 32% increase in commission income, which rose to approximately €180m from trading in shares and ETFs (exchange-traded funds). Trade Republic also reduced its administrative costs by €84m, due to lower expenses in marketing, software and hardware services and legal and consulting services.
• Trade Republic’s move into the black puts the fintech in line with its counterparts in the UK; neobanks Starling, Monzo and Revolut reported profitability for 2023 earlier this year. 

🤝 EU venture arm EIT InnoEnergy has confirmed it will support Swedish battery maker Northvolt in its hunt for capital, reported Swedish tech site ImpactLoop. The fund, which owns a 0.65% stake, said it would help Northvolt “significantly”. 

🇬🇧 Buy now, pay later companies — like Klarna — could be hit by new regulation in the UK, meaning they would have to check that shoppers were able to afford repayments before offering a loan.

• The UK government has launched a consultation to allow finance watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority to apply rules on affordability to BNPL companies — which have operated unregulated until now.

📈 The most active investors in Europe in Q3.

🗽 San Francisco has long been the destination of choice for European founders seeking to crack the US market. But New York is also luring startups eager to access capital and great talent as well as being part of a growing community of entrepreneurs. 

• “It’s more similar to Europe in that you have a lot of diversity, a lot of cultural opportunities”, says Jenny von Podewils, cofounder of employee engagement startup Leapsome. “I lived in the Bay Area for six months and it’s pretty much tech-focused. Whereas here, every other person you speak to is doing arts or media or some other exciting things.”

😬 Flying taxi startup Lilium faces insolvency if it doesn’t raise more capital and talks with the German government for a €100m loan are reportedly off the table. That’s left the country’s tech ecosystem abuzz with discussion over who the company’s white knight should be. We look at the arguments for and against state support.

👀 From rural Albania to Disneyland’s Dumbo ride: The strangest places founders have pitched VCs.

Can builder bots nail delivery? Robots have transformed the car industry but have made virtually no impression on construction. Building sites don’t seem like places bots can thrive in — they’re rough terrain, not bump-free factories. But Dutch startup Monumental thinks it’s onto something with its bricklaying bots, which have — and this feels key — really thick wheels capable of navigating lumpy conditions. 

• Monumental raised $25m in February — one of just a handful of chunky construction raises so far this year in Europe. But can robots trundle in from the industry’s fringes? It won’t happen overnight. For example, UK startup hyperTunnel, which had hoped to develop a “world’s first” robot-built tunnel, fell into administration this summer due to mounting debts — a reminder, if any were needed, that this is a tough business to be in. 

For the best update on Europe’s construction tech scene, check out our latest Pro briefing.

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Tipperary, Ireland-based Zerve, which helps code-first data teams optimise their workflows, raised $7.6m in seed funding. Paladin Capital Group led the round and was joined by investors including Elkstone and Rob Hickey (former executive vice president of engineering at DataRobot).

Hamburg, Germany-based Infinite Roots, which grows mycelium cells and turns them into animal-based and plant-based food alternatives, raised €2.6m in grant funding from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

Tampere, Finland-based TheStorage, which is developing sand-based thermal energy storage technology to decarbonise industrial heat, raised €1m in funding. 2C Ventures and Superhero Capital led the round.

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