Sifted - Cédric O’s new gig

Good morning there,

Around this time last year, France’s former digital minister-turned-Mistral-cofounder Cédric O was making headline after headline for fiercely fighting back against some parts of the EU’s AI Act, which he said had the potential to ‘kill’ Europe’s best AI companies.

He also told Sifted at the time that he didn’t enjoy being at the heart of political debates — and that he was actually looking to take over a business or start his own thing.

That ‘thing’ is now taking shape. After months of silence, O has quietly launched an AI edtech dubbed The Marshmallow Project together with four other cofounders, Sifted has learned. And he’s currently nearing a €10m seed deal that includes top-tier global investors.

Elsewhere today:

• 16 Bristol-based startups to watch, according to investors
• Here are all the European startups that have done secondaries this year
• General Catalyst partner and Helsing, Mistral board member Jeannette zu Fürstenberg on how to build more businesses like them

— Daphné Leprince-Ringuet, French tech reporter

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🇫🇷 Cédric O’s new startup, an AI edtech called The Marshmallow Project, is nearing a deal to raise a €10m seed round that includes participation from global investor General Catalyst as well as London-based VC Balderton, Sifted has learned. 

• O, who was previously France’s digital minister, is also an advisory cofounder of Mistral AI — one of France’s hottest AI startups.
• Sifted understands that O will take on the role of CEO of The Marshmallow Project, and that cofounder Flore Cousin, who was previously customer success director at French fintech Alma, will be the company’s COO.

🗣️ General Catalyst partner and Helsing and Mistral board member Jeannette zu Fürstenberg on how to build more businesses like them. Plus: How General Catalyst is thinking about investing in energy transition and climate resilience — beyond just equity funding.

👀 16 Bristol startups to watch, according to VCs from Science Creates VC, QantX, Ada Ventures, Empirical Ventures and Mercia Asset Management.

💡 Why I’ve chosen to grow my AI startup out of the UK — Amazon Alexa's creator on why people are wrong to write off Europe.

Startup secondaries — when private companies enable existing shareholders like VCs and employees to sell some of their shares — have picked up this year. 

• “I would say we are probably experiencing the peak in the number of secondaries that we're seeing in the tech industry,” Michael Podolny, a San Francisco-based partner at law firm Latham & Watkins, told Sifted in September.
• Many companies have put off fundraising over the past few years (usually an opportunity for existing shareholders to cash out) and other exit events, like IPOs, have been few and far between. 
• As a result, plenty of investors are thirsty for liquidity, while current and former employees of many highly-valued tech companies want to reap the rewards of their labour sooner rather than later. 
• Sifted’s tracked close to 50 secondary transactions in Europe so far in 2024, including several of the continent’s most closely followed scaleups, such as digital banks Revolut and Monzo, as well as secondhand clothes marketplace Vinted. 
• We’ll update this tracker as and when we discover new secondary transactions at private European tech companies. Have we missed any? Let us know.

This article first appeared in Sifted’s Up Round newsletter, which drops the latest news, analysis and people moves from European VC into your inbox every Friday. Not signed up yet? You can do that here.

Meet France’s fastest-growing startups

Dive into our regional leaderboard ranking the fastest-growing companies on a high-growth trajectory in France in 2024. Who’s leading the charge? See the full list of startups.

Berlin-based Tourlane, a platform that helps travellers plan and budget their trips, raised €25m in Series D funding. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Target Global and Jared Smith (Qualtrics cofounder).

London-based Gendo, which uses AI tools to make image production more accessible and streamlined for designers, raised £4.3m in seed funding. PT1 and Lea Partners led the round and were joined by investors including Concept Ventures and Koro Capital.

Paris-based Linkup, which is building an API that can allow AI agents to connect to online resources, raised €3m in funding. Seedcamp led the round and was joined by investors including Axeleo Capital and Motier Ventures.

Paris-based ValueCo, an ESG market data provider, raised €1.5m in funding. 115k led the round and was joined by investors including Techstars.

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