Fintech 

The new Monzo CEO knows how to dance

🚀 Scale globally with M12—Microsoft's venture fund 🚀

M12 invests in early-stage enterprise software companies.

The team provides support beyond capital, offering product integration opportunities, additional sales power and access to the Microsoft ecosystem to help your startup scale globally.

Intrigued? Find out more about M12. [Sponsored post]

 Startup Life 

Don't fret about defining company culture

🔔 How to IPO virtually 🔔

This is the very 2020 story of how video conferencing platform Pexip listed on the stock market — 100% remotely. 

There was even a ‘virtual bell ceremony’.

Find out how it all worked. [Sponsored post]

 Mobility 

Robot deliveries thrive in coronatimes

 Mobility 

Scooter wars' next episode: The UK

News that matters

💸 Y Combinator-backed Catalan fintech Belvo has raised $10m to triple its team size. The Barcelona-founded startup — tipped as a hot startup-to-watch — has a business similar to the Visa-acquired Plaid, but with a Latin American twist. It will come as welcome news to the whole Spanish ecosystem, where the coronavirus crisis is squeezing startups.

🎙️ Podimo, a fast-growing podcasting provider, has secured €15m in an investment round led by 83North in the latest sign of investors piling onto the boom in podcasting. The Copenhagen-based startup offers personalised recommendations for subscribers and has a revenue share model for content creators. So far it's only available in Denmark and Germany, but more countries are coming.

🛴 Ola Electric, the electric vehicle unit of Indian ride-hailing heavyweight Ola, has announced the acquisition of Etergo, a Netherlands-based electric scooter company. It's a bold move that comes at a time of huge turmoil for scooter companies in Europe and around the world, as you can read about here. 

🤖 Doteveryone, a research group founded by lastminute.com founder Martha Lane Fox focused on promoting responsible technology, is shutting down after five years. In a statement, the group said it was passing the baton of its work to the Ada Lovelace Institute and others. 

🥡 Cloud canteen startup Feedr has been acquired by the foodservice giant Compass Group for around £19m. Feedr is a platform which allows businesses to order high-quality food for workplace breakfasts, meetings and lunches. For more on the world of European food delivery startups, see our deep-dive report here. 

🖼️ Freepik, a Malaga-Spain based website which offers a curated freemium marketplace of vector graphics and stock photos is being acquired by investment and private equity firm EQT. 

If you're a fan of our 'News that matters' and 'Sifted Suggests' sections, check out our newsfeed here, where we collect all of these gems — and more.

Sifted Suggests 

💁‍♀️ EIT Digital Challenge 2020 | Pitch your health solution and thrive with EIT Digital’s pan-European network of high-profile investors and corporates to become the next global success. Don’t miss out, apply now. [Sponsored post]

💨 Digital banks have stormed into the retail market with the promise of doing “banking better” — including slicker app interfaces and speedier features. But a new study shows a number of incumbents are catching up with digital banks on some parts of the user experience.

🧨 Coronavirus might spell the end of tech hubs. That’s a good thing, writes Entrepreneur First cofounder Matt Clifford for Wired. More on this theme from Sifted in the next few days...

💥 A spectacular story of blitzfailing, told on Twitter by US founder of Sprig Gagan Biyani.

🔫 Sick of Zoom? People are coming up with more fun ways to hold meetings. One of them is this Sims-style virtual world (just with more chatting and less killing people in swimming pools). Another idea is to meet in the video game Red Dead Redemption. 

In case you missed it

😈 As coronavirus has forced classrooms around the world to move online, kids are getting creative in trying to sabotage lessons.

🤑 18 fintechs that investors think will thrive post-lockdown.

🍎 Healthtech startups are in the spotlight — but how can they keep up momentum?