Sifted - The family offices backing healthtech

Good morning there,

In many ways, family offices sit on the other end of the spectrum to VCs. Where VCs aren’t typically averse to standing in the limelight, family offices are a shy, elusive bunch. 

They’re also not bound by the time constraints of fund cycles — meaning they can often offer more long-term capital to the startups they back. For a sector like healthtech — which typically sees long timelines to exit — that’s important. 

But who’s actually writing cheques in Europe? Using data from PitchBook, I tracked down the family offices which are doing the most healthtech deals in the region. 

Elsewhere today: 

• Why Germany should bet big on robotics
• Thomson Reuters is on a startup acquisition rampage
• The investors behind Europe’s fastest-growing startups
  

— Kai Nicol-Schwarz, reporter

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🏭 Swedish financier Harald Mix’s investment company Vargas is eyeing the aluminium market in a new partnership with Rio Tinto, Fortum and Mitsubishi.

• It plans to build a low-carbon aluminium plant in Finland that could be up and running in a few years, Bloomberg reports. The project, called Arctial, joins Vargas’s portfolio of green steel scaleup Stegra, textile recycling startup Syre and heat pump startup Aira.
  
• It comes just weeks after Swedish battery maker Northvolt — which Vargas was behind — filed for bankruptcy. 

🇨🇭 Amazon-backed LLM startup Anthropic is opening a new office in Zurich, adding to its European presence in London and Dublin. 

• The company has already started hiring locally with plans to expand the team further. In a statement a spokesperson called Zurich an “obvious choice” for a new office in Europe, given its “top research talent”.
  
• OpenAI also announced last week it would be opening an office in the Swiss city. 

🩺 Most active family offices in European healthtech.

👀 The newly launched Sifted 250 ranks Europe’s fastest-growing startups by revenue growth — but which investors have backed the most winners?

🇩🇪 Neura Robotics founder on why Germany should bet big on robotics. While Europe struggles to compete with China in batteries and solar, robotics may offer the continent an edge. Neura Robotics, a German startup building “cognitive” robots, announced plans in February this year to relocate all manufacturing from China to Germany by the end of 2024. CEO David Reger says Germany’s industrial strength, top-tier talent, and high robot adoption rates make it an ideal hub for robotics.

🗞️ How to get acquired by Thomson Reuters. While many will know it for its journalism, 90% of the company’s business comes from offering data and advisory services for professional services. It also has a $10bn war chest for buying and investing in startups.

• Thomson Reuters will focus on AI tools that can improve its product offering in knowledge retrieval, content creation and “agentic” systems.
• It’s already acquired two European companies this year, Swedish invoicing and tax software startup Pagero and UK-based legal AI startup Safe Sign Technologies. 

🌬️ A hairdryer for heavy industry and a virtual energy manager: Meet two startups helping industry to decarbonise. (Sponsored by New Energy Challenge)

Thursday | Online. How to find (and attract) top talent for your startup. Learn how to attract top talent, streamline your recruitment process, and hire smarter to drive your startup's success, at our free, virtual Sifted Talks on December 12th. RSVP.

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Amsterdam-based GBM Works, an installer of offshore wind infrastructure, raised €6m in seed funding from the EIC, Rotterdamse Havendraken and Katapult Ocean.

Bristol, UK-based Much Better Adventures, a travel tech company for organised trips, raised £5m in funding from Gresham House Ventures. 

Manchester, UK-based Netacea, a cybersecurity company, raised £4m in funding. Mercia Ventures led the round.

Tampere, Finland-based Liquid Sun, which converts carbon emissions into e-fuels, raised €4m in funding from Voima Ventures, Failup and Business Finland.

Reggio Emilia, Italy-based Kinsect, which researches insect-based alternative proteins, raised €1m in funding. Farming Future led the round and was joined by investors including Terra Next, Agrox and Forest Valley.

Copenhagen-based Endless Food Co, a producer of alternative chocolate, raised €1m in pre-seed funding. Nordic Foodtech VC led the round and was joined by investors including EIFO and Rockstart.

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