Sifted - Microsoft scoops up Haiper AI team

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Tech giant Microsoft has hired a number of senior employees from AI video-generation startup Haiper — including the company's two cofounders.

Founded in 2021 by former Google DeepMind researchers Yishu Miao and Ziyu Wang, London-based Haiper emerged from stealth last year with a $13.8m funding round backed by Octopus Ventures.

Seen as a European challenger to American video-generation tools like Runway AI and OpenAI's Sora, Haiper's consumer product allowed users to quickly create videos through prompts entered into its app.

But in a move reminiscent of Microsoft's mass recruitment of Inflection AI staff in 2024, Sifted has learned the Silicon Valley giant hired three senior employees who previously worked at Haiper, which closed down its consumer business in February.

Elsewhere today: 

• 15 female founders in AI to watch
• Has VC killed more value than it’s created? 
• ElevenLabs poaches Palantir engineers as AI talent race heats up

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✍️ Tech giant Microsoft has scooped up a number of senior employees from London-based AI video startup Haiper. 

🧑‍💻 AI voice startup ElevenLabs has poached a group of engineers from data analytics giant Palantir, as it looks to bolster its enterprise offering amid a sector-wide talent crunch.

👀 15 AI healthtechs to watch, according to VCs.

📣 Only 25% of AI’s workforce in Europe is made up of women, a recent study carried out by French organisation Join Forces and Dare found. Here are 15 female founders who should be on your radar.

📚 Resident book critic Éanna Kelly reviews Catherine Bracy’s World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy. Spoiler: investors get a serious kicking.

💔 Last month, Sifted’s founder mental health survey found 63% of climate tech founders reported their mental health was ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’, compared to 43% of other founders. We dug into why the data skewed more negatively towards climate tech founders here.

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Madrid-based Playtomic, which provides a digital platform for racket sports players and clubs to connect and book courts, raised €55m in equity funding. Match Invest and LFH led the round and were joined by investors including Bonsai, Arconas, GP Bullhound and FJ Labs. It also raised €10m in debt funding from Banco Santander.

Cologne, Germany-based Buynomics, an AI-powered customer intelligence platform, raised $30m in Series B funding. Forestay Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Anaïs Ventures, VI Partners, Insight Partners, Seedcamp, DvH Ventures and Tomahawk Ventures.

Berlin-based C1 Green Chemicals AG, which develops new production processes in the carbon-based chemical industry, raised €20m in funding. Denkapparat led the round and was joined by investors including Planet A Ventures, Maersk Growth, SquareOne, Prof. Wolfgang Reitzle and Jim Hagemann Snabe.

Munich, Germany-based Pulsetrain, which develops battery management technology for electric vehicles, raised €6.1m in seed funding. Vsquared Ventures and Planet A led the round and were joined by investors including Climate Club.

The Denderstreek, Belgium-based Warren, which provides tailored financial wellness services for employees, raised €3m in pre-seed funding. Motive Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Entourage, Syndicate One, Pitchdrive and 1105.

London-based Qlarifi, a buy now, pay later consumer database, raised £1.4m in pre-seed funding. HoneyComb Asset Management, Carthona Capital and John Eales participated in the round. 

Oslo-based Catchwise, which is using advanced AI and satellite data to optimise the fuel efficiency of fishing operations, raised €1.25m in pre-seed funding. Dreamcraft Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Sondo and Ocean Impact.

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