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Policy

European tech can win the next decade

Europe is behind in the global tech race — you might have heard that line before.

But all is not lost. Its now-booming startup scene, expertise in frontier tech, powerful institutions and wildly-improving funding environment has put it in a position to dominate global tech over the coming decade.

Read the bull case for European tech.

👹 Behind the fintech revolution 👹

There's more to the fintech revolution than meets the eye. Monzo, Revolut and N26 aren't powering it alone.

Download this report from Sifted to discover the secret army of fintech startups growing enormous businesses behind the scenes.

It's important. Download it now.

Fintech

Fintechs grapple with Wirecard fallout

European fintechs have faced a rollercoaster week since German payment group Wirecard announced it was unable to locate $2bn worth of cash in its trust accounts.

Revolut, Pockit, Soldo and Curve are just some of the fintechs which have relied on Wirecard for card issuance, account top-ups and other e-money services.

Will it be disastrous? Isabel Woodford finds out.

Luxembourg loves its startups

The Grand Duchy is a goldmine stocked with startup aid.

It’s not only full of support schemes and funding opportunities for new businesses, it’s also a great launchpad for international expansion.

Find out how Luxembourg could help your new venture. [Sponsored post]

Germany

Top Berlin startups to follow in a post-Covid world

Berlin is one of Europe’s most exciting tech ecosystems, and home to startups like GetYourGuide, N26 and Raisin.

But the coronavirus has radically altered the business model of many young tech companies. So no list of top startups today would be complete without asking: which are most likely to thrive in the post-Covid world?

Find out who made the cut.

Immigration

European tech founders have a message for Trump: “Send us your immigrants"

President Trump this week suspended new work visas and barred hundreds of thousands of foreigners from seeking employment in the US in an effort to limit the entry of immigrants into the country.

The news prompted a swift reaction from European startup founders, investors and chief executives who had a simple message to all those affected: come to Europe instead.

Is this Europe's moment?

Diversity

UK's Future Fund releases diversity data

The first set of data about the diversity of the applicants to the UK’s Future Fund has been released — and it appears far better than the VC industry average.

50% of companies which have been approved for funding have mixed ethnicity management teams, and 79% have mixed-gender management teams.

But that's not quite the end of the story.

Amy Lewin asks: are the numbers as good as they seem?

News that matters

🚗 Online used car retailer Cazoo has become the fastest ever British business to reach 'unicorn' status after raising an extra £25m in funding. That’s a seriously impressive number for a company which was founded just 18 months ago (and does not have SoftBank involved). It helps that founder Alex Chesterman is a serial entrepreneur; his previous businesses, property website Zoopla and film rental service LoveFilm, became household names. Read our interview with Chesterman last year as well.

🤖 Budapest-based automated driving company AImotive announced its latest round of funding, bringing the total raised to over $70m. It claims this makes it the largest VC-backed company developing automated driving technology in Europe. The five-year-old company is among the many trying to crack the automated driving conundrum, though its focus is more on affordable software solutions (as we wrote about back in January).

🐄 Udderly amazing news for connected cow startup Connecterra which raised €7.8m in what is thought to be the biggest Series B investment round for a European livestock tech company. Connecterra has developed an AI-based system that allows dairy farmers to monitor their herds with more precision (a bit like a Fitbit for cows). For more on the amazing world of animal tech, read this fun deep-dive here.

🤷 Of the 1.9m French people who downloaded the country's contact-tracing app StopCovid, only 68 entered a positive Covid-19 test result and just 14 were notified of an at-risk encounter, French junior minister for digital affairs Cédric O said on Tuesday. What's the point exactly then?

💉 VC firm CapDecisif Management has renamed itself Karista and is announcing that it has raised a new €50m European digital health fund. It comes as digital health in Europe is being looked at with renewed interest by investors in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

⚡ Amazon has launched an accelerator for small businesses and startups, aimed at providing them with digital tools to recover lost income during the pandemic.

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.

AWS Cloud Architect, Nordcloud, London
Principal Engineering Lead (ISVs), Microsoft, Madrid
Database Developer, IQVIA, Paris
Online Community Manager, WhiteHat, London

Check out our jobs board if you are looking for a new role at a startup.

Sifted Suggests

🏢 The real reason open offices won’t go away any time soon. Admit it, you love your noisy coworkers, writes Fast Company.

🆘 Intrapreneurship? It’s a trap! The truth is most intrapreneurship efforts are dead before they begin, writes Alex Schuh at Pioneers.

🏡 How the pandemic has changed what home buyers want. Get ready for the ‘Mother of All Bidding-War Seasons,’ according to Barrons.

🎠 Data platform for private market investors Tracxn is saying that these French companies are 'soonicorns'. Aside from the painful label, it's worth looking at the list.

👉 Sponsor our newsletter 👈

Want to reach founders and decision-makers in the European startup ecosystem? Contact Helen Seidenberg, partnerships director, for advertising and sponsorship opportunities with Sifted.

In case you missed it

☕ How to step down as a founder. An honest, emotional and powerful interview from the founder of Pact Coffee.

💳 Dear Monzo, Starling and co; we’re still a long way off the perfect neobank.

🌴 Enter the era of the digital nomad. Estonia has recently become the first country in the world to create a digital nomad visa — and others would be wise to follow suit.

Sifted resources

Michael Stothard
Editor

Get in touch with him at michael@sifted.eu.
He loves to know what we could be doing better.

Follow the whole Sifted team for news and views:
@MStothard, @amyrlewin, @maijapalmer, @i_woodford, @Marie_a_Paris, @KitGillet, @timmpsmith, @connorbilboe, @MimiBilling, @kittygknowles, @johnthornhillft

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