Startup Life 

A new trend: the startup 'away month'

 Fintech 

Europe's top healthtech 'influencers'

⚡ 1000 top SaaS execs, one (virtual) event ⚡ 

This September, get up close with Europe’s pioneering SaaS leaders at the B2B Rocks #REBOUND conference by Axeleo, and learn how to make the most of the economic recovery from B2B experts.

 
See the list of speakers here. [Sponsored post]

 Opinion 

How to manage a down round

🎭 Live digital events (formerly known as webinars) 🎭

Today at noon BST Sifted will be hosting a panel discussing how to boost your business using data — last chance to sign up here, don't miss it.

 Next Friday we'll also be looking into what's next for fintech after the coronavirus crisis. (Hint: answer = open finance.) Sign up to that one here. 

 Fintech 

The FCA needs to step up its game

News that matters

🇨🇳 Spain's Crónica Global is reporting that Chinese internet giant Alibaba is in talks to buy Glovo, the Barcelona-based on-demand delivery company. The 'unicorn' has raised €460m over the years and has pursued a full-throttle international expansion plan. If true, this would be huge news.  

🌲 Ecosia, the Berlin-based search engine that uses its advertising revenues to plant trees, has now planted 100 million. For more on the company and its mission, see our profile from last year.

💡 Wazoku, a UK company which helps clients like John Lewis, Barclays and the UK Ministry of Defence tap their employees for good ideas, has bought US open innovation company InnoCentive.

⚓ Nauta Capital closed a €120m fund to invest in B2B startups. "The next couple of years are [going to be] great, vintage years for investing in venture," Nauta Capital general partner Carles Ferrer tells Sifted. 

⛽ Europe is pinning its green hopes on hydrogen in a plan that sees hundreds of billions of euros in investment flowing into the clean technology. It's news for startups in this world like the one written about here.

💰 Madrid-based K Fund, an early-stage VC which invests in tickets from €100,000 to €2m, said that it has raised a €70m second fund (up from its €50m first fund). It also launched a pre-seed funding programme called K Founders. The fund counts promising startups such as Exoticca, Factorial and Bdeo in its portfolio. 

👾 Traplight, the Finnish mobile game studio focused on making mid-core games (which are hardcore themed games you can play in a short time) said it has raised €8m in new funding. It added it was launching a new mobile gaming title called Battle Legion.

🤖 Permutive, the data management platform, announces it has raised an $18.5m Series B funding led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from EQT Ventures and earlier investors.

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 

🧚‍♀️ A new set of players has emerged in the fundraising landscape, distinct from angels, super angels and VC firms. All hail the rise of the "solo capitalist".

👩 This is the booming women-focused fintech ecosystem in Europe. And what that really means. 

🇫🇷 France, As Revealed by its Elite, by Nicolas Colin.

😟 WeWork triggers a second wave of mass layoffs in the UK.

In case you missed it

🌍 “For me, there is no point going to another planet if we’re just replicating the same mistake that we did on Earth.” Inside this founder's mission to build a sustainable society on Mars.

🧒 Is this the new face of Generation Z banking? Meet the banks the teenagers in your life will be using soon.

🕺 “He is perhaps the only manager I’ve ever had that, if he told me today to down my tools and come join him, I’d go.” A profile of digital bank Monzo's new CEO, TS Anil.

👉 Talk to the European startup community 👈

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