Ecommerce 

The next Nike?

When US investor General Atlantic bought a 21% stake in fitness brand Gymshark last month, the company hit a $1.45bn valuation. It was the first time the Solihull-based business had raised external capital.

That's not the only thing that makes Gymshark stand out — it's also one of Europe's few true direct-to-consumer juggernauts and has, seemingly, nailed how to capitalise on 'community'. 

In a rare interview, founder Ben Francis (who still owns a whopping 70% of the business) shares how he got his online business to fly. 

John Thornhill finds out his secrets.

😄 A not-to-miss conference for B2B founders 😄

 Axeleo invites you to join the leading B2B & SaaS conference ‘B2B Rocks #REBOUND’ this September.

Focusing on the economic rebound, it’s an extravaganza of quickfire 30-min sessions with valuable tips from B2B & SaaS champions like Qonto and Personio.
 
Check out this year's star speakers here. [Sponsored post]

 Startup Life 

Scrap the diversity committee

If you think setting up a diversity and inclusion committee is the magic move which will sort out all your workplace woes, think again.

D&I committees don't work, and they never have, writes our latest secret columnist. 

Here's why — and what you should put in place instead.

👩‍⚕️ Digital doctors: A one-pandemic wonder? 👩‍⚕️

Online doctor consultations have never been more popular — clinicians and patients alike have been experimenting with them, and some even prefer virtual appointments.

As lockdowns ease throughout Europe, what happens next?

Join us for a virtual panel discussion on September 15, 12pm BST.

In the hot seat: 
- Livia Holm, director of policy at Kry
- Dr Harpreet Sood, NHS doctor and digital health advisor
- Martin Lindman, CEO of Doktor.se
- Jacob Haddad, cofounder of accuRx

 
Sign up here. [Sponsored post]

 Food 

Big bad Oatly

Swedish oat milk company Oatly is taking cafes and supermarkets by storm — and its sales are looking tasty as a result. 

It's also recently landed a new $200m round of investment, but not everyone is quite so happy about that. One of its new investors is Blackstone, the private equity firm which has also backed a Brazilian company accused of pushing for deforestation of the Amazon. 

Doesn't sound quite so environmentally friendly, does it? 

Mimi Billing untangles the debate. 

🏃‍♀️ Fastest growing healthtechs 🏃‍♀️

Which are the fastest growing healthtech startups in the UK and Sweden?

Take a guess... and then see how many you got right.

Connor Bilboe finds out which digital health teams are growing at lightning speed. [Sponsored post.]

News that matters

💳 Tandem, one of the UK’s earliest digital bank, is in the midst of a major restructuring as it scraps its credit-card line and focuses on trying to break even. The move speaks to a broad rethink around digital banks’ future, with regulators and investors now putting pressure on consumer fintechs to cut the frills and focus on profits.

📎 Hypatos, a process automation startup, has raised €10m. It uses deep learning technology to automate the kind of back-office jobs no-one really wants to do, like processing invoices and managing expenses. Think it sounds a bit like what automation unicorn UiPath gets up to? Think again — this is far more sophisticated, according to Hypatos' team.

👨‍⚕️ Swedish healthtech startup Doctrin is expanding to the UK. It says it's Sweden's leading B2B digital healthcare platform — but what luck will it have in a new territory?

💊 In other healthcare news, uMotif has raised £5m. The UK-based healthtech startup helps researchers run decentralised clinical trials — which are needed now more than ever. Current studies being run using uMotif's platform cover oncology, dermatology and rare diseases. Albion VC has led the Series A.

🌡️ Daniel Ek, Spotify's founder, is also excited by healthtech. He's invested €3m into a digital diagnostic startup over the past two years.

🚕 Cachet, which helps gig-economy drivers get flexible, on-demand vehicle insurance, has raised €1.1m. With the new funding, the Estonian startup plans to expand into new markets (Poland, the Nordics, the UK) and new sectors, like holiday rental marketplaces. Icebreaker.vc led the round. (Cachet's CEO Hedi Mardisoo made our list of top women in fintech.)

🛴 Scooter startup Voi has won its third tender in the UK. Voi scooters will hit the streets of Birmingham (and several other cities in the West Midlands) from mid-September. It's not the only scooter startup to be launching in the UK; US competitor Lime is going live in Milton Keynes, while Ginger, a far smaller e-scooter startup from the UK, is already offering rides in Middlesborough.

🙌 Atomico is partnering with diversity in tech community YSYS. The partnership will see them cohosting a series of events, hosting office hours for diverse founders and building a set of online resources too.

👕 Ecommerce platform Moteefe has raised $11m. The UK startup lets brands and influencers design and sell customised products like t-shirts, tote bags and phone cases — quickly, and with no minimum order size. VC firm BGF has led the round.

💁‍♀️ Demodesk, a Munich-based startup which helps sales teams do their jobs remotely, has raised $8m. Balderton led the round. 

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.

🧠 Who is the Neuralink of Europe? 🧠

Heard of Elon Musk’s brain implant startup Neuralink? It's been making headlines (unsurprisingly) — but we haven’t heard about its European counterparts.

Which neurotechnology startups should we know about?

Please send tips to Mimi Billing.

Sifted Suggests 

🏅 Exporting digital tech. A new report from Tech Nation finds that Germany is the world's 4th greatest exporter of digital tech, while the UK takes 5th place.

🤸‍♀️ Share the fun 🤸‍♀️

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