Venture Capital 

Exclusive: Balderton to launch new fund to "blitzscale" Europe

Balderton, one of Europe’s most active VC firms, is aiming to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from investors to help promising startups expand more aggressively, or “blitzscale”, from Series A to IPO.

Bernard Liautard, Balderton’s managing partner says that the VC’s investors are “big believers in Europe”, and wants to improve Europe’s ability to convert innovative startups into dominant global tech businesses. But how?

John Thornhill reports.

🔋 Perfect your sustainable energy solution 🔋

Connect with leading energy companies, top investors and policymakers online at TBB.Connect on 4-5 November. 

Discover 150+ sustainable energy technologies and listen to high-profile speakers from companies like ENGIE and Schneider Electric.

10% off for Sifted readers use code: TBBVIP10off. [Sponsored post]

 Fintech 

Revolut stalwarts are investing

A group of Revolut’s earliest employees has launched a new seed-stage investment company focused on tech startups — including those founded by fellow alumni of the $5.5bn digital bank.

Operating as an angel syndicate to begin with but with hopes of morphing into a fully-fledged venture capital firm, Expansion Capital is currently investing between £50,000 and £100,000 in a range of early-stage tech startups.

Ryan Weeks explores its plans to get bigger.

 Venture Capital 

Meet Ada's angels

More than 90% of angel investors in the UK are male, and 93% of them are white, but a new scheme by VC firm Ada Ventures is determined to change that.

Under its new ‘Ada’s Angels’ scheme, five candidates with direct experience in underrepresented communities have been selected, and they’ll each receive £50,000 to make five £10,000 investments into businesses across the next year. 

Freya Pratty talks to the candidates about what needs to change.

🙅‍♀️ Why femtech is the key to tackling taboos 🙅‍♀️

Essity Ventures, the newly-created innovation initiative from the global hygiene and health company Essity, is on a mission to break the barriers to women’s wellbeing. 

The initiative's project lead, Marie-Laure Mahé says that "breaking taboos has always been part of the company's DNA," whether it's normalising menstruation or breaking the barriers to endometriosis.

Learn more about the kickass initiative here. [Sponsored post]

 Food 

Delivery Hero's founder backs Wolt

In August Finnish food delivery player Wolt launched in Germany — a market which many competitors have tried (and failed) to conquer in the past.

It's also bagged a €7.5m investment from Delivery Hero cofounder Lukasz Gadowski, widely considered to be one of the sector's experts.

That’s not a huge cheque (Wolt has raised €267m to date) but it’s a big vote of confidence in the company. 

What’s Gadowski so impressed by? Amy Lewin finds out.

News that matters

🕺💃 New VCs on the block. London-based VC firm Felix Capital says “this year has been quite a year.” After raising a new $300m fund in January, it has also expanded its team. Say hello to its new investors; Angela Chou, formerly working in product at Facebook; and Joseph Pizzolato, previously at growth equity fund Vitruvian Partners. Get to know them here.

🧑‍🏫 Can you teach venture? Yesterday the Newton Program, a new training scheme for wannabe venture capitalists, opened for applications. Backed by the likes of the London Business School and VC firm LocalGlobe, the programme’s executive director Lisa Shu says that it aims to “professionalise” Europe’s venture system. But is venture teachable? Amy Lewin finds out.

🇬🇧 UK tech visa applications have skyrocketed. Applications in the third quarter of 2020 were up 42% from the previous quarter, and up 8% from the same time last year. Freya Pratty reports.

💳 France’s plea to fintechs. French junior minister Cédric O warned on Monday that banks and fintechs are in danger of being cut out of the value chain as concerns of big tech dominating the financial sector loom. What is fintech entrepreneurs’ best defence?

📱 The new ‘Glassdoor for venture capital’. Landscape, a review platform for startup founders to leave feedback about venture capital firms, has launched across Europe, and it’s not a place for disgruntled founders to vent about VCs. Learn more from its founder about what the platform hopes to do.

👨‍⚕️ Mentech startup Numan raises €11m. The London-based healthtech startup helps men to tackle issues such as erectile dysfunction, hair loss and premature ejaculation. At the moment, women are 75–85% more likely to use digital tools for their healthcare compared to men, so why bother with mentech apps? Mimi Billing finds out why from the startup’s CEO and founder.

🎓 Kahoot!’s killer funding round. The Norwegian company, which makes educational games, has completed a whopping $215m private placement to a subsidiary of its new shareholder SoftBank.

💸 Spendesk adds $18m to its Series B. This brings the French B2B fintech’s total funding to $68.5m, thanks to the VC fund Eight Road Venture’s cash injection into the company. The money will allow Spendesk to continue growing as digital finance accelerates and demand for spending management solutions increases in light of Covid-19.

🤸‍♀️ Share the fun 🤸‍♀️

If you like our newsletter, please forward it on to somebody else who might like it too. It really helps us grow our audience. Thanks!

Sifted Suggests 

💚 The UK's big shot at cleantech is now. The UK has a chance to show the rest of the world how it's done in the race to net zero, says Charmian Love of B Corp and Stephen Kelly from Tech Nation. Why's that then?

🍽️ CEOs rediscover the family dinner table. Jenny Gross of The New York Times catches a glimpse of the new life for some of the busiest people in the world.

😢 Meanwhile, working from home is becoming a pain for many. Alison Green, who has been fielding workplace questions for a decade, highlights the biggest woes she’s found people are experiencing in her inbox.