Social media 

Top 20 tech Instagrammers to follow 

First came the tech Twitterati, then the LinkedIn gurus — and now a rising tide of founders, investors and operators are sharing their wisdom on Instagram. 

But who shares the best tips and most interesting stories for other startup folk?

Connor Bilboe and Cecile Bussy list their picks.

🔮 The future of work: what’s next? 🔮

Which of our new working trends are here to stay?

Find out the impact that leaders like Balderton Capital, Talent Garden and Entrepreneur First think Covid-19 will have on investments, the office, startup employees’ mental health and more in our new report with Globalization Partners.

Download the report here. 

 Future of work 

Where does a company 'belong'?

Startup folks can be partial to games of tech Top Trumps — which country has more unicorns? 

But when so many businesses are run remotely, what makes a company 'belong' to one country rather than another? Is it the address of the headquarters, the nationality of the founders, the main market that the company serves, the location of the majority of its employees? 

Nicolas Colin explores an existential — and very interesting — question.

 Consumer 

The startup that launched 2,000 businesses: Jeff raises $21m for US launch 

Valencia-founded Jeff helps would-be entrepreneurs launch their own laundrettes, fitness clubs, beauty salons and massage studios in exchange for some initial investment and a monthly fee. A whopping 2,000 businesses have now launched under the Jeff banner in 40 countries.  

It has just raised $21m in a Series B round led by All Iron Ventures, Alma Mundi Ventures and FJLabs — and plans to take on the US next.

Tim Smith speaks to founder Eloi Gómez.

 Opinion 

Voice tech: Worth it?

Voice assistants are capturing data in our pockets, homes and workplaces — and there are now billions of them around the world. 

What does that mean for privacy and trust? 

Shawn Chance takes a look. 

News that matters

🎁 "The world of tomorrow is not just the world of Amazon": Ankorstore raises €25m from Index. Independent stores and brands, rejoice — a French startup thinks it has found a way to compete against Amazon. Ankorstore has a marketplace which enables up-and-coming brands to sell directly to independent shops, allowing them to sell more varied stock and choose products more flexibly. It works with 15,000 shops across Europe already, and plans to expand into the UK next year. Freya Pratty finds out more.

🐼 Food delivery startup HungryPanda, which caters for Chinese-speaking customers, has raised $70m. This year has been a big one for the UK-based startup; it last raised $20m in February, and saw a "sudden surge in demand" as a result of Covid. It's now operating in 47 cities across the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France and the UK, where it connects Mandarin-speaking customers with Chinese restaurants and grocery stores — a not-so-small niche broadly missed by other food players. Amy Lewin meets the company.

🏹 Germany-based VC firm Target Global is raising a new €300m+ fund. Freya Pratty finds out where it's looking to invest.

🛴 Swedish scooter player Voi has swiftly followed its competitor Tier, raising a big new round. The Series C round, of $160m, is led by The Raine Group and joined by Balderton, Creandum and Project A, amongst others. We took a look at the European scooter market last month, when SoftBank led a $250m into German scooter operator Tier.

🇸🇪 Michael Moritz, partner at US VC heavyweight Sequoia, has been named the new chair of fintech giant Klarna. It's a sign of just how hard Klarna is pushing into the US.

🏢 Infogrid, which helps make buildings 'smart', has raised $15.5m. The UK startup works with banks, supermarkets, healthcare providers and restaurants to operate their real estate in a clever, cost-efficient and more climate-friendly way. (Think IoT sensors telling you when to turn off the damn lights...) With an enormous chunk of our cities not being used, real estate costs are more front-of-mind than ever. Northzone led the round. 

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Sifted Suggests 

👘 French crypto startup Ledger has bagged LVMH's former chief digital officer. Why has Ian Rogers left the glamorous world of fashion for digital assets? And what does Ledger even do? Marie Mawad finds out. 

💰 A spreadsheet of 280 VC funds, with capital, in Europe. From Mountside Ventures.

🎒 Two million users every month, sales doubling this year, 250 employees and $70m raised to date: meet Parisian online learning platform Openclassrooms. It's helping people gain diplomas, retrain in new digital roles and take one-off classes. Marie Mawad hears the back story.

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