Fintech 

Fastest fintech unicorns 

The world is now home to over 70 fintech “unicorns” — startups worth over $1bn.

And many of them wasted no time getting there, with some hitting the magical valuation in less than two years. Can you guess which ones they are?

 Sponsored by Tech Nation 

The UK needs your talent

Calling all product-managers, engineers and founders! Thinking of moving from the EU to the UK? Tech Nation has your ticket to a vibrant and welcoming tech sector.

Learn more about their Global Talent Visa here.

 Germany 

German startups to watch in 2021

Germany is one of the leading countries in European startup land. According to Dealroom, German startups raised €6.3bn in venture capital investment in 2020 (up from €2.2bn in 2016).

You'll have heard of plenty of German startups already, like vertical farming company Infarm and insurance service platform wefox — but you might not have heard of all the country's rising stars...

Meet (almost 100) here.

 Sustainability 

Plastic alternative startup Xampla raises £6.2m

The University of Cambridge spinout — which wants to make an alternative plastic entirely from plant proteins — received funding from Horizon Ventures, the private investment arm of Li Kashing.

It's chaired by Jeff Seabright, former chief sustainability officer at Unilever and is the first university spinout in the UK to secure B Corp accreditation.

Freya Pratty has more.

 Crypto 

European startups basking in the bitcoin boom

Bitcoin's booming. Last week, its price topped $40,000 and could rise to $146,000, according to JPMorgan.

Which European startups are doing pretty nicely as a result?

 Sponsored by Fiverr 

Why your startup needs freelancers

Full-time employees are great for many reasons — but they can also be a pain. They take ages to hire, can be pretty expensive and very demanding. 

Sometimes, it just makes more sense to work with freelancers.

Here are four reasons why.

Sifted Suggests 

🤖 The deeptech boom. In the last 10 years, VC investment into deeptech companies has increased nearly 11-fold, reaching €9.6bn in 2019 according to Europeanstartups.co's latest deeptech report. Could 2021 mark the start of the ‘era of deeptech’?

🌱 Could millennials in family offices push ESG? “In the next few decades, trillions of dollars are expected to be transferred between generations in the US alone,” the FT writes. But does that mean that good intentions will turn into reality? Read here.

🦉 The rise of Duolingo. According to this Twitter thread, this is how online language learning platform Duolingo went from 5m to 200m users in 5 years.

💳 Fintech a Brexit priority for the UK. A government-backed review launched by chancellor Rishi Sunak at the Budget last March, has been tasked by ministers to come up with ideas on how to support the UK’s buoyant fintech sector. In other Brexit and tech news, here are 10 ways Brexit will change the lives of tech startups in UK and EU from UKTN.

🇫🇷 The state of the French tech ecosystem 2020. Many of France’s tech startups had a wild year — insect farming startup Ynsect extended its Series C round to €372m and fintech Lydia raised $131m in Series B funding. Learn more about the French tech ecosystem here.

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In case you missed it 

🙄 Exit faffs. Policymakers are making it easier for startups to exit by going public — but harder to exit via an acquisition. That’s not a good sign says Leo Ringer, partner at VC firm Form Ventures.

👋 Say hello to your new VC, The European Commission.

🧬 How exactly do proteins behave? DeepMind has the answers.

Events [digital only]
 

🦊  Connected pets: what are the opportunities for startups? | Online | 12 January
2020 saw a connected pets boom, with lots of new products coming onto the market. What implications does this have for the IoT pet devices market, for healthcare and insurance providers — and for the owners themselves? Sifted’s Maija Palmer dives into the discussion with a panel of pet experts, in partnership with Purina Accelerator Lab. Sign up now.

🛴 Are we about to experience a great green mobility revolution? | Online | 21 January
Cities across Europe are turning to shared bike and scooter operators to help get their citizens moving once again — without getting too close to one another. Join Sifted's Amy Lewin, leading micromobility startup founders and government decision-makers to discuss what's coming to a street near you in 2021, in partnership with the British Embassy Stockholm & The Swedish Embassy Britain. Sign up now.

If you’re looking to find out more about social investment and the different types of social investment, sign up to this event. Hear what other social enterprises and charities have learned from taking on social investment.

Sweatcoin is a five-year-old fitness app that converts outdoor steps into a virtual currency. Now it has over 50m users with over 7m using the app weekly. Learn how the UK startup found success from its former chief growth officer Ranbir Arora.