Social Media 

Why is everyone talking about Clubhouse?

Audio-only social app Clubhouse has exploded in Europe, with some of the biggest names in tech now hosting regular panels and discussions.

The app has been downloaded more in the UK and Germany than anywhere else in the world this week (aside from the US) and it's already bumping up against regulatory issues.

What's going on? And should you be on it?

When we can go back to the office... will we?

In our newest report with Globalization Partners, we look at Europe’s freelance economy, Covid-19's long shadow and whether remote work is here to stay.

Read our future of work report to find out.

 Food Delivery 

Deliveroo founder to bag more than $500m in upcoming IPO

The takeaway delivery app's upcoming initial public offering is set to make a decent packet of cash for investors — including Amazon, Accel, Index and Hoxton Ventures.

But no individual is set to do as well as founder Will Shu, who could make somewhere between $500m and $750m from his 6.8% stake in the company.

Find out more.

 Drones 

The things people order by drones

Ever since the small Irish town of Oranmore became a testbed for Manna Aero's drone delivery service, there have been plenty of surprises for the startup.

But none more than what people order.

Some users have been getting a single head of broccoli delivered. Others have been ordering in Melons and late night nappy care packages.

Is this the future of deliveries? Maija Palma investigates.

 Opinion 

Let founders choose which startups get funded — not VCs

Imagine if it wasn't just investors who decided which startups received funding. What if other founders got to pick instead?

According to some investors who've been testing out 'peer-selected investment', it's not such a bad idea.

Kelly Bewers looks into the experiments underway.

Sifted: What’s new in 2021

News that matters

🥡 Food delivery startup Wolt has raised $530m in a round led by ICONIQ Growth to expand its fast-growing retail delivery service. It's a sign of the mounting ambitions for the company. “Covid has changed our perspective on how big a business like us can be,” said Miki Kuusi, Wolt’s CEO and cofounder.

📈 Swiss startup Aktiia has beaten Fitbit, Apple and other tech giants to become the first company to get regulatory approval to sell a wearable bracelet that measures blood pressure. The company this week said it had been awarded a CE marking for its bracelet. That means it can now sell its wearable in the European Economic Area and in some other countries, such as the UK, Australia and Canada.

🐙 Healthtech’s finally gaining suction, as Octopus Ventures is launching a £100m global fund to back startups in the sector — especially early-stage companies and those in Series A rounds. The announcement comes after the firm appointed Emma Davies as co-CEO last week.

🩺 And they're not the only ones... A newly created VC firm, Lauxera Capital Partners, has also raised €100m for a growth and buyout fund aimed at funding healthtech companies that have thrived in the wake of Covid-19.

🐦 Twitter has acquired Revue, a six-year-old newsletter platform based in the Netherlands with just six employees, for an undisclosed sum. The deal speaks to Twitter's interest in building features around long-form content. In a blog post, the company said that it’s “imagining a lot of ways” to connect writers and readers, “from allowing people to sign up for newsletters from their favourite follows on Twitter, to new settings for writers to host conversations with their subscribers.”

🏳️‍🌈 Grindr, the gay dating app, is in a spot of bother with Norway’s data protection agency, after it said it would be issued with a fine of around €12m for a breach of GDPR regulations.

💰 Remagine, a financing platform offering banking services to high-growth companies with an ‘impact’ twist, has raised €20m in a seed funding round. The Berlin-based startup has been operating in stealth mode, but already has 20 clients under its former brand name ‘Get Conscious Growth’.

👼 It’s finally got wings. After being bootstrapped since its launch in 2017, German drone delivery startup Wingcopter raised $22m this week in its Series A round led by Xplorer Capital and Futury Regio Growth Fund. It intends to use the cash injection to accelerate its healthcare plans, including delivering Covid-19 vaccines. Xplorer’s interest all the way from Silicon Valley signals Wingcopter’s in a good position to enter the US market — where it’s keen to explore every sector but military and defence on ethical grounds.

🔗 Taking a quantum leap. Riverlane’s just secured €16.5m in a Series A round led by VC fund Draper Esprit, which also included existing investors Amadeus, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Cambridge University — where it was founded. It’s a strong signal to the VC world that quantum is getting commercial, as the startup specialises in transforming quantum computers into commercial products applicable to the pharma and materials industries.

🚘 Auto1 is set to open the German IPO market this year after setting a $2bn price range for its IPO and stating it would issue 31m new shares. If successful, it would bring the German used car platform to a valuation of €8bn. The move is an attempt to prove its status as the “go-to online destination” for car sales in Europe. Last week, Sequoia agreed to buy €50m in stock after the company stated it aims to raise €1bn in the first quarter.

🇸🇪 And over in Stockholm, the fintech Trustly is planning to IPO too, after the digital payments industry soared in the Year of the Pandemic. The top range for its expected valuation is $11bn, with backing from Nordic Capital, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Carnegie. If it succeeds, it will have soared by $10bn from its $1bn valuation last June, after a huge cash injection from BlackRock.

Sifted Suggests 

🇷🇴 Romania’s startup scene has begun 2021 on a high, with fintech FINQware securing €500k and chatbot platform Druid $2.5m in the last week alone. But the country has the third-lowest digitally-skilled population in Europe. Get the facts on Romania’s evolution.

🛢️ How can big tech influence big oil? By wielding its cloud computing dominance for good. Check out this short and snappy analysis piece from the crowdsourced media project Ours to Save, which covers climate tech, politics and investment.

🐢 From 'sea turtles' to 'wolf culture'. Lend your eyes to a fascinating investigation into Huawei’s European presence and employee surveillance by netzpolitik, The Daily Telegraph and more.

😷 Roche is transforming. The healthtech startup specialises in rare diseases, but found it could do more than traditional pharma — it could engage and provide for the communities that form around such medical conditions. 

🛵 Here comes the great green mobility revolution. Check out the key findings of our most recent webinar on escooters and more — in both standard copy and a snazzy illustration.

📊 What on earth is the data layer, and why is it so critical for businesses? This piece by Atomico has all you need to know for a truly essential new development in modern enterprise.

🌐 Trump’s banned — now what? This insightful listicle proposes 10 policies to “rebuild our broken internet”, from digital librarians to changing the algorithms that recommend content. And don’t worry, this is a manual recommendation.

🙋 After hitting a record $711m in investment in 2020, European edtech is starting 2021 with a bang. Could edtech be the next big investment opportunity of the 2020s? 

📹 Sriram Krishnan has launched a new YouTube channel for The Observer Effect where he will be talking to founders. We recommend his interview from a while back with Daniel Ek.