Venture Capital 

Europe's top 30 young VCs 

There’s a new generation of venture capitalists being prepped to (one day) lead the world’s top investment funds.

Sifted has shortlisted 30 of the next big names in European VC, the best and brightest of the bunch.

Meet them here. 

 Sponsored by Tech Nation 

Join the UK's thriving tech sector

With competitive salaries and a thriving network, more and more people are applying for a Tech Nation Visa.

Is it for you? 

 Healthtech 

The most copied sex toy of the decade

One of the most celebrated sextech innovations of the decade, The Womanizer, was created by Michael and Brigitte Lenke, a couple in their 70s living in Bavaria. 

10 years after its invention, The Womanizer has been acquired by Berlin startup WowTech, and the toy has become one of the success stories of the pandemic, driving more than €100m in sales.

Tim Smith finds out more.

 Venture Capital 

Atomico launches third angel programme

Atomico's giving 18 new angels $100,000 each to invest in European startups, with the final list selected from over 500 applicants. 

When Atomico launched its first angel programme, back in 2018, few other firms were doing the same. Now, it's in vogue, so how does Atomico plan to stand out?

Amy Lewin find outs more. 

🚨 Introducing: Membership 🚨

We’re starting 2021 with a bang. Here’s what we’re launching at Sifted in the very near future:

✔️Membership
✔️3 new weekly newsletters
✔️Deeper data-rich reports

Find out more here. 

 Sponsored by EIT Health Catapult 

5 digital health trends to watch in 2021, according to investors 

Interest in European healthtech is booming, as the health industry adopts new tech like never before. The sector saw a $750m increase in investment between 2019 and 2020.

What will 2021 bring? And which trends and tech should investors be following? 

Find out more.

 Sustainability 

Delivery Hero's now 'carbon neutral' in Europe and Latin America. What does that mean? 

Last week, Delivery Hero announced it's become carbon neutral across Europe and Latin America. It started a carbon neutrality programme in 2019 and, since then, the business says it's offset 215k tons of CO2 equivalent.

It's clear it's trendy to be climate neutral — Deliveroo announced it will start offsetting emissions, and Uber revealed plans to become "zero emissions" by 2040. 

What’s less clear is what, exactly, that means — and how ‘green’ it really is.

Sarah Drumm find outs more. 

News that matters

🖥️ Beam, a web browser that combines browsing with note-taking, allowing users to build their own knowledge databases, has secured $9.5m in new funding. The company wants to rival more established browsers like Google, Microsoft and Mozilla. 

💵 Cashplus, a fintech specialising in banking for small businesses, has secured its UK banking licence. This is no small feat, and something that's proven challenging for other companies, notably fintech giant Revolut. 

🍷 Vivino, a wine delivery and review app, has secured a $155m Series D round, amid a boom in food and beverage ecommerce. The sector's grown rapidly since the pandemic began, and companies like Uber and Dr Oetker have both acquired startups in the sector to expand their offerings. 

🏠 Housing Anywhere, a short-term housing site, has raised $29m. The company specialises in accommodation for young professionals and students, and it's also made its latest acquisition, Dutch housing site Kamernet, following acquisitions in Germany, Italy and Ireland. 

🏃 German fitness equipment company EGYM has raised €28m. The money comes after a tricky year for the company, where it had to let 100 of its employees go after coronavirus hit revenues. 

📱 UK startup Logically, which aims to fight online disinformation using artificial intelligence, has announced a partnership with Tiktok, to try and tackle fake news on the app. Sifted spoke to Logically at the end of last year about their work tackling disinformation around the US election. 

Follow us on social for more of these gems 👇

Sifted Suggests 

🦓 VCs need to stop hunting for unicorns, and start looking for 'green zebras', writes Johannes Lenhard in this oped for Sifted. This means companies that, instead of seeking to blitz-scale their way to market dominance, fuelled by multiple VC fundraising rounds, prioritise profitability, sustainability and social impact. 

🐦 Twitter's been sued in France for its lack of cooperation in tackling online harassment on the platform. This piece in Le Monde looks at what happened. 

🍔 European investment into foodtech reached a record €868m last month, spurred on by Deliveroo and Wolt's megarounds. In this thread, we run through the Europe's foodtech industry and its emerging trends. 

In case you missed it 

💰 After a $450m Series C round, Checkout.com has reached a $15bn valuation. But is the company really worth that much? Katje Staple runs through the maths. 

🌴 The pandemic's accelerated the remote working trend like never before. However, nobody's asking the tough questions about paying and managing remote workers, says Nicolas Colin, and it could turn into an HR nightmare. 

🌲 European tech workers are moving to the countryside, escaping the city whilst work remains online. But will they stick around? Sifted's Berlin correspondent Miriam Partington finds out more.