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Hi Sifted Reader,

Today's line up:

🇫🇷 Marie Ekeland's plans to reinvent VC
🤖 Moving deeptech out of the lab
🍜 An alternative to Deliveroo? Flipdish raises €40m
💰 Where are Europe's 'most powerful' VCs?

\Venture Capital

Want to save the planet? Tear up the VC system

Marie Ekeland, one of the most influential figures in France's tech ecosystem, has decided that to save the world she must destroy the VC model that made her famous.

To replace it, Ekeland's raising a new kind of fund focused on long-term impact.

It's pretty fascinating. Chris O'Brien has the details.

\A message from our sponsor Zendesk

Hear from people who know unpredictability, inside out

Sit Down Startup Podcast by Zendesk is a new series all about the nitty gritty of the startup journey.

Hear from founders, CEOs and makers talk about how to scale, hire with less bias and much more.

Listen now.

\Deeptech

Only startups can move deeptech out of the lab

It's all kicking off in deeptech.

First, VC partner Nicolas Colin argued we might not need deeptech startups. Then, investor Zoe Chambers argued the opposite.

Now, Martin Kupp, founder of fusion energy startup Renaissance Fusion, brings a founder's perspective, arguing that only startups can bring deeptech out of the lab and into the world.

Read his op-ed here.

\Foodtech

An alternative to Deliveroo and Just Eat: food ordering app Flipdish raises €40m

Restaurants and delivery platforms can have a difficult relationship — restaurants are increasingly reliant on platforms, but the commission they're charged can be as high as 30%.

Enter Flipdish, an Irish startup that's just raised €40m. The platform lets restaurants take online orders on their own websites, has partnerships with couriers to deliver the food — and charges commissions of around 7%.

Amy Lewin finds out more.

\Sifted Talks

Who needs an office anymore?

In today’s Sifted Talks we’ve brought together a panel of experts to discuss an office-less future. We’ll be asking:

If everyone is based anywhere, can your startup actually grow faster?
Which job roles might become easier to hire if you go all-remote?
Is a global workforce more cost-effective?

Join us today, 3:30pm GMT, to find out more.

\Venture Capital

Where are the 'most powerful' European VCs?

Europe has a lot of VCs now — but they’re not equally distributed around the continent. There's high investor density in western Europe, while other countries are lacking in capital.

A new report from European Capital Map details which investors have the biggest stashes of cash and where.

Take a look at the data here.

\Sponsored by Rockstart

Why should investors care about clean energy?

Investment in European eco-friendly startups doubled last year, with renewable energy one of the leading sectors. But it's not all about ethics; sustainable investments won't happen unless investors see a profit.

So what are they looking for in renewable energy startups?

We spoke with several VCs to find out.

News that Matters

📦 Smart parcel locker startup Instabox has raised €75m. It's billing itself as a more sustainable alternative to rivals like Amazon and Hermes, and plans to use the new funds to invest in a more efficient supply chain.

🧫 Swedish startup EnginZyne has raised €11m to bring synthetic biology, using the E.coli bacterium, into manufacturing at scale. The process could make the industry more sustainable, consuming less energy and resources than the alternatives.

📊 VC firm OpenOcean has launched its third venture fund, with €92m to invest. The firm's specialised in data-oriented startups and deeptech, and it'll primarily make Series A investments worth between €3m and €5m.

🔬 Labster, a Copenhagen-based startup that sells virtual science lab simulations to schools, has raised $60m in Series C funding, led by Silicon Valley firm Andreessen Horowitz. Labster's seen significant growth since the pandemic began as schools looked for ways to teach science remotely.

🥘 Delivery Hero doubled its orders last year to 423m, its results from the last quarter of 2020 show. The company also said it's planning to focus on the development of 'q-commerce' (quick commerce) which means bringing goods to households in under an hour, and sometimes within 15 minutes.

\Journo request

Founders' 'other' partners

Is your (romantic) partner a founder? Is that a bit... tough? We want to hear from you.

Email Amy (she knows what it's like).

Sifted Suggests

👨‍⚕️ Cofounder of French healthtech startup Alan, Jean-Charles Samuelian, is a fan of building businesses differently. Alan’s 280 employees have no meetings, work asynchronously and still churn out new features and products. We spoke to Samuelian about how it all works.

💰 A Klarna crackdown? New rules are being drawn up to try and protect UK consumers using BNPL services. Sifted's Isabel Woodford looks at what the implications will be for companies.

🚗 Europe's delivery startups continue to rise. C heck out this thread on the latest debates in the industry and how the continent's ecosystem is starting to set its own agenda, rather than following the US.

🇵🇱 Forget Silicon Valley, Poland is becoming a deeptech startup hub. Trends suggest that the country could come to reach the same level of influence as countries in the G7 in the coming decade, with many eyeing up the region as the place most likely to produce Europe's next tech unicorn. Pawel Czech looks at what's happening in the country.

🤵 What's the future of remote work? Chris Herd, the founder of remote work tool Firstbase, has spoken to over 2,000 companies about their plans for working after the pandemic. Companies will cut their office space by 50-70%, Herd says, and people will come into the office only 1 or 2 days a week.