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Hi Sifted Reader,

Happy Easter Monday! Today's line up:

👷 A blueprint for building a social media giant in Europe
🤦‍♀️ Revealed: Index has already cashed out its TransferWise shares
🇩🇪 22 German VC and angel investors to follow on Twitter

\Consumer

How to build a social media giant in Europe

Is it worth even attempting to build social media startups in Europe?

Absolutely, says Sameer Singh. Just don't try to build a 'broadcast' network like Clubhouse.

Do this instead.

\A message from our sponsor Huckletree

12 months, 12 stories of innovation

How have some of London’s most exciting startups used the pandemic to pivot? Read all about how Huckletree members grew stronger in 2020, and how you can secure mentor sessions with top industry talent.

Learn more here.

\Venture Capital

22 German VC and angel investors to follow on Twitter

The European tech Twittersphere is a great way for investors to share their tech wisdom and scout startups. A collective of German investors have nailed the Twitter game — from posting startup-building tips to engaging with tech communities.

So who are they? Why should you care? And what are they tweeting?

Cecile Bussy finds out.

\For Members Fintech

Index will miss out on Wise IPO bonanza

Index Ventures may have been one of Wise’s earliest investors, but it won’t win big in the fintech’s planned public floatation.

Indeed, Index has already cashed in 99.63% of its stake in Wise (formerly Transferwise), Sifted has confirmed.

Index, one of Europe’s biggest VC firms, sold most of its stake when Wise was worth $3.4bn. Now, with Wise preparing for a public valuation of up to $7bn, Index may have some regrets...

How much more could Index have banked if it had held on?

We've done the maths here.

If you're not yet a Sifted member, subscribe here for as little as £19 per month.

\Mapping

Meet the startup creating digital maps of the indoor world

We’ve all used digital maps to navigate pavements and roads, but what if we knew exactly where to go in large indoor structures like hospitals and museums?

Living Map, a UK-based company creating digital indoor maps, is looking to ride the wave of this growing sector (projected to reach $158bn in 2027) and it’s got off to a good start, landing clients like NYC’s Metropolitan Museum and London’s Canary Wharf.

But what’s the potential for this kind of technology?

Find out here.

\Sponsored by Google for Startups

The startup developing apps to empower disabled people

Working as an instructor for Guide Dogs UK for the past 18 years, Gavin Neate learned a lot. Particularly, he became inspired by how tech could be built and used to help disabled people.

That’s why he founded Neatebox, an Edinburgh-based startup that not only helps disabled people live independently, but also helps businesses make their services more inclusive from the start.

But how is Neate’s platform revolutionising customer service for disabled people?

Read on to find out.

Sifted Suggests

🙋‍♂️ Humans 1, robots 0. Online grocery company Ocado uses robots to fulfil orders for customers. This is proving to be slower than rivals like Deliveroo with their fleet of faster human riders — will Ocado’s investors lose patience? Wired reports.

🇪🇸 Catalonia’s healthtech boom. In 2020, health startups in the area raised €226m, more than doubling funding raised in 2018.

🇸🇪 Stockholm is also buzzing. The FT talks to startup executives to get their insights on the growth they’re seeing in the Stockholm startup ecosystem.

💸 Looking to raise your Series A? Creandum has shared an article explaining how to build a good deck and bag your next funding round.

🤑 European startup funding Q1. Dealroom data shows that funding into European startups for the first quarter of the year is looking pretty sweet at €16.6bn — more than double Q1 2020 (€7.9bn).

Sifted Opinion

⏰ Time for a new social contract for the gig economy. Nicolas Colin writes how Europe can benefit from developing a new kind of social contract.

💰 Many European startups get acquired too early. So when is the best time to sell your company? And how can you make the most out of a sale? Robin Klein shares some words of wisdom.

🤔 Do we need deeptech or don't we need deeptech? Click here for yes, read here for no.

🥚 Why employers should absolutely offer to freeze women’s eggs. Emma Phillips, partner at LocalGlobe, makes the case here.

👀 Is it time for more SPACs in Europe? SPACs are all the rage in the US — but the craze hasn't quite taken off in Europe, yet. Why is that? And what trends might make SPACs somewhat less enticing for investors and founders soon?