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Hi Sifted Reader,

Today's line up:

Wild start to the year for fintech funding
Billionaire Peter Thiel bets on Europe
The most exciting future of work startups to watch
European LP Isomer raises a €100m opportunities fund

\Fintech

Fintech funding is insane this year

Fintech funding for European startups has ALREADY surpassed the entire sum hauled in during record years in 2019 and 2020. And we’re only in June.

Europe’s fintech firms raised €8.4bn in total last year, according to Dealroom numbers.

But with Klarna’s latest raise (a trifling $639m), a £350m round for SME bank Tide and a host of smaller raises (including London’s TreasurySpring and Poland’s Ramp), the year-to-date total for 2021 has already reached €10.4bn.

What's up with these wild markets?

\New report with Scale-Up Europe

Accelerating the rise of European technology champions

The Scale-Up Europe report brings together over 200 leading tech founders, investors, researchers, business leaders and institutions who set out how to take Europe’s tech ecosystem to the next level.

Download it here.

\UK

Peter Thiel is pouring cash into Europe

For years Peter Thiel, who cofounded PayPal and analytics firm Palantir, was a sceptic about Europe.

In 2018 the billionaire said there were “no successful tech companies in Europe”. Previously he had called the region a “slacker with low expectations”.

But like many other US investors, he’s finally caught the European tech bug.

This week his firm Mithral Capital led a $30m round into fintech Generation Home. He also became an investor and strategic partner in Oslo-based VC firm SNÖ Ventures.

Sifted members also have access to our analysis of his European portfolio.

\For Members Future of Work

The most exciting future of work startups to watch, according to VCs

The phrase ‘future of work’ has been bandied about a lot in the last year. When it comes to startups though, it means those making tools that make work life more simple and enjoyable — from mental health services to automated hiring and recruitment processes.

To find the most promising of these future of work companies, we asked four VCs that are actively investing in this area to select some of their favourites — and explain why.

Here they are.

Want to read our more in-depth articles like this and attend exclusive member events? Sign up to Sifted Membership to get full access.

\VC

Isomer raises $100m opportunities fund

Isomer Capital, the fund-of-funds which has backed VC firms like Hoxton Ventures, Seedcamp, Kindred and Hardware Club, is now stepping further into the VC side of the market.

It’s raised a €100m ‘opportunities’ fund to invest in growth-stage startups from its VC funds’ portfolios, alongside those VCs.

Amy Lewin explains why that's interesting here.

\In partnership with Banking Circle

5 payment trends that will dominate post-pandemic

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) schemes, embedded finance and incumbent-backed payment ventures have all seen a surge over the past year — but what payment innovations will continue to be hot?

We asked three payment experts what trends we should be keeping our eyes on.

What are the five trends?

News that Matters

🏥 Biotech Mnemo Therapeutics raises a €75m Series A. It’s France’s largest-ever Series A, as round sizes continue to increase across the continent. The company is developing cell therapies that improve the body’s ability to fight diseases. Freya Pratty reports.

🇪🇺 170+ European tech leaders have published 21 recommendations to take the region’s tech to the next level across four key areas: deeptech, startup-corporate collaboration, talent and investment. The initiative is led by French President Emmanuel Macron, who’s eager to position himself as European tech’s greatest policymaking champion. Read the Scale-Up Europe report here.

🎥 Netflix is filming a show about Spotify for release in 2022. Swedish actor Edvin Endre is slated to portray founder Daniel Ek. Variety has more here.

Sifted Suggests

🇪🇸 Are we counting our Spanish unicorns wrong? Most people say the country has two (Cabify and Glovo), but this consulting firm says we should add three more.

🖥️ Catch Amazon’s CTO Werner Vogels speaking about democratising machine learning at CogX at 5pm BST on Wednesday. The London-based AI festival is giving virtual passes away for free.

💳 The Generalist has a great deep dive on the world’s most valuable fintech Stripe. What sets founders Patrick and John Collison apart, the piece argues, is the fact that they’re thinking at a 'civilisation level'.

\We're hiring!

Sifted's looking for reporters

We're growing our team to bring you more in-depth coverage of the sectors you're most interested in. So we're on the hunt for part-time reporters who know their stuff when it comes to startups — and the following areas in particular:

Consumer
Deeptech
European tech policy
Foodtech
Mobility
Software-as-a-service
Sustainability
Venture capital

If you're interested in one of those roles — or know somebody who might be — please check them out here!

Sifted Resources

Top Series A investors in Europe

European tech startups and scaleups to watch in 2021

French tech startups and scaleups to watch in 2021

Michael Stothard
Editor

Get in touch with him at michael@sifted.eu
Or find him tweeting @MStothard

Isabella Pojuner
Editorial Intern

Get in touch with her at isabella@sifted.eu
She tweets climate and crypto @ipojuner

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Sifted - Peter Thiel goes big on Europe 💰

\Fintech

Fintech funding is insane this year

\New report with Scale-Up Europe

Accelerating the rise of European technology champions

\UK

Peter Thiel is pouring cash into Europe

\For Members Future of Work

The most exciting future of work startups to watch, according to VCs

\VC

Isomer raises $100m opportunities fund

\In partnership with Banking Circle

5 payment trends that will dominate post-pandemic

News that Matters

Sifted Suggests

\We're hiring!

Sifted's looking for reporters

Sifted Resources

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