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Happy Wednesday Sifted Reader,

Today marks the end of Q2 — and phwoar, it's been a big one. Read on for more on that and also...

Diversity VC appoints a new CEO and COO
Lollipop: when fintech meets grocery tech
The startup addressing the mental health crisis with video games

\Venture Capital

Exclusive: Diversity VC appoints new CEO and COO

Europe's leading diversity community Diversity VC has said goodbye to its founding team and has welcomed in Ladi Greenstreet and Daisy Onubogu as its new CEO and COO.

Since launching five years ago, Diversity VC has published influential reports, created an internship scheme for wannabe VCs and an accreditation scheme for VC firms— but it wants to do a whole lot more.

Now it's looking to break the echo chamber in VC and tackle the firms that are lagging behind on diversity.

Read our interview with Onubogu and Greenstreet here.

\A message from our sponsor Twilio

Bad company communications could be losing you customers

Learn how using a single platform for communication could help accelerate your startup in Twilio’s latest guide.

Download it here.

\Foodtech

Lollipop: the most zeitgeisty startup in town?

What if Monzo did supermarkets? asks Tom Foster-Carter, founder of Lollipop, a food shopping app launching today.

Foster-Carter, the former COO of Monzo and Curve, wants to do for supermarket shopping what digital banks did for financial management: make it quick(er), easier and perhaps even a little bit fun.

Lollipop's already partnered with UK supermarket giant Sainsbury's and recipe site BBC Good Food. But will customers bite?

Amy Lewin finds out more.

\For Members Investing

The European ecosystem is seeing the world's fastest growth in investment

For the second time ever, the rate of investment into Europe’s tech companies is growing at world-beating speeds.

So far in 2021, VCs have written cheques to the tune of €47.4bn for European startups — trumping 2020's €8bn total — and there are still six months left on the clock.

Flush with charts, we break down the full picture here.

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

\The Big Idea

Can a smartphone game help monitor depression?

Scientist Emilia Molimpakis was researching the link between language and depression when her friend developed the condition. At the time, Molimpakis was also working with a gaming company who used her neuroscience background to make the levels of a game harder.

Molimpakis realised the two could interlink to help people like her friend: video games could be used to target and monitor depression.

The result is Thymia, which has just raised a $1.1m seed round.

Freya Pratty profiles the company.

News that Matters

🔋EV + VC = a surging interest in batteries. The EV charging market has been stagnant — until now. EV sales in Europe are set to hit 1m this year and it’s estimated that revenues from charging could hit €36bn by 2030 — a sevenfold increase on 2021’s rate. Freya Pratty has more.

🏘️ Could Asia be the secret to success for some European startups? WeMaintain, a startup that provides building maintenance and monitoring services to real estate companies, is utterly convinced. Find out why.

👛 Accel raises three whopping great funds. The global VC firm has just announced three mega funds totalling $3.05bn — including a $650m early-stage fund covering Europe and Israel. Accel partner Luca Bocchio talked to Sifted about its plans, and why it's not fazed by crossover investors like Tiger Global.

🏥 CMR Surgical's valuation surges to $3bn after raising $600m in a Series D round led by SoftBank and Ally Bridge Group, as well as Tencent. The surgical robotics company will use the funds to commercialise its latest product ‘Versius’.

🔒 Onfido picks NY over London. The biometrics and facial recognition services startup, which is valued at £345m, is reportedly choosing to list on the NYSE after reporting 200% year-on-year growth stateside.

🗓️ Dating app Thursday raises £2.5m from Monzo founder Tom Blomfield, GoCardless founder Matt Robinson and Songkick founder Ian Hogarth — amongst other angels and VC firms. Launched in May, the app can only be used on a Thursday. More from TechCrunch here.

🏆 The European Innovation Council Accelerator has had to restrict funding after receiving 2k applications from startups since April. Accepting all of them would have required a €4.8bn payout — four times the original amount — so they'll be giving some startups a 'seal of excellence' instead.

Sifted Suggests

🔗 Incumbent banks need to catch up with DeFi, argues Leon Gauhman, chief strategy officer at digital product consultancy Elsewhen. He recommends banks take these four steps before decentralised finance goes mainstream.

💳 BNPL won't kill credit cards that easily. Though nearly £4 in every £100 in the UK is now spent using buy-now-pay-later services like Klarna, they're not immune to disruption themselves — and they're not as separate as they might think. [Member]

🛵 What's next for last-mile delivery? We've summarised the key learnings from our panel on the hottest topic in startupland, which featured reps from drone delivery startup Manna Aero, Dutch online supermarket Picnic, McKinsey and robotic pickup locker startup Cleveron.

🇵🇹 Just 9.5% of Iberian VCs are women and 16% non-white. The region in southern Europe has long suffered from a lack of diversity, and this report from Diversity VC gives a good overview of the current situation.

\Sifted Talks

Learning why VCs say 'no' will help you get a 'yes'

In our next Sifted Talks, experts will dive deep into how understanding the VC mindset can help your startup grow.

Join here on July 6.

Sifted's Q2 market analysis

Tech disrupts the €2tn construction market

Inside the open banking bubble

2021 has already been a record year for fintech investment

The Greek startup ecosystem is on the up [Member]

Who's getting rich from Europe's upcoming tech IPOs? [Member]

Tiger Global has invested in 16 startups this year [Member]

US investment into European startups hits an all time high [Member]

Europe's latest unicorns [Member]

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 at @ipojuner

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Sifted - Accel raises megabucks 💸

\Venture Capital

Exclusive: Diversity VC appoints new CEO and COO

\A message from our sponsor Twilio

Bad company communications could be losing you customers

\Foodtech

Lollipop: the most zeitgeisty startup in town?

\For Members Investing

The European ecosystem is seeing the world's fastest growth in investment

\The Big Idea

Can a smartphone game help monitor depression?

News that Matters

Sifted Suggests

\Sifted Talks

Learning why VCs say 'no' will help you get a 'yes'

Sifted's Q2 market analysis

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On-demand grocery: the state of play 🔥‍

Why a European WeChat won't work 🙅‍♀️

The country with the most dating apps per person 💖

Peter Thiel goes big on Europe 💰

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