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If you’re going to a festival or a football match, keep your eyes peeled for a whole host of European startups that are on a sponsoring spree. Zapp and Cazoo secured deals with the English Football League, but which events are next in line for a startup makeover? Plus...

Neobanks' latest ploy involves *ultra* cheap insurance
Five deeptech startup ideas — from top deeptech VCs
What's next for French tech?

\Consumer

Why are startups suddenly sponsoring sports teams and festivals?

Earlier this month, Aston Villa beat Everton 3-0. Eagle-eyed fans would have also spotted that both kits were emblazoned with the logos of Cazoo, the used car marketplace that’s now a $7bn business.

This is just the latest in a trend of fast-growing European tech startups, which are under huge pressure to achieve hyper-growth, sponsoring big events that reach millions of people.

Now, they're taking the place of legacy non-tech businesses.

\A message from our sponsor FinTech Innovation Lab

Calling top B2B FinTechs

The Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab London is a 12-week programme that can help you build connections, provide valuable mentorship and accelerate your business.

Applications are closing soon — apply now.

\Fintech

Neobanks' latest ploy involves ultra cheap insurance

From shiny cards, exclusive features and even cashback schemes, digital bank execs have been scratching their heads for years about how to lure users into premium subscriptions.

Now, they’ve ventured into the world of embedded insurance. With Monese and Revolut offering purchase protection on all transactions for as little as £6 a month, fintechs are disrupting the €360bn alternative insurance market.

Is this the new fintech battleground?

Want a free month of Sifted membership?

Have you been dying to take a peek at our coveted member content? From exclusive fintech scoops, to investor insights on the up-and-coming upstarts in every European industry, we don’t disappoint.

Complete our quick survey for a free first month of Sifted membership, which is usually £19 a month. It won't take long!

Cash in your free month here.

\For Members Deeptech

Five deeptech startup ideas — from top deeptech VCs

If there’s any area of technology filled with untapped ideas, it’s deeptech.

From new ways of applying AI to the latest developments in robotics, deeptech startups by definition are typically founded out of breakthrough science or innovation.

So we asked VCs where they see the largest opportunities — and gaps — in the deeptech market.

These are the pitches they haven’t heard… yet.

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

\Opinion

It’s been a record year for French tech: what’s next?

The French startup world was on fire last week, with newly-minted unicorns Sorare, Mirakl and Sunday raising a record €1bn+ altogether.

But this isn’t the first time that France has tried to race ahead in the digital economy.

What can France learn from the first wave of French tech?

\Sifted Talks

How can your startup tap into the golden embedded finance opportunity?

Embedded finance is predicted to hit $3.6tn by 2030 — so how can your startup get in on the action? In our Sifted Talks tomorrow, we’ll ask the experts, including OpenPayd chief executive Iana Dimitrova, Spryker cofounder Alex Graf and Mirakl chief product officer Isabelle Bénard.

Sign up here.

News that Matters

👋 N26's top director departs. Berlin-based neobank N26 is losing key executive Georg Hauer, who is joining fintech newcomer Hawk AI, a Munich-based money-laundering detection platform that recently raised a $10m Series A.

🦢 French startup Swan raised an $18.7m Series A. The round was led by Accel, and the banking-as-a-service platform will now expand to provide embedded banking services.

💶 Swiss startup Frontify raised €42.7m. What makes this Series C funding round extra special is that it was led by Revala, Europe’s largest female-founded VC fund.

Sifted Suggests

👔 Corporates are embracing NFTs. Just as the corporate world is learning to embrace Bitcoin after 12+ years, it’s also coming to grips with NFTs, at arguably an even faster pace. But we’re likely to see a few embarrassing missteps along the way.

‍💼 The secret to innovation. “People think you need to have a genius founder or be a startup to innovate. Not true.” You actually need properly incentivised middle management.

♀️ The ingredients of inclusivity. In this research report, Women in Tech Finland analyses the inclusivity of workplace cultures in Finland, and its impact on how women thrive at work.

❓ What’s the purpose of NFTs? NFT mania has recently hit Europe, and in this article, Tanay Jaipuria outlines how NFTs can serve a different set of jobs for different people — from financial returns, a fun hobby or even a sense of community.

🚴 Academics are trying to fix the last mile gig economy. The future lies in gig work — but the system is currently broken. Now, academics are working to apply technology to find solutions to fix the gig economy.

\Community Journalism

What do you think about returning to the office?

Last week, we put out the call to you, to find out how you were feeling about returning to the office and the shift to hybrid working. A massive thanks to all of you who’ve taken part in the survey so far.

There’s still time to share your thoughts! We want to know what you’re looking forward to, what you’re not and how well your company has communicated the shift.

The survey will only take a few minutes, you can fill it in anonymously and we’ll publish a piece featuring your responses in the coming weeks.

Take the survey and join our community journalism project.

Michael Stothard
Editor

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

Riddhi Kanetkar
Editorial Intern

Get in touch with her at riddhi@sifted.eu
Or find her tweeting @r1ddhi

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Sifted - Startups are on a sponsoring spree 💸

\Consumer

Why are startups suddenly sponsoring sports teams and festivals?

\A message from our sponsor FinTech Innovation Lab

Calling top B2B FinTechs

\Fintech

Neobanks' latest ploy involves ultra cheap insurance

Want a free month of Sifted membership?

\For Members Deeptech

Five deeptech startup ideas — from top deeptech VCs

\Opinion

It’s been a record year for French tech: what’s next?

\Sifted Talks

How can your startup tap into the golden embedded finance opportunity?

News that Matters

Sifted Suggests

\Community Journalism

What do you think about returning to the office?

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Sifted - Startups are on a sponsoring spree 💸

\Consumer

Why are startups suddenly sponsoring sports teams and festivals?

\A message from our sponsor FinTech Innovation Lab

\Fintech

Neobanks' latest ploy involves *ultra* cheap insurance

\For Members Deeptech

Five deeptech startup ideas — from top deeptech VCs

\Opinion

It’s been a record year for French tech: what’s next?

\Sifted Talks

News that Matters

Sifted Suggests

\Community Journalism

What do you think about returning to the office?

Older messages

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Neobanks' latest ploy involves ultra cheap insurance