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Hi Sifted Reader,

Think you need bags of VC cash to build an all-conquering startup? Think again. We find out which bootstrapped companies are taking Europe by storm. Plus…

Nik Storonsky from Revolut launches a $7bn family office
UK tech’s gender pay gap (it’s not good)
Europe’s largest female-led VC firm

\Fintech

Revolut’s billionaire boss Nik Storonsky opens family office

Revolut founder Nik Storonsky is worth an estimated $7bn — and it looks like he's about to start plugging a lot more of that wealth into new startups.

Companies House records show that he opened a family office last month, suggesting he plans to professionalise his angel investments.

Isabel Woodford reports.

\A message from our sponsor Sailthru

Ho ho hone your holiday marketing

The holidays are fast-approaching — ecommerce startups, are you ready? Read Sailthru’s new guide on how to optimise your marketing for customer acquisition, and get expert insights from brands such as Fabletics, Food52 and Rent the Runway.

Get the guide here.

\For Members Venture Capital

Meet Europe’s fastest-growing bootstrapped companies

At our members' event you told us you wanted Sifted to write more about non VC-backed companies. So here's the first in a series of pieces about Europe's bootstrapping stars.

These companies are scaling with the best of them on the European startup scene, without VC money — and without diluting shares from successive funding rounds.

It might take them a little longer to hit the big time, but if they do, the founders will be due an eye-watering payout.

Here are the startups doing it without investor cash.

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

\Diversity

More than half of UK scaleups have worse than average gender pay gaps

Government data shows that 12 out of 20 UK scaleups had a gender pay gap worse than the national average in 2020, and just one — energy provider Bulb — had no gap.

But which companies have the widest gap and how many have improved since 2019?

Here’s how Monzo, Revolut, Starling, Darktrace, Deliveroo and many more compare.

\Venture Capital

Meet Europe’s largest female-led VC firm

In Europe the average VC fund run by women is €10m — seven times smaller than the average run by men.

Bucking the trend is Revaia, led by Elina Berrebi and Alice Albizzati, which has just closed the largest female-led fund in European history — to the tune of a hefty €250m.

Sifted caught up with Berrebi to find out what kind of startups she’s looking to back.

\Sifted Talks

The startups buying startups — why it’s worth a billion euros

Since the start of the year, over €1bn has been spent on acquisitions by European VC-backed startups — 10 times more than last year.

This means more private European tech companies are buying smaller startups, gaining a bigger share in other markets and acquiring new offerings and talent. It’s a growing trend, but what’s behind it and will it last?

Join the experts in finding out here.

Sifted Suggests

👀 Deeptech founders take note. Early-stage VC firm Angular Ventures has just announced it's closed an $80m first-cheque fund. It'll be investing in deeptech companies across Europe and Israel.

🎄 Christmas comes early for the deeptech crowd. Berlin-based Lunar Ventures has also announced a fund aimed at early-stage deeptech startups, with €40m in the pot to play with. It's a deeptech double whammy.

🤔 The effectiveness of one-on-ones. An engineer at fintech Wave shares his learnings from one-on-ones with his (romantic) partner after she wasn't getting enough support from her grad school.

Amy Lewin
Deputy Editor

Get in touch with her at amy@sifted.eu
Or @amyrlewin

Kai Nicol-Schwarz
Editorial Lead (Membership)

Get in touch with him at kai @sifted.eu
Or @nicolschwarzk

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Sifted - Revolut founder's $7bn family office 🤑

\Fintech

Revolut’s billionaire boss Nik Storonsky opens family office

\A message from our sponsor Sailthru

Ho ho hone your holiday marketing

\For Members Venture Capital

Meet Europe’s fastest-growing bootstrapped companies

\Diversity

More than half of UK scaleups have worse than average gender pay gaps

\Venture Capital

Meet Europe’s largest female-led VC firm

\Sifted Talks

The startups buying startups — why it’s worth a billion euros

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