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Hi Sifted Reader,

We have some big news at Sifted — Amy Lewin is taking over as editor.

After three years as our brilliant founding editor, Michael Stothard is leaving to join a VC firm! 👀 Michael has been an outstanding team leader and a great colleague and we're sad to see him go. But we're delighted that Amy is now in the hot seat. 

Amy joined Sifted as our first employee and star reporter and has worked closely with Michael as deputy editor to help build one of the best journalistic teams in the business. As readers know, Amy has a strong opinion or two and is passionately committed to bringing you the liveliest, most insightful — and diverse — coverage of startup Europe. 

Eleanor Warnock is taking over as deputy editor, responsible for news and opinion pieces, while our innovation editor Maija Palmer is taking charge of member content. 

Good luck Michael!

— John Thornhill, Sifted cofounder and editorial director

Over the past two years, the German neobank has seen at least 10 senior executives depart — but it’s not just upper management calling it a day. People close to the company’s hiring process told Sifted that its average annual staff turnover was 40-50% between 2020 and 2021.

So what's sending people packing?

We spoke to eight current and former employees who shared what they think is behind N26’s high turnover. The list includes low wages, an unequal promotion system and a “challenging” CEO.

Miriam Partington has the story.

Launched in 2017 in the US to address inequities in funding, Morgan Stanley’s Multicultural Innovation Lab has expanded into London. Apply to its five-month accelerator programme to develop and scale your startup — with £200k in funding.

Find out more here. 

Secondaries — where shareholders sell all or a portion of their holdings before a company goes through a full exit — isn’t as taboo as it once was in Europe. 

Now, the continent has its second liquidity fund, following Balderton’s $145m fund in 2018: a $50m fund from London-based VC firm Sova.

While scepticism remains around these transactions, VCs also see buying shares from earlier investors or employees as a great way to get ownership in later, more competitive rounds. But what do founders have to say about them?

Eleanor Warnock finds out.

The metaverse hype is real: investors are increasingly making bets on the future virtual world, plugging €2.6bn into the sector last year.

That means no matter which direction the sector heads in, the startups creating the tools and building blocks for the metaverse are a tasty investment opportunity. 

Who are they?

While new frameworks have been introduced over the years by investors to assess founders — such as looking for specific traits or assessing their leadership skills — diligence is still far from perfect, argues Berlin-based executive coach Julius Bachmann.

So what’s wrong with founder diligence? (Spoiler: the "fixed" versus "growth" mindset doesn’t work.)

Right this way to learn more.

Early-stage startups can access a free growth plan for one year, as well as $50k in credits, via the Mixpanel Startups Program.  

Check your eligibility here.

Cast your eyes back on just some of our stories about underserved people from all corners of European startup land: 

💁🏾♀️ 16 Black female founders in the UK who have raised funding. Last year, research showed that just 0.02% of VC funding in the UK went to Black female founders in the past decade. These are the UK-based founders that raised in 2021.

💳 “As a gay man in fintech I thought I was ‘good’ at diversity. I was wrong.” Divido founder and CEO Christer Holloman shares his story of realising that advancing diversity in fintech relies on us all holding each other accountable.

🤔 Got a diversity problem at your accelerator? Here’s what you need to do, say Ezra Konvitz and Daniella Loftus of Founders Intelligence, the strategy consulting arm of Founders Forum.

🏳️🌈 Does Europe need an LGBTQ+ challenger bank? US digital bank Daylight wants to move into Europe to launch its app made primarily for LGBTQ+ people. But, in a market already crowded with digital banks, catering for Gen Z, immigrants and shopaholics alike, is there room for it to take off this side of the Atlantic?

How to stay relevant as an ecommerce business | Online | January 26

In the competitive world of ecommerce, how can brands use their marketing to stay at the top of the game? Register for our next Sifted Talks to find out.

SaaS is exploding — will it continue? | Online | February 9

The software as a service sector is seeing sky-rocketing growth and hefty evaluations. But how can early stage companies tap into this, quick? Get top insights in this upcoming Sifted Talks.

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