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Yesterday, Russia invaded Ukraine amid international outcry. We spoke to dozens of Ukrainian founders, investors and startup employees to find out what it's like for the country's tech community on the ground. Plus...

• The best climate tech VCs — and what they're looking for in a startup
• Fintech Scalapay becomes Italy's first unicorn
• The winners and losers of the post-cookie era 

2021 was a good year for tech in Ukraine. The IT industry grew by more than a third, a number of tech giants opened offices in the country and homegrown success story Grammarly hit a $13bn valuation.

But, with a Russian attack now under way, the future is looking uncertain. Amy Lewin spoke to dozens of Ukrainian founders and investors about how the invasion is affecting their businesses and how they are supporting their teams.

This is what they told us.

You're reading this newsletter over wifi, right? You've got the Dutch to thank for that. But while the Dutch are known for tech innovation, the country's startup ecosystem lags behind. Our latest report dives deep into what the Dutch do well, the obstacles holding the Netherlands back and the investors' pick of rising stars.

Check it out here. 

Climate tech in Europe is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, and last year investment in the sector doubled to $10bn. But with VCs keener than ever to splash the cash on sustainability-focused tech, it can be a long and arduous process for founders to cut through the noise and find the right backer.

To save them some time, Freya Pratty asked several leading climate tech investors about their theses, how they judge startups and what they're looking to invest in next.

Find your climate investor match here.

Italy hasn't had a unicorn to shout about since the dotcom boom — till now.

Buy now, pay later fintech Scalapay's Series B comes after a whirlwind 2021 that saw it raise twice and triple its payment volume since September. 

The round was backed by an all-star group of international investors including China's Tencent — with previous backers Tiger Global and Fasanara also getting in on the action.

Amy O'Brien finds out what's next for Scalapay.

Third-party cookies are on the brink of becoming obsolete — threatening to gut the $400bn digital advertising economy that relies on them to track consumer behaviour. But where there's a problem, there's usually a startup with a solution.

From cookie alternatives to new (and old) ways to match advertising content to the right audience, a number of European tech companies are on the case.

Éanna Kelly has all you need to know.

A decade ago, the Baltic startup ecosystem was almost non-existent. Now it's home to 5,000 startup and scaleups — and 12 unicorns. Not bad for a region of 6m people. 

We spoke to several experts on the Baltic startup scene and dug into the data to find out where the underdog ecosystem sprung from, and where it's going next.

Here's the story of Baltic tech, in data.

🎸 "Tuning" qubits. Oxford University spinout QuantrolOx has raised a £1.4m seed round, as it looks to unblock one of the biggest bottlenecks in scaling quantum computing with its automated "tuning" software. Usually it would take several hours' work by a quantum technician to ready the computers for use, but the startup's algorithm can do it in a matter of minutes.

🥘 Millions (and millions) for meal kits. SoftBank has pumped $230m into meal-kit subscription service Gousto — following a $100m round in January that saw the scaleup hit a valuation of $1.7bn. The raise comes after a pandemic-driven boom for Gousto that’s seen it raise more than $450m since April 2020.

🇺🇦 Ukraine crisis: Investors should not overlook Ukrainian founders. The Russian invasion has led to a de facto economic embargo in Ukraine, says investor Lyubov Guk, but the war has been going on for eight years and the country's startup scene has continued to thrive. She says investors need to stand firm behind Ukrainian founders.

📈 Europe’s term sheets are getting even more founder-friendly. As competition between investors ramps up, founders find themselves in an increasingly strong position, according to Europe’s most active law firm in VC financing, Orrick. From bigger cheques to more power over board composition, here's how the pendulum swung in founders' favour in 2021.

🌍 Lessons from a global team: How to survey staff. From clarity and timing to result sharing and action plans, cofounder of lift maintenance startup WeMaintain Jade Francine shares her top tips on gathering feedback from a 120-strong team spread across the globe.

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