View this email in your browser

Hi Sifted Reader,

As countries impose economic sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the flow of capital from Russia to Europe's tech ecosystem is being examined carefully. We spoke to lawyers to find out more about the risks facing VC firms with Russian LPs. Plus...

• Our list of 250+ female VC partners in Europe, updated
• Payhawk becomes Bulgaria's first unicorn  
• Openpay steps back from the UK
• The global hackathon targeting Russian websites

Governments around the world are imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russia — and that could impact European VCs in ways we've never seen before. 

Many European VCs are linked to Russian money, and lawyers tell us that even unsanctioned Russian LPs could find their ability to supply capital to Europe in the future affected. 

Freya Pratty and Eleanor Warnock find out which firms could be most affected. 

Zendesk for Startups has the resources you need to grow your startup — from customer support to a sales CRM — and it’s free for six months!

Read more, and apply, here.

Back in May last year, we pulled together a list of all the female VC partners in Europe. It was no mean feat, but we promised you we'd be keeping tabs. 

We've kept our word. There have been some notable female partner hires as well as internal promotions since then, and we've updated our list to reflect them. 

Here's the updated complete list of 250+ female VC partners. 

Ever heard of skeuomorphic design? Us neither, before Qatalog's CEO and founder Tariq Rauf explained why it's the biggest issue when trying to create the ideal "virtual office" environment. 

Rauf believes the hot pandemic concept is a big step backwards because it combines the worst things about digital working and in-office working. 

In his view, startups should be taking a leaf out of Tinder's book when it comes to UX design, by not even attempting to replicate the real world. 

So what lessons can startups learn from the dating giant? 

It's a big week for Bulgaria, as B2B payments and expenses platform Payhawk announced it had raised another $100m.

That brings its Series B up to $215m — and (klaxons!) makes it the country's first unicorn. 

We find out how Payhawk plans to boost the whole Bulgarian ecosystem. 

All startups need cash in the bank to be successful — but managing your money isn’t just about securing that big funding raise. 

As a startup grows, many founders find managing cashflow increasingly difficult to control. 

From relying too much on manual spreadsheets, to only looking at actual spending and not planning for a crisis, cashflow management startup Agicap lists the common founder mistakes — and how to avoid them. 

💵 Creandum has raised its sixth fund, a $500m vehicle to back seed and early-stage startups in Europe. Plus, it's going to make sure that at least 10 out of the 40 companies it invests in from this fund have at least 50% female cofounders or a female CEO. 

👗 Aussie BNPL Openpay is stepping back from the UK — home to the majority of its active customers. The company told Sifted it found it hard to compete in the Klarna-dominated and pretty saturated UK buy now, pay later market. It's also struggling with the lower margin economics that come with charging consumers no fees.   

💻 A global hackathon got under way yesterday, calling for volunteers to help expose Russian software vulnerabilities. Kyiv-based cybersecurity company Cyber Unit Technologies is organising the giant hacker effort, promising a $100k bounty payable in cryptocurrency to the best online attacks against Russian websites. 

🇺🇦 How the tech community can help Ukraine. As the world watches the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion, and the massive humanitarian crisis it’s creating, many are wondering what they can do to help Ukraine. We've compiled a list of ways you can help here.

Copyright © 2022 SIFTED (EU) LTD, All rights reserved.

Want to tailor what you receive from us?
You can update your preferences to manage your newsletter subscriptions,
or you can unsubscribe from Sifted if you never want to hear from us again.