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Hi Sifted Reader,

This week's podcast sounds a little different, as Eleanor heads off to Turkey for a (well-earned!) holiday. In her absence, Amy's joined by a special guest host (drumroll please...) journalist-turned-Zapp VP of strategy Steve O'Hear!

They'll be discussing the embezzlement accusations at French incubator The (not-so-happy) Family, toxic work allegations at Glovo and journalists' relationships with tech companies. You can wrap your ears around it on Spotify or Apple. Plus...

• What went down when Sifted stepped into the VC simulator
• March's hottest seed deals
• The up-and-coming university spinouts to keep an eye on
• The diaries of Ukrainian tech workers

— Kai, reporter & Amy, editor

It takes most people years to learn the ins and outs of raising and deploying a fund — let alone clawing back returns for your LPs.

At Sifted, we did it all in about six hours in a simulation (think less VR headsets and more a VC version of Dungeons and Dragons) as we created our own funds and set about trying to make more money than everyone else. 

Here's how it went.

(Spoiler: your humble newsletter authors blew the competition away.)

When it comes to payments, cards are on the decline. With over half of Poland already using bank payments for ecommerce spending, we’ve made a two-minute mythbusting video on Europe's card payment preferences.

Watch the video now.

VCs across Europe continued to push the pro-seed stage agenda in March, ever-so-slightly pipping February’s figures.

Early-stage companies prised €453m from VC wallets across 233 rounds. The UK, Germany and France topped the podium with the most rounds, but startups from Spain also carried their fine form from February into spring, securing 19 raises. Something in the water on the Iberian peninsular?

Here are the seed rounds that caught our eye.

2021 was a good year for Europe's university spinouts. 10 turned into unicorns, a new VC fund focused exclusively on spinouts launched and funding hit record levels in the UK.

So as investors begin to take companies born from academia seriously, which university spinouts should you be keeping an eye on?

We asked five VCs which startups they think are poised for great things.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine more than a month ago, countless people from the country's tech community have had their lives upended.

Some have joined the military, many have relocated and others are trying to do their day jobs close the front line.

In their own words, here are their stories.

Our upcoming report explores the secrets behind startup success — and we want to hear from you. Tell us your survival story, your tortoise and hare moment… we’re all ears.

Take our survey.

💳 Making credit cards cool. Rewards like cashback are so twentieth century. At least, that's according to UK fintech Yonder, which has just emerged from stealth following a £20m seed round co-led by LocalGlobe and Northzone. It wants to dispense with old-fashioned loyalty programmes that it says younger consumers don't care about. Instead it's offering things like gig tickets and restaurant vouchers. But will it catch on?

🔗 Blockchain.com's big valuation. The London-based crypto wallet has raised new funding that values it at a very healthy $14bn. The company is being coy about the exact size of the round, but it follows a $300m raise just 12 months ago, as crypto startups continue to have investors chomping at the bit.

📈 The rise of nature-based carbon offsets. Offset credits that use plants, soil or the ocean to remove carbon from the atmosphere are increasingly sought after by companies — despite being two to four times more expensive than energy offsets. Freya Pratty finds out what's causing the shift in the Sustain newsletter chart of the week.

🍃 Is startup ESG talk just hot air? Early-stage companies are doing okay on the S and the G, but are falling behind on the E, new research suggests. Analysis of hundreds of startups' ESG performance found that just 7% of them have a net zero policy, as environmental metrics lag way behind social and governance.

Amy Lewin
Editor 

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

Kai Nicol-Schwarz 

Reporter

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

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