Sifted

Ask any defence tech startup what big challenges they're facing, and you're sure to hear a common answer: bidding on and securing government contracts. One founder wants to build an "Amazon for defence procurement" — a marketplace for startups, SMEs and defence primes to sell their products and services to government users. But, unlike other defence founders, Jon Williams, a 10+ year UK Royal Marines vet, doesn't think the focus should be on changing the slow-moving government: “You're never going to change them. I talk about meeting the defence customer where they are, not expecting them to adapt their behaviours to be faster or take more risk.”  My latest on Sifted https://lnkd.in/dXpfY2xK

Startups: Is your data strategy ready to scale? 📊 In today’s fast-paced digital world, treating data as a strategic asset can set your startup apart. High-quality, real-time data enables agile decision-making, reveals key market insights, and drives business growth. Our guide, sponsored by Aiven, equips you with the tools to harness data effectively, from collection to analysis. Get your guide: https://lnkd.in/emM7PrUG #startuplife #datastrategy #startuptips

Northvolt CEO steps down and declares company bankruptcy. CEO Peter Carlsson has resigned after the company applied for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US. “This is an unbelievably emotional day,” Carlsson said. “After the past eight years — where I have lived and worked around the clock with the company and the fantastic employees and built Northvolt — I have taken the decision to operationally step down." Read Carlssons decision to leave here: https://lnkd.in/dDvT2b9a What happens next? 👉 Filing for Chapter 11 allows the company to access $245 million in capital ($100m of which is from its customer Scania), providing a lifeline to keep its operations running until early next year. 👉 Under Chapter 11, the management can keep control of the company as it restructures. They'll try to bring in new financing, either from existing shareholders or new capital. Whoever writes the new cheques is likely to wipe out a lot of existing cap table. 👉 Northvolt has $5.8bn in debts. Chapter 11 prevents its creditors from taking any action for 4 months, while Northvolt tries to restructure its debts and potentially sell assets to pay them. If it doesn't have a solution after 4 months, it could ask for more time, or the company would enter Chapter 7, liquidation. 👉 Find further information on the bankruptcy claim here — https://lnkd.in/dPZJxJTp Northvolt's story has been closely followed by Freya Pratty and Mimi Billing. 🔮 Find out what's on the cards for Northvolt's future: https://lnkd.in/eSiec6wK 📉 Who has most on the line in this bankruptcy? Aside from our warming planet and hopes of European resilience, the biggest losers include Volkswagen and pension funds. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eA4_SARk #startupsweden #startupeurope #news

Which French family offices are investing in tech? 🇫🇷 🤝 France has no shortage of wealthy individuals and families. With the French startup scene booming over the past few years, several of them have taken to investing in tech. A poll by the ASSOCIATION FRANCAISE DU FAMILY OFFICE-AFFO found that in 2023 private equity - direct investments in startups and indirect investments in VC funds — was the preferred asset of family offices, representing nearly a quarter (23%) of the money deployed. Find out the nine most active French family offices making investments in startups and scaleups in our Sifted Pro article by Daphné Leprince-Ringuet 👉 https://lnkd.in/dRmtRgQD #frenchtech #europeantech #frenchcapital

Can pet food help reinvent the whole food chain? 🐶 The buzz around cultivated meat has been building for years, but it wasn’t until this summer that Europe granted for sale such products. The first — and so far, the only company was UK startup Meatly. CEO Owen Ensor noted a deliberate strategy focused on non-human consumption to get around the pressures of regulations and consumer perceptions towards cultivated meat. Want to learn more? Tune into our new podcast, The Oppawtunity, to discover the pet techs innovating with food. 🎧 https://lnkd.in/eDYupJUq #Ad with UNLEASHED by Purina #pettech Featuring Owen Ensor, CEO and founder of Meatly, Simo Ellilä, CEO and cofounder of Enifer, Pernilla Westergren, founder of Petgood and Lou Kutzler, director of food science and innovation at Umami Bioworks. 

NEW: Deblock, a crypto wallet built by former Revolut and Ledger execs, has raised an extra £13.3m in seed funding according to Companies House filings this month. Former Revolut head of crypto Jean Meyer, head of payments Aaron Beck alongside Ledger’s ex-head of engineering Mario Eguiliuz founded Deblock in August 2022. Later that year, the startup poached Adriana Restrepo, the chief operating officer of Revolut’s European banking operations, as its fourth founder. Deblock CEO Jean Meyer declined to comment on the funding round. The company is part of a growing list of startups to emerge from Revolut, which was ranked as Europe’s second most productive “fintech founder factory”.

Some impressive, high-growth companies are coming out of the Nordics & Benelux. 🔥 We ranked 75 of the region’s fastest-growing startups by revenue growth. From dating apps and personalised pet food to banking services, there are plenty of interesting market-disrupters on the list. In top place? kompasbank — A Danish digital corporate bank — with a two-year revenue CAGR of 1150%. ✨ See the rising stars: https://lnkd.in/eK9BNZB8 #SiftedLeaderboards #Nordics #Benelux

Reporter Tom Matsuda kicked off the Sifted Daily newsletter this morning analysing the European fintechs chasing profitability. 'While it may seem like fintechs reporting full-year profitability have become the norm on Sifted’s pages — not every company has got there yet,' he wrote. Philip Belamant, CEO of UK buy now, pay later player Zilch, told him last week that while it recorded its first profitable quarter this year, it’s still loss-making as of its latest publicly available annual financial statement. Yesterday, German neobank N26 announced its first profitable quarter too, but full-year profitability also eludes the fintech. 'As a younger business founded in 2018, it’s perhaps expected of Zilch,' Tom wrote. 'But N26 is one of the oldest in a cohort of European neobanks which includes Revolut, Monzo and Starling Bank (all of which are profitable on an annual basis and have been able to cash in on a period of historically high interest rates).' N26's financial results are its first since German regulators lifted a limit on the neobank's customer acquisition numbers earlier this year. --- Elsewhere in this morning's newsletter we had: 🎙️ French tech reporter Daphné Leprince-Ringuet's interview with the founder of 'Europe's Palantir', ChapsVision 👋 News that the €1bn NATO Innovation Fund (NIF)'s founding and managing partners have left the fund just a year after it launched 🇫🇷 Secretive Paris-based AI company, H Company has also released its long-awaited first product for developers to test. It's an AI agent called Runner H, which can turn “instructions into precise actions” to perceive and interact with graphical and text elements. Sifted Daily drops the latest news into your inbox every morning. Sign up here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eZCqwSsA

We are thrilled to support our partners, Beyond The Billion® (launched as The Billion Dollar Fund for Women®), backed by Dell Technologies and Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN), as they launch in London this November 26. In the UK, the venture landscape for female entrepreneurs is both dynamic and challenging. While strides have been made in promoting gender diversity, much remains to be done. The growing recognition of gender diversity’s importance has sparked support networks, mentorship programs, and funding initiatives tailored for women founders. 🚀 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡, 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 💼 By 2025, women will control 60% of the UK’s wealth. Join us as we discuss: 1️⃣ Targeted funding initiatives for female-led businesses 2️⃣ Navigating challenges and opportunities in the startup ecosystem 3️⃣ Expanding the reach of women-led ventures to create lasting social and economic impact The great wealth transfer in Europe is expected to be one of the most significant financial shifts of the coming decades. By 2030, an estimated $3.5 trillion will be changing hands, with women benefitting substantially. How will investors maximize their impact? What does the landscape look like for female founders and funds investing in them? Let’s spark change! 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝑩𝒓𝒆𝒘™️ (𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏 𝑬𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏) 📅 Date: November 26, 2024 (Tuesday)  📍 Venue: RUSI, 61 Whitehall, London 🕰️ Time: 5:45 PM – 8:30 PM Apply now! ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gKYvip4U #BeyondTheBillion #DellTechnologies #DWEN

Funding falls, venture debt has a record year and the US is poaching talent: Sifted's top takeaways from Atomico’s State of European Tech report 2024. The headline from the past 10 years is one of growth: VC funding in 2024 alone is projected to eclipse all the investor dollars picked up between 2005-2015. The picture from the past 12 months is less positive. Early-stage rounds have suffered, the IPO market still looks bleak and the gender funding gap is widening at some stages. A few of the topics Sifted has pulled out: 💰 Funding drops across the board compared to 2023 🔻 Early-stage round drop 🚀 Venture debt has a record year 🇺🇸 The Europe-US funding gap is large 💼 The US is luring European technical talent  🤖 Europe’s AI talent pool looking strong 👥 There’s a very big gender funding gap (and it’s not getting better)  🇪🇪 Estonia is the world leader in VC funding to GDP Read the full takeaways in Kai Nicol-Schwarz's article here: https://lnkd.in/eDgneXYJ Download the Atomico report here: https://lnkd.in/dQK__DQq #europeantech #startupeurope #venturecapital