Sifted

When the Swedish body scanning startup Neko Health raised $260m at a $1.7bn valuation in January, the valuation sounded quite large for a healthtech with only two clinics. It does however have Daniel Ek (and Hjalmar Nilsonne) as founders. Is Neko another genius move from the Spotify founder and worth every penny or, is it crazy overvalued? I dug into the numbers and spoke to some investors to make sense of it. https://lnkd.in/drvA3MCJ

It’s relevant, it’s pragmatic, and it creates a buzz that you can bring back for your own business. ⛰️ Don’t take our word for it — hear why #SiftedSummit is THE event for the leaders of Europe’s fastest growing businesses. ▪️ Marcia Kilgore, Founder at Beauty Pie ▪️ Ilona Ludewig, Co-founder of Octopus Energy Germany ▪️ Maria Rotilu, Founding Partner at Openseed VC Tickets for October 2025 have officially dropped. Secure your super early bird rate today > https://lnkd.in/e7GXzbq2 🎟️ The super early bird prices are live — don’t miss out! #TechNetworking #Startups

Trump is a gift to European AI Together with Rasmus Rothe I wrote an op-ed on why the new US administration is a win for the European ecosystem, we need to get rid of the narrative that Europe stays overregulative, and founders as well as investors should now double down on building tech innovation here. In a nutshell:   We have the talent, research strength (likely further boosted by US science cuts), a Mario Draghi influenced EU legislation change and unique industry expertise in particular in embedded safety critical applications — and now facing the moral imperative to foster sovereign tech innovation. Read the full article today published on Sifted. Link in the comments. What do you think? Is Europe ready to seize the moment? KI Bundesverband Joerg Bienert Dr. Annika von Mutius Dr. Vanessa Just Daniel Abbou Stefanie Baade Ronja Kemmer Thomas Jarzombek Armand Zorn Jan Zawadzki Adrian Locher Philipp Müller Paula Cipierre Dominik Ebel #AI #artificialintelligence #digitalpolicy #AIact #EUinnovation

🇫🇷 10 French soonicorns to watch 🇫🇷 In 2024, startups Pennylane (accounting software startup), Pigment (SaaS company) and poolside (AI-for-coding startup) joined the French unicorn hall of fame. Outperforming 2023 but still a way off the golden year in 2021, with 17 new unicorns. French president Emmanuel Macron promptly set the ambitious goal of having 100 unicorns in France by 2030 — so how close are we? In January, spacetech Loft Orbital is the first to pass the billion-dollar threshold when it raised a €170m Series C. 🌟 Discover the 10 French startups that are likely to be next >> https://lnkd.in/ediCyXE3

🚀 𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟴 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗜 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵! 🚀 Sifted just featured Company Shield as one of Germany’s most exciting AI startups - recommended by Doreen Huber from EQT Ventures! Big thanks for the recognition and of course a huge shoutout to our team and the other startups highlighted. Let's go (and yes, we really need a team picture with all of us) 🎉 Our mission? Revolutionizing cybersecurity training with AI-powered, hyper-realistic attack simulations that truly prepare employees for cyber threats 🤖. With AI-driven attacks on the rise, strengthening the human firewall has never been more critical. 💡 Want to see it in action? Try our instant demo now, link in the comments 👇 #AI #Cybersecurity #Startups #CompanyShield #Sifted #EQTventures

The Thinking Game, which I saw last week, is a great film about Google DeepMind's 15-year history. It started me thinking about what other startups and investors could learn from its experience. My latest Sifted column here: https://lnkd.in/efAQ3-Ph

Morgan Stanley’s startup accelerator turns eight! 🎊 Reaching an impressive milestone of 100+ startups scaled — Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures (MSISV) is still on a mission to foster a more equitable and sustainable investment landscape. MSISV includes two in-house accelerator programmes: ◼️ The Lab provides startup founders with an equity investment, a five-month curated programme, mentorship, networking, office space for the duration of the programme and access to certain external advisors. ◼️ A Collaborative to support emerging nonprofits. Applications for MSISV’s 2025 cohort are open until March 14. Learn more about MSISV and how to apply at morganstanley.com/ventures and in the article below 👇 https://lnkd.in/e2YGm8iz

NEW w/ Freya Pratty: Multi-billion dollar fintech Checkout.com is currently facing a lawsuit, where it could be required to open its books and show much revenue it got from working with a mysterious Cypriot entity. Checkout founder Guillaume Pousaz has long found questions about the fintech's relationship with adult websites “annoying,” as he put it in a 2020 interview with Sifted. Previous coverage has suggested Checkout — which makes money by processing payments — worked with clients such as OnlyFans and Pornhub, deemed too risky by its competitors. Over the years, the company has sought to distance itself from the adult industry, telling Sifted in January that it’s now “a very minuscule part” of its overall portfolio. Despite that, an ongoing lawsuit threatens to dredge up ‘vice’ industries again, by linking Checkout to Renderwison, a mysterious Cypriot entity historically listed on a mail-order bride website and once a client of Paxum Bank, known to serve the porn industry. Checkout told Sifted it does not comment on legal matters, or disclose specifics on client relationships. The fintech said it has strict requirements for clients, in line with both its “risk appetite and obligations as a financial institution.” https://lnkd.in/ejn-BsZr

How impact startups are using AI to achieve good — faster. 👾 -- ⭐️ One such example is Crop2Cash, a startup that has created an AI-powered system providing real-time, personalised agricultural advice to smallholder farmers in their local languages. Its operating system for agricultural lending makes it possible for farmers to access financial services, build a digital financial profile and get access to credit. “AI can help bring learnings and best practices together so impact startups can start building on solutions rather than reinventing the wheel every time,” Lisa Hehenberger, director of the Esade Center for Social Impact, tells Sifted. 🌏 Discover how impact startups are using AI to scale — written by Kirstie Pickering with Esade: https://lnkd.in/eJwZkr6R

How many climate VCs will manage to raise a second fund? 🤔 It's a question that's come up in a lot of chats recently. Back in the heady days of 2021 and 2022 — when capital was cheap and the tech ecosystem was abuzz — new climate VCs were popping up on what felt like an almost weekly basis. Three years later, those VCs find themselves in a very different environment. Capital is far less free-flowing and the climate tech sector faces significant headwinds, from reduced political will for the transition, to the collapse of Europe’s highest-valued climate tech. “There were definitely too many funds that raised capital super easily,” says Bas van Beijeren, investment director at Carbon Equity, a climate-focused LP. “We’ve gone from LPs fighting to get into funds, to VCs having to fight for every euro out there." 👇 More in the article (pasted in comments), including what LPs looking to deploy are after. 🙏 Thanks to Anton Arts Sebastian Heitmann Bas van Beijeren for chatting to me for this!