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NOVEMBER 7, 2022

Hello Sifted reader,

Today we're digging into the contrasting fortunes of Sweden's $12bn gigafactory startup Northvolt and UK counterpart Britishvolt. The latter reportedly has just five weeks of funding left in its coffers after nearly collapsing last week, while the former is pursuing further expansion in Europe. 

We also want to hear from founders who've taken part in an accelerator for our next community survey. Over the last few years, the number of accelerators in Europe has skyrocketed, and we want to know if they're actually any good. It'll only take five minutes, and it can be totally anonymous. Share your experiences here.

From the Sifted newsroom:

• 19 Dutch startups to watch, according to VCs
• Why this startup ditched Silicon Valley for Lisbon

• Building a founder brand is your job. Here’s how to do it

🔋 Britishvolt and Northvolt — A tale of two gigafactories. Since being founded in 2016, Swedish battery startup Northvolt has raised nearly $8bn in debt and equity from investors. It’s fully built one operational factory and it’s planning three more.

When Britishvolt announced in 2020 it was going to build Britain's largest gigafactory, it brought with it the promise of 3,000 jobs. But fast forward to today and things aren't looking so rosy, with the company nearly falling into administration last week despite the UK government having pledging £100m in January.  

Freya Pratty investigates what's gone so right and so wrong at the two battery startups.

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🇳🇱 19 Dutch startups to watch, according to VCs. Three unicorns have been minted and €2.9bn has been raised by the Netherlands' startups this year — the biggest coming in the shape of a whopping €320m Series A for carbon recovery startup Perpetual Next. But which Dutch startups have investors got their eyes on next?

🇵🇹 Would you swap San Francisco for Lisbon? When US-born travel startup Bounce upped sticks and moved to Europe it was leaving the home of some of the world's best tech talent (and investors). Now the majority of its 45 employees call Lisbon home — some of whom had never visited the city before and didn't speak Portuguese. So why did it leave the bright lights of Silicon Valley behind? 

📣 Building a founder brand is your job. Here’s how to do it. Before founding food sharing platform OLIO, Tessa Clarke had no professional brand — but now thinks it's a critical part of a founder's work. From wooing investors to recruiting top talent, it can have endless benefits to a business.

💸 What it’s like to be a solo general partner in Europe? The number of solo GPs — people who've raised a VC fund by themselves — in the region is increasing, and there are now more than a dozen knocking about. But what's it like going it alone? Sifted spoke to some of them to discover the pros and cons. We've also put together a list of (we think) all the solo GPs in Europe. Drop us a line if you think we've missed anyone.

Europe is home to some of the most exciting clinical trials exploring the relationship between psychedelic drugs and mental health. In our latest report, we find out how startups are fine-tuning safety standards and business models as they set their sights on global domination.

This report is exclusively for Sifted Pro members. Get in touch with the team today with code PSYCHREPORT10 for an exclusive discount! 

How to break the barriers to financial inclusion. There’s value in creating a cyclical and collaborative payments network — but with challenges like unstable currencies and cross-border regulation, who’s responsible for solving these payment pain points? Find out on November 9.

Is honesty really the best business policy? The open startup movement is taking off — but how much honesty is too much when it comes to your financials? Hear from the experts on November 23.

The Global Boardroom. Join the Financial Times for the sixth edition of this award-winning digital conference debating strategies for sustainable growth in a world of geopolitical and economic disruption. Get your free ticket here or use code SIFTED for 10% off a Professional Pass.

A couple of times a month, we take one of European tech's movers and shakers out for brunch to find out what really makes them tick — and in the process chow down on some tasty grub. We recently chatted to a founder looking to usurp the iPhone, telehealth giant Babylon's CEO Ali Parsa and a man who took on Uber, and won.

📱 ‘There are only corpses ahead of us’: How Carl Pei’s Nothing is taking on the mighty iPhone.

🏥 ‘My biggest mistake was taking the company public’: Brunch with Babylon’s Ali Parsa.

🚕 Meet Yaseen Aslam, the man who took on Uber on behalf of drivers.

Newsletters → Get even more from Sifted with our range of specialist newsletters. Sign up below for bonus news, wisdom and gossip you won’t find anywhere else — not even on the Sifted site:

• Climate Tech 
• Fintech
• Startup Life
• Venture Capital

Pro → Our top level of membership lets you dive deep into the latest trends from startup Europe with our must-have research and community, including our new in-depth report on the startups developing psychedelic treatments for mental health, exclusively for Pro members. 

Kai Nicol-Schwarz

Reporter

Get in touch with him at

kai@sifted.eu

He tweets from 

@NicolSchwarzK

Tom Nugent

Digital Editor

Get in touch with him at

tom@sifted.eu

He tweets from

@TJNugent92

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