The early days of any startup journey are exciting, sure — but also kinda terrifying.
If you’re launching a business, the odds are stacked against you: nine out of every ten companies fail. A lack of money is the top reason startups go under, according to data service CB Insights. Similarly, PwC’s European Startup Survey identifies customer acquisition and sales as the most significant obstacles.
In Sifted’s latest report, we talked to loads of founders who’ve walked the rocky road to come up with (something like) a cheat sheet to startup success.
European tech has come a long way in the past few years — once upon a time founders and investors would stand out if they became a unicorn.
But now it’s all about a bigger beast — the mighty decacorn.
French tech startups seem to be engaged in a furious race to the top. The latest victor in this frothy competition is Back Market, which has claimed the title of most valuable French startup on the heels of a $510m round announced today.
The refurbished gadget marketplace is now valued at $5.7bn, which tops the previous record of €4.4bn ($4.98bn) that neobank Qonto reported just yesterday following its €486m funding round.
Investor interest in sustainability-driven startups remains high as the UN’s COP26 conference draws closer.
According to Dealroom’s Impact & Innovation database, 166 startups committing to at least one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) raised funding in Q3 2021. That’s slightly behind the 175 recorded in Q2 and the 206 recorded in Q1, though Q3’s number could end up being higher given the reporting lag.
Back Market announced today that it has raised €276m, as it seeks to expand the global footprint of its marketplace for refurbished consumer electronics.
“If you look at topics like AI and how much the US and China are investing in these, Europe is an order of magnitude behind,” says Ingo Ramesohl, managing director of Robert Bosch Venture Capital, one of Europe’s oldest and most successful corporate venture funds.
RBVC is to some extent helping to redress this balance, with investments into companies like Budapest-based self-driving car startup AImotive, and Prophesee, the French neuromorphic vision systems startup, but Europe’s biggest strengths may be in other areas of deeptech, says Ramesohl.
France has been making a big pushing into artificial intelligence in a bid to turn local mathematics and science know-how into global startups. State-backed investor Bpifrance alone poured €368m in 2019 into such companies.
France hopes to grow and, according to a new report from tech association France Digitale mapping the country’s AI ecosystem, is well-positioned to spawn the next generation of leaders in segments including industrial applications, autonomous vehicles and connected objects.
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