This Week in London Startups

By London Startup Club

This Week in London Startups - Issue #25, 19th October 2021

#25・ Oct 19, 2021

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This Week in London Startups - Issue #25, 19th October 2021

By London Startup Club • Issue #25 • View online

Facebook announces 10,000 new jobs in the EU

If you’ve ever watched Futurama, you may remember the episode where they go into the internet. Well, Facebook has announced it’s working on building what it calls the “Metaverse”, the next computing platform - a new phase of interconnected virtual experiences using technologies like virtual and augmented reality.

In doing so they’ve also decided to build it all here in Europe, creating 10,000 new jobs. There are two things that draw interest for me here.

Firstly - why Europe?

Facebook is a big American company with one of the best employer brands, surely they could hire top talent across North America? I think this is a sign of what’s to come. With remote working, we are witnessing employment becoming distributed and companies tapping into a truly global workforce. Europe has a highly skilled, English-speaking and cheaper workforce than the USA, including better living conditions and social welfare making it an attractive place for companies to grow into (and potentially people to relocate to).

Secondly, with all the scandals that have faced Facebook (no pun intended), the strict regulations in the EU will provide a framework for them to operate in and help to win back consumer trust as they build the future of the Internet.

It’s an exciting time to be in Europe, I truly believe that other big tech companies will follow Facebook’s suit and invest significantly in Europe in the coming years and perhaps making it the premier destination for talent and startups.

Haris Qureshi, Editor & Co-Founder @ London Startup Club

Top News

Sofinnova raises Europe’s largest early-stage healthcare fund with €472m, more here
Most UK scaleups have worse than average gender pay gap, more here
UK’s antitrust regulator to probe music streaming market, more here
Meet Europe’s largest female led VC firm, more here
Revolut’s billionaire CEO has opened a family office in London, more here
Ford invests $316M to build electric power units at UK transmission facility, more here
Central and eastern European startups are raking in the money, more here
Seven takeaways from the Accel state of European SaaS report, more here

UK Funding Rounds

London-based insurtech BondAval picks $7M seed round led by Octopus Ventures, more here

Brighton-based pet-sitting network, TrustedHousesitters lands $10M to fund US expansion, more here
Chip scoops up £11.5M from 12K investors to close biggest equity crowdfund of 2021, more here
Vegan meal delivery startup from London allplants secures a £38M Series B round, more here
UK’s first AI-powered borrower wellbeing app, ilumoni launches after raising £1.6M funding, more here
London-based fintech startup Plum ramps up $14M to supercharge expansion in Europe, more here
London-based global API-first payment technology platform GPS secures $300M funding, more here
Birmingham-based Aceleron just raised £2.5M to develop sustainable battery technology, more here
Fika: London-based mental fitness platform co-founded by cancer survivor raises £1.2M funding, more here
Manchester-based Shopblocks picks £1M funding to support its rapid growth, more here
London fintech 9fin grabs £8M funding to expand into US, opens office in New York, more here
Carl Pei’s London-based startup Nothing raises $50M funding; enters partnership with Qualcomm, more here
London-based insurtech Humn secures £10.1M funding to enable real-time fleet insurance, more here
SoftBank backs London-based crypto analytics startup Elliptic raises $60M, more here

International Highlights

Swedish fintech Juni bags £38M funding with UK rollout plans, more here
Delivery Hero leads $1B investment in on-demand delivery startup Gorillas, more here
Collaboration platform CoLab raises $17M in Series A funding led by Insight Partners, more here
SoftBank, Amazon, Accel and others put $108M in Brazilian banking and payments infra provider Pismo, more here
Supply chain-focused insurtech startup BondAval lands $7M from Octopus Ventures, more here
Frozen coffee startup Cometeer raises $35M Series B and launches its product in earnest, more here
Indian fintech CRED valued at $4 billion following $251 million fundraise, more here
Singapore-based Geniebook’s personalized learning platform raises $16.6M Series A, more here
SoftBank puts €150m into solar startup Enpal as energy prices surge, more here