Miriam Partington

Berlin

DACH Correspondent at Sifted

Senior reporter covering DACH at the Financial Times' @siftedeu • Catch me on: https://t.co/SB12I4M8eC

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Articles

$100m revenue company growing at 20%? Then public market investors aren’t interested, says Goldman Sachs

1 week ago | sifted.eu | Miriam Partington

When IPO markets fully open again, many of Europe’s scaleups won’t be rushing to list, Goldman Sachs bankers tell Sifted. Clif Marriott, partner and co-head of European tech investment banking at Goldman Sachs, says the average company today is staying private for longer and seeking to grow bigger in the meantime.
EU could pause AI Act rollout amid industry backlash: ‘It’s really toxic’

1 week ago | sifted.eu | Daphne Leprince-Ringuet |Miriam Partington

EU lawmakers are said to be considering pausing the rollout of the AI Act following months of tense negotiations, confusion over how the law will be implemented and backlash from industry players at home and abroad. According to a recent report from specialist legal publication MLex, the European Commission is considering a move to pause enforcement of the Act and introduce amendments to “simplify” the law.
Synthesia cofounder raises $13m seed for new startup SpAItial

1 week ago | sifted.eu | Miriam Partington

Synthesia cofounder Matthias Niessner has raised $13m for his newly launched startup, which is developing AI models capable of generative photorealistic 3D environments, Techcrunch reported on Tuesday. The Munich-based startup, named SpAItial, aims to produce models capable of generating fully interactive, photorealistic 3D environments from text prompts. This would mark a significant leap forward from current capabilities like OpenAI’s DALL-E or Stable Diffusion which focus on 2D images.
Should companies offer period leave?

2 weeks ago | sifted.eu | Miriam Partington

Every month when my period rolls around, my body whips up a kind of chaos that can be unbearable at times. I get extreme headaches, muscle pain and cramps that make me unable to sit upright. Sometimes I’m so nauseous I have to work from home to stay near a toilet in case I need to vomit. I often get irritable, sad and anxious, making it hard to leave the house for work — or even be around people. And I know I’m not alone.
Deeptech VC Lunar Ventures raises second fund of €50m

2 weeks ago | sifted.eu | Miriam Partington

Lunar Ventures has closed its second fund of €50m to invest in pre-seed deeptech startups across Europe and the US. The Berlin-based firm invests across three main areas: AI infrastructure, including things like governance for teams building machine learning models and tooling for data pipelines, techbio and infrastructure enabling systems to function reliably in the real-world environment.
Migrant founders struggle to access capital and find local support, report finds

3 weeks ago | sifted.eu | Miriam Partington

Migrant founders face significant challenges when building businesses in Germany, including accessing capital and forming local networks, according to a new survey. For years, Germany’s tech scene has benefitted from the input of foreign talent. Foreign-born entrepreneurs make up nearly a quarter (23%) of Germany's unicorn founders, a survey conducted by the German Startup Association of 1,828 founders found.
Compensation platform Ravio raises $12m Series A

1 month ago | sifted.eu | Miriam Partington

London-based Ravio, a compensation benchmarking platform, has raised a $12m Series A round led by Spark Capital, with participation from Blackbird and Cherry Ventures. According to startup specialist consultancy Kruze Consulting, compensation typically represents more than three quarters of a company’s operating costs. Yet Ravio says many organisations calculate packages based on incomplete data that can be between 12-18 months old.
Women in European startups are happy at work - but face increased stress, unequal pay and ‘bro culture’

1 month ago | sifted.eu | Maya Dharampal-Hornby |Miriam Partington

Most women working in European startups are satisfied with their jobs, according to newly published survey data. While women account for 42% of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) students in Europe, that number drops closer to 30% in the workplace. In recent weeks, different studies have shown serious declines in the number of women entrepreneurs in Britain and a widening gender pay gap in Germany.
How to bootstrap to multi-million ARR

1 month ago | sifted.eu | Miriam Partington

Small teams reaching millions in annual revenue by leveraging AI are trending — but most headlines focus on VC-backed startups. What about the teams that got there without raising a cent of external capital?
German AI agents startup Parloa hits unicorn status with $120m Series C round

1 month ago | sifted.eu | Miriam Partington

AI agents startup Parloa has raised $120m in a Series C round, bringing the company’s valuation to $1bn and securing its place as Germany’s 28th unicorn. Parloa was the second German startup to hit unicorn status on Tuesday; this morning, drones startup Quantum Systems announced its €160m Series C, making it one of the few startups in the defence field to hit a $1bn valuation.