Miriam Partington

Berlin

DACH Correspondent at Sifted

Senior reporter covering DACH at FT-backed @siftedeu • Catch me on: https://t.co/SB12I4M8eC

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Articles

Is ‘996’ the only way to scale - or a recipe for burnout?

3 weeks ago | sifted.eu | Miriam Partington

A fiery debate is ripping through European tech circles on LinkedIn: should founders adopt the “996” work schedule — working 9am to 9pm, six days a week? Evangelists of the 996 life say it’s the only way for startups to build successful companies, and compete in an AI-powered world where products are being shipped at breakneck speed and competition is intensifying. “What European founders need to realise: the valley has turned up the intensity once again.
Should startups follow Zuckerberg and axe low performers faster?

3 weeks ago | sifted.eu | Miriam Partington

Any tech CEO with serious growth goals will spend a lot of time thinking about how to up the performance of their team. In the name of performance, we’ve seen CEOs call their employees back to the office, mandate the use of AI tools and wax lyrical about how 60+ hour work weeks are the only way to make real progress. Meanwhile, high-profile companies in Silicon Valley are slicing off the bottom performing percentiles of their staff this year in a bid to up performance.
Anti-immigration push threatens UK talent pipeline and could force startups abroad, tech leaders warn

3 weeks ago | sifted.eu | Kai Nicol-Schwarz |Miriam Partington

Tech industry leaders in the UK say government plans to cut immigration will increase talent shortages in key sectors and force startups to relocate. In May the UK government announced a wave of measures to cut legal migration to the country, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer drawing criticism for saying the country risked becoming an “island of strangers”. Net migration almost halved in 2024, according to government statistics.
Lightspeed and BlueYard Capital leads €8m seed in Manex AI

3 weeks ago | sifted.eu | Miriam Partington

Manex AI, which offers AI-driven quality management software for industrial customers, has raised €8m in seed capital led by Lightspeed and Blue Yard Capital. Capmont Technology and the venture fund of the Munich-based Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM) — an elite business programme of which Manex AI CEO Nathan Gruber is an alum — also participated in the round.
How founders can make time for their mental health

3 weeks ago | sifted.eu | Miriam Partington

A founder’s schedule can be relentless. While many of us may be able to enjoy evenings, weekends or holidays uninterrupted by work, founders building companies often can’t afford to totally switch off. In Sifted’s 2025 founder mental health survey, the majority of respondents said they struggle to make time for themselves. That means social plans, holidays and even things like exercising and eating healthily fall by the wayside.
$100m revenue company growing at 20%? Then public market investors aren’t interested, says Goldman Sachs

4 weeks 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 month 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 month 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?

1 month 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

1 month 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.