Shorter flu edition
Issue #33 (19 Dec) – with a bonus of best spas of Berlin, greatest movies of all times and quesadillas.
Handpicked is a weekly newsletter with a selection of Berlin-related jobs and news to inspire. Read about the selection and join an amazing group of people by subscribing for free 👇
Programming note: I started to edit this issue on a Flixtrain towards Stuttgart. Never again.🥶 Handpicked will be partially off until the end of the year with a slightly changed format. Stay tuned.
👀 Handpicked 20 for you
a terrible flu prevented me to finish the newsletter this week, so sadly no jobs this time.
🥇Interested in sponsoring handpicked? Click here.
📢 Shoutout
of the week is for Matt Levine from Bloomberg. If you are even remotely interested in finance, I warmly recommend you to subscribe to Money Stuff. Witty and informative, the best in class of financial writers.
🗞 Top inspiration snippets
🇩🇪 Berlin & Germany
Enpal, Berlin-based solar energy darling of everyone, raised €855M debt funding. Careers.
Sennder, Berlin-based logistics company, is currently looking to raise at €2B valuation. Careers.
Bling, Berlin-based family-oriented fintech, raised €3.5M. Careers.
FashionCloud, Hamburg-based portal for fashion wholesalers and retailers, raised €25M. Careers.
Robco, Munich-based low-cost modular robots startup, raised €13M Series A. Careers.
Clark, Berlin-based digital insurance broker acquired Swiss tax optimisers UB Partner. Careers.
It’s good that we have elections coming, because the €29 ticket was prolonged! 🥳 Mandatory masks were also extended at least until mid January.
tipBerlin has some tips for the best spas of Berlin. (🇩🇪) Fitting for the freezing temperatures of the year!
Partially related to EU/Berlin startup scene: meme-VC-king Turner Novak has an article on the general drop in funding rounds (Series D’s down 85%!). But guess what, this drop means things are actually normalising.
layoffs this week: I heard about Autodoc, but no numbers; ShareNow (150/36%). There was also a discussion on the unit economics of car sharing on reddit. Tough business.
r/berlin choice of the week: analysis on the search results of ImmoScout24 shows that the amount of flats on the market is the lowest in last 3 years. Sooner or later something needs to give.
We like to make fun of the speed of german engineering with BER, Elbphilharmonie or Stuttgart 21. But when it is really urgent, things move fast. LNG terminal in Wilhelmshaven was completed in a few months. (🇩🇪) Gas gas baby.
US headcount fact of the week: Headspace, a meditation app, laid 50 employees off (4%). I find it amazing that you need 1200+ employees to run a meditation app.
If you are interested how German government will support your energy bill next year, check out this overview by Berliner Zeitung. (🇩🇪) Bottom line: you do not need to do anything. Just be aware that the price you pay will be capped.
“Are you a good or a bad leaver?” could be important if you get fired from a company where you have your stock options. A good overview by Sifted on what should you pay attention to.
🇪🇺 Rest of Europe & UK (Top 5)
Dataiku, AI-management platform from France, raised $200M at $3.7B valuation. Careers.
Beamery, UK-based talent lifecycle management company, raised $50M Series D. Careers.
Younited, a Paris-based credit and payment platform, raised €60M. Careers.
Synhelion, Switzerland-based industrial solar energy platform, raised $23.7M. Careers.
Novicap, Barcelona-based working capital provider, has fresh €200M to deploy. Careers.
🥇Interested in sponsoring handpicked? Click here.
🤓 Timeless and useful
A great list of the greatest movies of all times which is not IMDB. Reminds me of a guy who once told me, “but it is black and white!?” Jesus.
😅 Meanwhile
Handwerker offers his services
This is a footer 🇲🇽 recipe for you. You will need some tortillas, chicken, zucchini, corn, chillies and cheese to make these amazing quesadillas for dinner. Trust me, easy and delicious.
Last week:
🥇If you would like to sponsor handpicked, click here.