🚨 Would you recommend YOUR TEAM to someone?
Issue #40 (20 Feb) – the best air ever, inflation calculator, Jerks and a curious map.
handpicked is a weekly newsletter with a selection of Berlin-related jobs and news to inspire. Check the website and join an amazing group of people by subscribing for free 👇
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🎥 Also, I did not imagine buying Berlinale tickets will be so hard!? (I finally used Kleinanzeigen). I left elections out again: If you want good election commentary, head over to
(poll answers are anonymous)
👀 Handpicked twenty
📨 readers submitted
🧞♂️ Outliers.
🎬 Projects & Product.
💾 Data & Operations.
🗂️ Database with two more jobs this way.
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🗞 Top inspiration snippets
Why do french startups have the best names? Suggestions on how to split up this section welome.
🇩🇪 Berlin & Germany
wefox, a Berlin-based insurtech, raised €51.4M at 4.5B valuation. Careers.
Pliant, a Berlin-based credit card providing fintech, raised €26M. Careers.
Dance, a Berlin-based electric mobility subscription service, raised €12M. Careers.
Selfapy, a Berlin-based therapy app, raised €7M Series A. Careers.
Beazy, a Berlin-based creative economy company, raised €1M. Careers.
cylib, Aachen-based recycled batteries play, raised €8M extension to seed. Careers.
ChefCoco, a cooked meal delivery service which is not a restaurant, is emerging from stealth in Berlin. Careers.
Tesvolt, a Lutherstadt Wittenberg-based lithium battery producer, is upgrading its plant to 4GWh production capacity. Four gigawatts sounds like a lot to me; maybe they will have some cool jobs for you? Careers over here with an office in Berlin, too.
I previously told you about Daniel Ek’s (Spotify) new project, Neko Health. Now Sifted went to do the actual body scan! How was it? Two thousand pictures later, some concerns include finding issues that are not really issues. In that regard, I warmly recommend Gerd Gigenrenzer’s Risk Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions which also gives a good critical view of Kahneman and Tversky (Thinking, Fast and Slow).
🧹 Good news! In 2022, we were breathing THE BEST AIR EVER IN BERLIN. (🇩🇪) This was the year with the lowest emissions since the 1980s and 1990s. On the downside, I realised I live close to one of the worst streets. I had no time to compare Berlin's air standards to any other city, but you can do it yourself here.
Oda, a new weekly grocery delivery service, could have also advertised here, but it didn’t. I still am kind enough to include a link to this half-PR article from Handelsblatt (🇩🇪), which describes their plans (€250M revenue in Germany, delivery in the circle of 250km). I checked the app but have not ordered yet.
🚌 Flix says it was EBITDA profitable for the first time last year but provided no numbers (🇩🇪). They plan an expansion to Chile (41st market). Judging by my first trip with Flixtrain in December, the operations department definitely receives less attention than M&A. After 15 years, AirBnB is also profitable for the first time.
layoffs.fyi & other sources: another delivery startup bites the dust: Dropp (60 people), Avocargo (17) also sadly did not make it. After Apple, now also Amazon is introducing a Return-to-the-Office policy. We will see more and more of this.
r/berlin choice of the week is the “Berlin hacks.” The top rated is to learn German. Wo unterschreibe ich? Another one I like is solving the housing crisis by moving in with your GF/BF who already has an apartment or leave. 😅 I also liked this AbEr iN BeRlIn fUnKtiOniErt nIcHts. Because, honestly, compared to many many many less fortunate people, we have it real good!
Berliner Zeitung has a good article (🇩🇪) about how to buy an apartment in Berlin. Price drops seem unlikely because compared to other big European cities, Berlin is still cheap. 6-10k per sqm! 😅 The other part of the equation must be salaries!
💸 Here is a great inflation calculator by RBB. (🇩🇪) You can determine your own personal inflation rate for groceries, which is a good start. The inflation rate is very individual, but this fact is always neglected. Another interesting comparison is that it makes more sense to buy tomatoes than ketchup.
🦗Have you ever eaten insects? I tried grasshoppers in Mexico and would do it again. You can go to Mikrokosmos (📍) and try some there. Here is an article from Tip-Berlin. (🇩🇪) More PR than not, but interesting.
🇪🇺 Rest of Europe & UK (Top 5)
Zunder, a Spanish fast-charging startup, raised €40M. Careers.
Brigad, a Paris-based hospitality staff shortage problem solvers, raised €33M. Careers.
Myflexbox, a Salzburg-based smart locker network provider, raised €75M. Careers.
🤓 Timeless and useful
I do not often laugh out loud at a screen, but when I do, it's because of Jerks. This German series has a wild sense of humour, and I loved it. Cringey and borderline. Warmly recommended if you want to improve your German and can take it. Consider yourself warned! Free with ads on Joyn.
😅 Meanwhile
if you are reading this from Germany and are Slavic, congrats, you are at a place most want to be! An interesting find, sent to me by a friend in Switzerland where they wanna go to France. (No idea about the source and if it’s true)
This is a footer ✍🏼 essay about the childhoods of exceptional people. It gives some good ideas of what you could do with your kids to help us improve this planet. As with everything: nothing good was ever easy.
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