Good morning Clara,

It’s been one of the hottest rumours going around French tech for the past few months — and now it’s official: OpenAI is opening an office in Paris later this year.

It is the ChatGPT maker’s third European office (it opened in London in 2023, and in Dublin shortly after); the company says that the move will enable it to tap into France’s “flourishing tech ecosystem” — as well as its increasingly sought-after pool of talent.

Paris, of course, is also where French GenAI darling and OpenAI competitor Mistral has been making waves lately. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer?

Elsewhere today:

• Northvolt subsidiary Ett Expansion files for bankruptcy
• Amazon backs carbon capture startup Paebbl in $25m round
• Ex-Speedinvest and Target Partners VCs make first close of new fund

— Daphné Leprince-Ringuet, reporter

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🇫🇷 OpenAI has confirmed it is opening an office in Paris — following months of speculation that the US tech giant had its eyes on the French capital. 

• In a statement, OpenAI said that the move reflects “France’s leadership in AI and its flourishing tech ecosystem”, and will enable the company to access France’s “pool of talent”.
• It is OpenAI’s third European office to date, having announced its London hub in 2023 before expanding to Dublin. The company said it will also be opening in Brussels later this year.

🇸🇪 One of the subsidiaries of Swedish battery maker Northvolt is filing for bankruptcy, following a decision by the company to halt expansion of its factory in Skellefteå in northern Sweden, according to a company press release. 

• Northvolt Ett Expansion, a development company which has no direct employees, was tasked with expanding the company’s Northvolt Ett factory with an additional capacity of 30 GWh, compared to its current capacity of 16 GWh, reported Swedish news outlet DI.

💸 Swiss-Italian company xFarm Technologies, which develops digital tools to help manage farms, today announced a €36m Series C raise (and hailed it as Europe’s biggest “smart farming” deal to date). Ploughing the field with the aid of your iPhone is just the beginning — the company plans to offer loans and insurance to farmers next.

💰 Carbon capture startup Paebbl has raised $25m in a round featuring VC Capnamic and Amazon’s The Climate Pledge Fund.

• The Nordic-Dutch startup has developed a way to turn captured CO2 into materials for construction — a sector which produces 38% of global carbon emissions. 

🇬🇧 The UK has launched a new regulator to speed up approvals for new tech in fields like space, digital health, biotech and autonomous vehicles. 

• Science secretary Peter Kyle told the Financial Times that the new body could “change the culture of regulation in our country”.
• The country also announced it’ll be creating Europe’s first cultivated meat regulatory sandbox to improve the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) scientific knowledge of the sector and tech. 
• The FSA and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) will receive £1.6m in funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which will be used by the regulatory bodies to help cultivated meat companies demonstrate product safety and submit applications for regulatory approval.

🥼 From bar to lab space: the founders converting unlikely spaces into startup offices. Biotech startups across Europe are struggling to find a shortage of affordable lab space — but some founders are finding a creative way around the problem.

• Adam Glen, cofounder of Unicorn Biotechnologies, is one of them: he converted a former nightclub in Sheffield into a bespoke lab space, and says more companies should be considering the option. 
• “People just need to take action; they don’t get things done. [Founders complain] there’s no lab space – go and build some then!”
• Sadia Nowshin has more here.

👀 It’s safe to say that fintech has so far had a better 2024 than 2023, but challenges remain — at least according to attendees at last week’s Sifted Summit. 

• Banner fundraises from Monzo and SumUp, action in the secondary market with Revolut’s August employee share sale and a throng of fintechs reaching profitability can’t dispel the issues the sector continues to face.  
• VCs are still pushing for profitability and exits, regulation is stricter and interest rates remain comparatively high, making it a less enticing sector to build in, said founders at the event. Fintech reporter Tom Matsuda takes note of the mood music here. 

If you missed out on this year’s Summit you can already secure your ticket for 2025 (at a super, super early-bird price which expires this Friday). Get your ticket here.

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🇩🇪 Berlin. Senior reporter Anne Sraders is at Founders Forum's Europe event today. Also there? Get in touch.

🇬🇧 London. News editor Tim Smith is at Quench AI's AI & The Future of Work Summit tomorrow. Drop him a message if you're also attending. 

🇩🇪 Berlin. Senior reporter Miriam Partington is at healthtech Personio's HUG conference on October 17. Drop her a line if you're also there. 

🇫🇷 Paris. French tech reporter Daphné Leprince-Ringuet will be the dotAI conference on October 17-18. Also there? Get in touch.

🇫🇷 Paris. Contributing editor Éanna Kelly will be at the French capital's Luxembourg Palace with a host of deeptech VCs, LPs, research institutes and scientists on October 25, for 'Unleashing Europe's next scientific revolution'. The event is invite-only, but if you're interested in attending you can put your name down here.

🇪🇸 Barcelona. Join Sifted senior reporter Freya Pratty at an intimate breakfast meet-up in central Barcelona on November 7, to discuss which areas of impact tech Spain can excel at. The event is intended to welcome and support 40 early-stage founders with complimentary coffee and a light breakfast. Apply to attend.

London-based Perlego, a subscription-based digital library providing access to academic resources, raised $20m in funding. Former Tesco CEO Terry Leahy led the round and was joined by investors including MediaHuis, Raine, KPN Ventures and the founders of game-based learning platform Kahoot. 

Berlin-based Purpose Green, which provides energy consulting, renovations and long-term ESG management for residential and commercial properties, raised $15m in seed funding. Fifth Wall led the round and was joined by investors including Atlantic Labs and Speedinvest.

Oslo-based Muybridge, a computer vision platform that gives virtual cameras used across industry the ability to capture real-time high-resolution images and 3D scene reconstruction, raised €8m in funding. Fairpoint Capital led the round and was joined by investors including RunwayFBU, Idekapita and Vikingstad Invest.

Paris-based Generare, which uses cloning techniques to find new natural molecules for drugs in soil bacteria, raised €5m in seed funding from investors including Teampact.ventures, Galion.Exe, Vives Partners, Synbioven, Saras Capital and Better Angle.

Vilnius-based RedTrack, an automation and analytics platform which enables media buyers to scale their advertising campaigns, raised $3.2m in Series A funding. Lead Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including InstaVC, Iron Wolf Capital and angel investor Balázs Gandera.

Helsinki-based Synergi, an app that helps households and utility providers to optimise energy use, raised €2m in seed funding. Greencode Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Vaens, Lifeline Ventures, APX and Wave Ventures.

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