🤙🏻 Tesla, VW and Johnson Controls all want YOU!

Doctorly, a Berlin-based health-tech company raised $10M Series A. Careers.

Polyteia, a Berlin-based government/governance digitisers, raised €5M. Careers.

Snuggs, a Berlin/Prague-based period underwear company, raised $5M. Careers.

Secfix, a Berlin-based compliance and security company, raised €3.6M seed. Careers.

Mily Technologies, a Munich-based last-mile delivery company, raised €1M. Careers.

Edurino, a Munich-based digital learning platform for kids, raised €10.5M. Careers.

Impossible Cloud, a Hamburg-based you guessed it, a cloud infrastructure company, raised €7M. Careers.

VisionHealth, a Munich-based health-tech company, raised €3M. Careers.

When thinking about business, the mantra is often to “go fast and break things.” In the worst cases, people will say that agile means no need to plan. It is clear, as this internal e-mail from move-fast-break-things Zuckerberg shows, that long-form writing helps towards excellent/good/better decision-making.

Berliner Zeitung has a comparison of salary levels between east and West Germany (🇩🇪). Berlin is still poorer than the average of West Germany but much better off than the rest of East Germany.

🎶 When I first arrived in Germany Peter Fox and his album Stadtaffe helped me with my German (Guten Morgen Berlin, du kannst so hässlich sein). After 14 years the man released a new song, Vergessen wie. Like a proper nostalgic fart, I like “the old stuff more.”

💡 To do a successful career and easy career pivot you should be early. AI whisperer is the next big thing: prompt engineering will be a massive trend in the coming years. Either as a job or a skill. So start soon.

I published a new article on handpickedberlin.com: The best of the best in/for Berlin. Make sure to bookmark it, so you can say in three years… “yep, I had that bookmarked already in 2023.”

Throwing things into the canals seems to be a thing in Berlin, and it makes you wonder what is wrong with people. Did you ever throw a scooter or a bottle in the river/canal? Me neither.

💸 Revolut posted its first annual profits (£39M), but not everyone was impressed (photo). I do not really like the tone of the first tweet, but here is a helpful analysis on the same topic. The beauty of accounting! Similar to Adj. EBITDA. But that is for another time and place. Klarna, on the other hand, posted a $1B loss, a 47% increase from last year. According to Sifted, CEO’s remuneration increased by 35% to $1.3M. Nice.

layoffs.fyi & other sources: ThoughtWorks (500), SAP Labs in India (300), Peek & Cloppenburg & Sleeperoo insolvent; Alex Springer cutting at “Bild” and “Welt” and going all-in in the US (€), Amazon closing logistics center near Berlin. Also, Taxfix took over Steuerbot, and MYNE took over Villa Circle.

r/berlin choice of the week is a guide for Blue Card holders changing their job within 24 months. I really hit the jackpot with my EU passport; gosh, we really have it easy.

For foreigners in Berlin speaking German, it might make sense to learn some of the Eckkneipe slang. (🇩🇪) I take Molle and Tulpe/Kugel with me.

🥗 Not a big fan of this particular YouTube channel, but I liked this HelloFresh review. In sum: great recipes, but if you buy stuff yourself you will get more bang for your buck. Related, the convenience of food delivery is a promising business and is here to stay. This trend of restaurants gaining share from grocery stores is described in detail here. People simply cook much less?

Remember Wirecard, a former fintech darling of Germany? Here is an extremely long article from The New Yorker on how it all started and then went to shit. Worth a read and another proof we need badly need good journalists.

I also published all February 2023 snippets for supporters.

And finally, Exberliner published its excellent guide on what to do in Berlin in March. I want to try some teater!

More on Klarna valuation development by Chartr: they really fell from the cliff!

An excellent presentation by Benedict Evans on the upcoming tech trends. 104 slides, but they are an easy browse. For example:

Top private companies from Y Combinator in 2023. Berlin does not really have anyone on the list. Paris appears 3x. Are rents too high in Berlin?

How does Afghanistan look like under the Taliban rule? An interesting read.