Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast

It’s pretty fun being the frontman of the world’s fastest-growing company, says Anton Osika. But being swarmed by enthusiastic users, opportunistic investors and beady-eyed journalists can occasional…

If you work at a tech startup, AI is a boon and a bane, empowering tiny teams to build at scale while wiping out entry-level jobs and flooding LinkedIn with “AI slop.”

In this week's episode of the Si…

Germany-based defence tech Quantum Systems is one of Europe's leading makers of military drones, having completed thousands of missions in Ukraine and signed contracts with governments around the wor…

You might be forgiven for thinking Europe had just two big drone makers — Germany’s Helsing and Quantum Systems — given how many headlines both attract.

But there’s a third defence tech unicorn on the…

Barcelona-based Factorial has come a long way since its early days as a software startup offering free HR services. The business management platform is now used by more than 13k companies for everyth…

Revolut is Europe’s most valuable private tech company — and is set to become even more so soon, with a fundraise in the works which would see it valued at a reported $65m. 

The digital bank manages t…

Supercell is one of Europe's leading video game companies — with enduring hit titles like Clash of Clans and Brawl Stars under its belt. But, as CEO and cofounder Ilkka Paananen explains on this epis…

Once upon a time, Mistral was Europe’s buzziest tech company — raising a huge €105m seed round in 2023 to build GenAI models and compete with the likes of OpenAI.

But as the sector's matured, and we’v…

If you work in tech, you’re likely in one of two camps: thinking about using AI agents, or already deploying tens of them.

That’s why Emma Burrows cofounded Portia AI, a platform which helps businesse…

Defence tech unicorn Helsing — which raised a whopping €600m in June at a €12bn valuation — has swiftly become one of Europe's most intriguing and closely-watched startups. 

Defence is top of the agen…

French fintech Qonto is a rare beast in startup land: it's actually profitable. Founded in 2016, the company provides banking and other financial services to 500,000 small businesses customers across…

Secondhand marketplace Vinted needs little introduction, with tens of millions registered users around the world who use its app to sell everything from clothes to furniture to even lava lamps.

But th…

This week on Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast, Amy speaks with Rob Lacher, founding partner at early-growth VC Visionaries Club.

Rob unpacks the challenges of defence procurement, why Europe has le…

If you work in tech, you’ve probably heard about Lovable — the AI agent startup that's helping users make websites without writing a line of code.

The company hit $50m in annual recurring revenue earl…

If you’re in venture, it’s quite likely you’re already a Granola user, and if not, you’ve probably heard VCs bang on about how much they like it. 

The London-based note-taking startup is growing fast,…

Today on Startup Europe — the Sifted Podcast, Amy is joined by Dinika Mahtani, London-based partner at European early-stage VC Cherry Ventures.

Dinika explains why she thinks deeptech is 'back', why E…

On this episode of Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast, Amy sits down with Tom Leathes, CEO and cofounder of used car marketplace Motorway. The company, founded in 2017, has helped more than half a m…

Tomas Okmanas is no stranger to scaling a company in a highly competitive space. When he launched NordVPN in 2012, the market was crowded with competitors, but today his company has 15m users, a $3bn…