Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast
Get to know the brightest and boldest names in European tech with Sifted’s weekly podcast, hosted by Amy Lewin. She interviews the founders, operators and investors building Europe’s most exciting startups and, in conversation with Sifted’s expert journalists, pulls back the curtain on the most intriguing companies they’ve been reporting on.
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 30 minutes
- Episodes
- 131
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
Babylon: how it all went so wrong
This week we discuss:
00:59 Germany is about to legalise cannabis. What does it mean for startups?
03:49 Payments fintech Modulr agrees with regulator to stop onboarding new customers
05:32 German fund…
Interview: Wayve’s Alex Kendall on autonomous vehicles, embodied AI and Elon Musk's U-turns
This week on the podcast we’re joined by Alex Kendall, CEO of self-driving car company Wayve, for a long-form interview on the challenges of getting autonomous vehicles onto our roads. Alex discusses…
Stripe’s John Collison on launching his $50bn business at the age of 19 — Sifted Summit special
This week we are live from the Sifted Summit — our annual event bringing together the best of European tech and startups.
Today on the pod you’ll hear from Stripe cofounder John Collison, AI startup s…
Can French AI startup Mistral ever compete with Big Tech?
This week we discuss:
02:07 — Improbable’s refocus on the metaverse sees big reduction in losses
04:46 — ‘The economics of trading equity for compute are not great’ — Mistral releases its first model
07…
Interview: Seedcamp’s Reshma Sohoni on bunker mentality during a downturn
This week it’s a long form interview with Reshma Sohoni. In 2007 she cofounded the London-based venture fund Seedcamp, which has backed leading European tech companies like UIPath, Wise and Revolut. …
European valuations tumble as the great startup fire sale begins
This week we discuss:
01:24 Getir valuation reduced 4x in new $500m funding round
02:14 The big French fire sale: record numbers of startups are selling at big discounts
05:51 German HR tech Personio op…
Interview: ‘The age of AI resembles the age of DaVinci’ — Builder.AI’s Sachin Duggal on the need for polymaths in machine learning
This week, Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast is joined by Sachin Duggal, founder and CEO of Builder.AI, a company that uses AI to help customers build software applications more easily. He sat down…
Klarna is back in black after a tough 2022
This week we discuss:
02:55 US AI startup Poolside raises $126m seed round and relocates to France
05:50 Klarna cuts losses and sees “huge opportunity” in generative AI
08:10 N26 CPO Gilles BianRosa ste…
Getir is laying off 2,500 employees to try and survive
This week we discuss:
02:25 Weight-loss drug mania reaches Europe: Denmark’s Embla raises €10m
06:47 Getir cuts 10% of staff in latest sign of speedy grocery industry's struggles
08:30 Northvolt raises…
Founder of a top European VC firm accused of sexual harassment
This week we're talking about a single story that Sifted reported this week: serious allegations of workplace misconduct at one of Europe’s leading VC firms.
Seven people who worked at DN Capital — a…
Which buyer can save Babylon from bankruptcy?
This week we discuss:
01:10 How much RingCentral paid for those Hopin assets
Was Hopin really such a failure?
03:41 Dutch startup Meatable raises $35m to scale cultivated pork products
07:5…
Hopin: how a $7bn startup fell down in a heap
This week we discuss:
01:07 Johnny Boufarhat steps down as CEO of Hopin
04:55 Prima Materia makes third startup investment — into longevity
08:31 European VCs see exodus of women investors
11:58 The ‘cra…
Why did VCs' favourite e-bike go bankrupt?
This week we discuss:
Getir calls on staff to go door-to-door with goodie bags as cashflow problems persist (1:36)
Eurazeo's growth team quits to start new fund (5:31)
VanMoof: What happened to VCs' fav…
Interview: Passion Capital's Eileen Burbidge on crisis talks at Monzo and building a reproductive healthcare company
We're back with another longer form interview and this week we're joined by Eileen Burbidge, cofounder of London-based, early-stage VC firm Passion Capital and director at reproductive healthcare com…
Inside Paris's booming AI scene
This week we discuss:
02:00 UK government unveils plan to direct £75bn from pension funds to startups
05:30 5 key questions that the Mansion House Compact doesn’t answer
07:34 The startup creating AI j…
Spotify founder’s new startup finally comes out of stealth with €60m investment
Our competition to win a ticket for the Sifted Summit has now closed, thanks for entering if you took part! We're still keen to learn more about who listens to the podcast, please take this five-que…
Millions in shareholder value wiped out as Babylon delists
Our competition to win a ticket for the Sifted Summit has now closed, thanks for entering if you took part! We're still keen to learn more about who listens to the podcast, please take this five-que…
Tony Blair on his vision for an AI-powered Britain
Our competition to win a ticket for the Sifted Summit has now closed, thanks for entering if you took part! We're still keen to learn more about who listens to the podcast, please take this five-que…
Interview: Chloe Smith MP on unlocking pension funds for tech investment
This week we sat down with Chloe Smith, the UK's acting secretary of state for Science, Innovation & Technology — the government minister tasked with supporting the growth of the country’s tech and s…