Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast
Sifted brings you monthly long-form interviews with the biggest names in European startups. We hear from the founders, operators and investors behind the continent’s biggest tech companies to learn what makes them tick and what they’ve learnt while building their businesses.
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'Defence is where we can play all our superpowers': Visionaries Club’s Rob Lacher
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 less than a year to get serious about its military capabilities and how VCs can do more than just write cheques in this space.
He also shares why Visionaries doesn’t have an AI investment thesis, why new general partner Judith Dada is the 'single best person' he could have hoped to team up with — and the deals he still kicks himself for missing.
Key moments:
01.48: Lovable
06.30: Visionaries Club's relationships with other funds
12.24: Investing in defence companies
29.59: Challenges and opportunities for SaaS companies
39.39: Building a brand in VC
42.45: Quickfire questions
What's so special about Lovable?
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 earlier this year — just 12 months after launching — and recently poached a team member from 20VC. Not bad for a startup most people hadn’t heard of this time last year.
But how’s Lovable actually growing so fast? What’s its CEO Anton Osika really like? And is the hype justified?
On this experimental 13-minute episode of the Sifted podcast, editor Amy Lewin grills Europe editor Mimi Billing on what she’s found out.
'We haven’t made a pitch deck since we started the company': Granola CEO Chris Pedregal
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, with users increasing 10% week on week, and last week announced a $43m Series B at a $250m valuation — just a year after launching.
But the 20-person team faces stiff competition — there are plenty of other ‘knowledge work’ tools out there — and there’s a lot to discover about how we all really want to use AI in our day-to-day lives.
On the latest episode of the Sifted podcast, editor Amy asks Granola cofounder and CEO Chris Pedregal: What could the road ahead look like for a company like Granola? Why’s it being built in London? And what’s life like as a founder of a ‘hot’ AI startup?
This podcast was brought to you by HSBC Innovation Banking, connecting you with what's next.
How to make partner in less than three years: Cherry Ventures' Dinika Mahtani
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 Europe is having a moment — and what impact tariff turmoil is having on her portfolio companies.
She also shares how she made the jump from general manager at Uber to angel investing and then VC — and talks us through how she ensured she made partner within just three years of joining Cherry Ventures.
All of that, plus who Dinika would swap places with for a day and the most valuable piece of advice she's been given in her career to date.
This podcast is brought to you by Vanta.
Vanta is the fast, frictionless way for growing companies to get compliant, stay secure, and earn and maintain the trust of vendors and customers. Head to Vanta.com/sifted to learn more.
Three exits and a failure: Motorway's Tom Leathes on how to disrupt big industries
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 million people sell their cars, and has raised $273m from investors like Index, Iconiq, LocalGlobe and BMW i Ventures.
Tom and his two cofounders have launched four startups before Motorway, with three resulting in successful exits, and one having to shut its doors. Tom and Amy discuss what he's learnt from that one failure, and what's now going right at Motorway, as the company takes on the formidable challenge of disrupting a huge and slow-changing automotive industry.
This podcast is brought to you by Vanta.
Vanta is the fast, frictionless way for growing companies to get compliant, stay secure, and earn and maintain the trust of vendors and customers. Head to Vanta.com/sifted to learn more.
Nord's Tomas Okmanas on why he had to launch an AI startup
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 valuation and a consistent stream of new features and products in development. Now, as if he wasn't busy enough, Tomas is launching a new startup — Nexos.ai, a platform that helps enterprises to make the best use of AI models.
On this episode of the Sifted Podcast, he tells Amy why he believes he can rise above the competition and scale a huge business in what is the frothiest market of the moment, as well as why Lithuania is a startup hub to watch and why a trip to Davos is worth it for founders.
The 101 of angel investing with Jenny Tooth
To kick off 2025, we're talking "business angels": the people who take big bets investing their personal wealth into startups at their earliest stages, and without whom most companies would never get off the ground.
So, how do you actually become an angel investor? How much money do you need to commit? How many investments should you be making? And how can the UK and Europe lay the groundwork for a more representative next generation of investors?
Amy poses these questions to Jenny Tooth, a veteran angel who's also executive chair of the UK Business Angels Association, representing over 15k investors nationwide. Jenny shares insights from her work on Innovate UK’s emerging tech steering board and her new initiative, WomenInvestEU, aimed at creating a more inclusive early-stage investment landscape.
Replacing fossil fuels: Proxima Fusion’s Francesco Sciortino on his mission to revolutionise clean energy
On 2024's last episode of the Sifted Podcast, Amy is joined by an entrepreneur on a very big mission. Munich-based startup Proxima Fusion is developing a nuclear fusion reactor — a technology which many hope could help solve the climate crisis by producing clean, cheap and abundant energy that could replace a lot of fossil fuel power.
But the technical challenges are considerable.
Nuclear fusion reactors need to remain stable at incredibly high temperatures, while confining volatile plasma with powerful and sensitive magnets. Proxima Fusion is targeting raising a billion euros to build its technology, with support from European governments and international investors.
The company’s founder Francesco Sciortino sat down to discuss how his team plans to change the world with its technology, the milestones it needs to hit, by when, and to reflect on the challenges of scaling up ambitious hardware-based deeptech companies from Europe.
Oura Ring founder Petteri Lahtela on fending off acquisition offers from Big Tech
Podcast host and Sifted editor Amy Lewin sits down with Petteri Lahtela, founder of smart wearable company Oura Ring, to discuss how the business has grown to making $500m in revenue, hitting profitability and selling more than 2.5m devices in the process.
They discuss the big idea behind Oura, how Petteri has turned down multiple offers from buyers and how the company is well poised to pounce on the AI boom with the data it holds.
General Catalyst’s Jeannette zu Fürstenberg on how to scale European moonshot ideas
This month we’re joined by Jeannette zu Fürstenberg, managing director at global VC firm General Catalyst and cofounder of La Famiglia VC — a Berlin-based early-stage investor which merged with General Catalyst last year.
Jeannette’s investments include companies like HR platform Deel, logistics startup Forto, HR tech unicorn Personio, defence unicorn Helsing and AI unicorn Mistral. She also sits on Helsing and Mistral’s boards, giving her a front seat at two of Europe’s most closely-watched and exciting companies.
She sat down with Sifted editor Amy Lewin to discuss how to fund ambitious deep tech ideas, how Europe can make the most out of AI to improve productivity and how that merger between two VC firms has been working out.
Mistral, DeepL and Kry investor Avid Larizadeh Duggan on where AI is creating value
Avid Larizadeh Duggan, senior managing director at Ontario-HQed growth-stage investor Teachers’ Venture Growth, is one of Europe’s first operator-turned-VCs.
Her career in tech began with stints as a product manager at places like eBay and Skype, and has switched between operational and investing roles ever since. In 2021 she joined TVG, which is part of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, one of the world’s biggest pension funds.
Its investments include German AI translation company DeepL, German battery startup Instagrid, Swedish healthtech unicorn Kry, British chip scaleup Graphcore and French health insurance unicorn Alan.
She sat down with Sifted editor Amy Lewin to discuss what’s top of tech companies’ minds at the moment, and why investors and board members without operational experience don’t always quite “get it”.
Programmable plants and neurotech devices: Inside the UK government’s £800m “inventions” agency
This month we’re joined by Ilan Gur, CEO of the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (or ARIA), a government body set up last year to fund ambitious, breakthrough innovations.
Before joining Aria, Gur was a programme director at ARPA-E, the US government’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, which was established to develop new cutting-edge technologies to generate, store and use energy. He’s also been a founder — starting two companies in Silicon Valley
We discuss what technologies he’s most excited about today, covering topics from neuroscience to “programmable plants” to fight climate change.
Climate tech’s growing pains with Pale Blue Dot’s Heidi Lindvall
She’s one of the three founders of Pale Blue Dot, a Malmö-based early-stage climate tech fund which launched in 2020 and backs pre-seed and seed-stage startups reducing and reversing the effects of climate change, in Europe and the US.
Pale Blue Dot came along just ahead of the wave of climate tech funds which launched in Europe amid the tech boom. Its portfolio companies include Ember, a Scottish intercity transport startup; Monta, an app connecting charge point owners and electric car drivers; and Climate X, a platform which helps businesses analyse their exposure to and risks associated with climate change.
On this episode of the pod, we discuss what types of climate tech company Lindvall doesn’t need to see any more of, how Europe can compete with the US and how to balance VC investing with having two newborn babies.
DeepL founder Jarek Kutylowski on how his AI startup took on Google Translate — and won
This week on the pod we’re joined by Jarek Kutylowski, founder and CEO of German AI startup DeepL. He’s built a profitable business in a field where he’s had to compete with the likes of Google, by developing cutting edge language translation technology.
The company says it now has “a customer network of 100k+ businesses, governments and other organisations worldwide” including Zendesk, Nikkei, Coursera and Deutsche Bahn. Kutylowski sat down with Sifted editor Amy Lewin to talk about DeepL’s technology, how it’s built an AI business with comparatively little VC funding and about how the craze around large language models is creating a new type of competition.
Index Ventures partner Martin Mignot on where Revolut should list
Name a big European tech company, and there’s a high chance Martin Mignot, partner at Index Ventures, invested in it.
Martin’s portfolio includes some of the continent’s big winners, like car sharing platform BlaBlaCar, digital bank Revolut, digital health provider Kry, HR platform Personio and delivery company Deliveroo — and some of its big failures, including energy supplier Bulb which went bust in 2022.
On this month's episode of Startup Europe — the Sifted Podcast, we dig into what Martin has learnt from his time helping some of Europe's startup success stories scale, and some of the less fortunate company stories.
We hear about what he believes makes a great founder, improving stock options at European startups and why Revolut would probably IPO in the US.
Sophia Bendz on why Spotify's Daniel Ek hired people with "no track record"
This week on the podcast we are joined by Cherry Ventures general partner Sophia Bendz — formerly global marketing director at Spotify — who talks us through what she's seeing across the European early-stage startup ecosystem in a challenging market.
She tells us about the AI effect on young companies launching today, how founders can look after their mental health in today's tough market and about how the startup ecosystem has changed since her days at Spotify.
Why Andreessen Horowitz is betting big on crypto in Europe with Sriram Krishnan
Andreessen Horowitz is one of the world’s best known — and biggest — VC firms, with over $35bn in assets under management, over 500 employees and a portfolio including Airbnb, GitHub, Instacart, Instagram, Lyft, Slack and Wise.
But for a long time it merely dabbled in investing in Europe.So it was big news last year when the firm announced it was opening a London office — its first non-US office — and that general partner Sriram Krishnan was moving to the UK to run it. His first job in tech was at Microsoft — and he’s since led product teams at Twitter, Snap and Facebook.
Andreesen’s new London team plans to invest primarily in crypto and Web3 — and has already done a handful of investments in Europe. Sriram joins us on the podcast to talk about Europe’s crypto prospects, what he’s learning about the continent since his move over from Silicon Valley, the attributes of great CEOs, and why he remains optimistic about tech despite wider market doom and gloom.
Hussein Kanji from Hoxton Ventures on how just much he made from investing in Deliveroo and Darktrace
This week Sifted editor Amy Lewin is joined by one of London’s best-known VCs Hussein Kanji, founding partner at Hoxton Ventures. He reflects on the kinds of big returns he won, and missed out on, by making early bets on companies like Deliveroo, Darktrace and Babylon.
Glovo's Oscar Pierre on the gig economy and building scaleups in Southern Europe
Oscar Pierre is one of, if not the, best-known entrepreneurs in Spain. His delivery company Glovo — which was bought by its bigger, listed competitor Delivery Hero in 2022 — is one of the country’s big international success stories, and now Pierre is using his experience (and financial resources) to help Spain’s next generation of entrepreneurs.
He’s also still running Glovo, largely independently of its new parent company. The business has 20m customers in 1,500 cities across 26 countries, including Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan — and might consider further expansion soon, Pierre tells Sifted. On its app, you can order everything from a Burger King to groceries to flowers, from both independent high street businesses to big global chains.
It’s raised more than €1bn from investors and employs over 4,000 people, while working with around 65,000 riders.
On Startup Europe, The Sifted Podcast, editor Amy Lewin asked Pierre about his budding VC career, what’s going on in the southern Europe startup scene, the state of the food delivery market in 2024 — and if he’s thinking about his next move yet.
Station F’s and Sequoia’s Roxanne Varza on how to stop tech companies moving to the US
Startup Europe is back for our new-look podcast, where we'll be focussing exclusively on longer form interviews with some of the biggest names in European tech.
Last year we brought you conversations with founders, operators and investors behind companies like Wise, Monzo, Figma, Delivery Hero and Kry and we have a whole load more for you in 2024.
This week it's Roxanne Varza, director of Parisian startup mega campus Station F.
In the years since Station F opened in 2017, France has seen startup funding more than triple and the number of unicorns more than quadruple.
And now Paris is at the centre of the Gen AI boom too. Mistral, PhotoRoom and Poolside are just a handful of the buzzy AI startups based there raising huge amounts of funding.
As an angel investor (and one of Sequoia’s most active scouts in Europe) with more than 60 deals under her belt now, Varza is also getting to place some bets in the sector.
In the first episode of the Sifted podcast this year, editor Amy Lewin speaks to Varza about what’s on founders’ minds right now, Station F’s expansion plans and what she’s learnt so far as an angel investor.
“We’ve made more money than we ever dreamed of”: RELEX Solutions’s Johanna Småros
What do Lidl, Auchan, Sephora and Flink have in common? They’re all customers of RELEX Solutions, one of Finland’s four private tech companies.
RELEX makes supply-chain and retail-planning software — which might sound boring, but it's extremely important when you consider how much inventory, especially food, is wasted due to poor planning.
Sifted sat down with cofounder Johanna Småros to talk about the company’s decades-long journey from academia to commercialisation, just how many millions of kilos of waste annually the company is helping to avoid and why RELEX’s engineers are tired of hearing about AI.
Why is Stability AI changing its business model?
This week we discuss:
01:51 Hyme raises €8m for technology that could halve cost of storing energy
05:12 Xlinks raises $25m from TotalEnergies for 3,800km cable from the Sahara to the UK
07:46 Thought Web3 was over? This VC just raised €15m to back startups in the sector
19:27 Why Stability AI is launching a subscription fee
More layoffs at European scaleups as the tech slowdown bites
This week we discuss:
01:05 Micromobility giant Tier lays off 22% of its workforce in push for profitability, Unicorn edtech Multiverse to lay off nearly a third of US employees
05:34 GenAI biotech Cradle raises $24m Series A led by Index Ventures
08:55 The top takeaways from Atomico’s State of European Tech report
20:13 Why hasn't EIF announced a single investment from its €3.75bn fund of funds yet?
HSBC’s Sonya Iovieno on undisclosed down rounds, startups trimming headcount and SVB’s collapse
Sonya Iovieno knows European tech’s secrets. As head of venture and growth at HSBC Innovation Banking, where she works with thousands of VCs, startups and scaleups in the UK and Nordics, she has a view on who’s done an undisclosed down round, who’s been trimming headcount and who’s set up a “hunting line” for future acquisitions.
And she also knows what it’s like to go through a merger, after her organisation, formerly Silicon Valley Bank UK, was acquired by HSBC for a mere £1 after the dramatic collapse of its US parent company in March.
Iovieno joined us this week for a long-form interview on Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast to share her predictions for 2024 and her experience of the tumultuous weeks of this spring.
Some tech workers are now earning $400k straight out of uni. Why?
This week we discuss:
- Nordic merger between online grocers Oda and Mathem
- It ain’t Easee: How Norway’s EV rising star fell foul of regulators
- How Sequoia-backed e-bike refurbisher Upway raised $30m in a micromobility slowdown
- Grocery delivery is back as Crisp raises €35m to scale next-day delivery
- $400k graduate salaries and gun-for-hire ‘SWAT teams’ — inside the wild AI talent market of 2023
- Why top AI talent is leaving Google’s DeepMind
Aleph Alpha raises one of Europe's biggest AI rounds, but is all as it seems?
This week we discuss:
00:53 Aleph Alpha raises $500m Series B in one of Europe’s largest AI rounds ever
03:56 What the pitch deck from Adaptive, a new AI startup raising at a $100m valuation, tells us
07:15 French startup Quandela raises €50m to manufacture commercial quantum computers
11:03 Swedish startup wants to ‘stream energy like music’ on electric roads to charge cars as they drive
18:21 10x more money goes to VC funds owned by all-male vs all-female teams
Klarna’s workers are going on strike as the company cuts more roles
This week we discuss:
02:26 Web Summit announces former Wikimedia boss as new CEO
04:16 More unions sign up to Klarna strike on Nov 7
06:36 Benetton scion moves into tech investing with new €30m fund
09:40 How a “miracle” weight-loss drug created Europe’s most valuable company, and a startup investment machine
17:23 UK gears up to major AI summit under the shadow of its own lack of regulation
France’s big plan for startups
This week we discuss:
02:05 French early-stage startups get a €500m funding boost in 2024 budget
04:33 Northvolt’s $20bn listing in Stockholm — a win for European stock exchanges
07:20 Solar energy storage breakthrough could make European households self-sufficient
12:30 Quantum computing is not a threat to national security. So why can't Europe work together?
20:35 Founder to reality TV star — a shortcut to startup success?
This podcast is brought to you by Harper James, a national full-service law firm designed to support ambitious businesses. Having supported over 3,500 businesses, Harper James isn’t a run-of-the-mill law firm. It has transformed the traditional law firm model through unique price plans, smart technology and teams of almost exclusively senior lawyers — giving you affordable, commercial and high quality legal advice.
If this sounds too good to be true, then head over to harperjames.co.uk and see for yourself. While you’re there, you’ll find 100s of resources to help your journey from startup to scaleup and beyond.
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 La Famiglia merges with General Catalyst
09:29 Northvolt founder’s heat pump startup secures €87m
17:24 The rise — and fall — of Babylon
Link to subscribe to the Sifted Fintech newsletter: https://sifted.eu/newsletters
This podcast is brought to you by Harper James, a national full-service law firm designed to support ambitious businesses. Having supported over 3,500 businesses, Harper James isn’t a run-of-the-mill law firm. It has transformed the traditional law firm model through unique price plans, smart technology and teams of almost exclusively senior lawyers — giving you affordable, commercial and high quality legal advice.
If this sounds too good to be true, then head over to harperjames.co.uk and see for yourself. While you’re there, you’ll find 100s of resources to help your journey from startup to scaleup and beyond.
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 how to win public trust for this technology, how he sees a future world filled with “embodied AI” and about how Elon Musk followed Wayve’s approach to self-driving tech.
This podcast is brought to you by Harper James, a national full-service law firm designed to support ambitious businesses. Having supported over 3,500 businesses, Harper James isn’t a run-of-the-mill law firm. It has transformed the traditional law firm model through unique price plans, smart technology and teams of almost exclusively senior lawyers — giving you affordable, commercial and high quality legal advice.
If this sounds too good to be true, then head over to harperjames.co.uk and see for yourself. While you’re there, you’ll find 100s of resources to help your journey from startup to scaleup and beyond.
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 sensation Mistral cofounder Arthur Mensch and digital bank Monzo COO Sujata Bhatia.
*And, if you want to learn how to live into your 100s, here's a write up of the top tips from longevity investor Christian Angermayer.
This podcast is brought to you by Harper James, a national full-service law firm designed to support ambitious businesses. Having supported over 3,500 businesses, Harper James isn’t a run-of-the-mill law firm. It has transformed the traditional law firm model through unique price plans, smart technology and teams of almost exclusively senior lawyers — giving you affordable, commercial and high quality legal advice.
If this sounds too good to be true, then head over to harperjames.co.uk and see for yourself. While you’re there, you’ll find 100s of resources to help your journey from startup to scaleup and beyond.
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
07:15 — Dutch arm of vertical farming startup Infarm declared bankrupt
11:22 — US eyes British startups in chip sovereignty bid
13:50 — UK-France AI rivalry heats up with dual summits
14:48 — Why is applying for EU funding such a nightmare?
Get yourself a ticket to the Sifted Summit here.
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. Reshma sat down remotely with Sifted’s Amy Lewin to share her thoughts on what she’s seeing in the market today, and lessons learnt from more than a decade and a half of investing in startups.
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 opens New York office, plans to double US workforce
07:33 Smart chatbot maker DRUID raises $30m to double down on US business
14:48 Want to capitalise off America’s $369bn climate bill? Here’s how
Get yourself a ticket to the Sifted Summit here.
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 with Eleanor in the studio to talk about competition for talent, building culture and the future of software development.
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 steps down, becomes supervisory board member
08:42 Babylon finds buyer for its UK business (and GP at Hand service)
10:02 Dutch VC PhotonVentures bets all on photonic chips with new €100m fund
16:23 Hackers are watching your startup. Not many are prepared for the attack
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 $1.2bn convertible note from BlackRock
10:33 Scottish startup ENOUGH raises €40m for its alternative meat
13:12 NatureMetrics raises £10m as biodiversity moves up the ESG agenda
23:13 How is the global run on AI hardware affecting startups?
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 — an investor in Shazam, Remitly and Auto1 — allege that its founder Nenad Marovac sexually harassed and bullied colleagues, creating a culture of misogyny at the fund.
Marovac has denied all the allegations. DN Capital has opened an independent investigation into the allegations, which it said do not reflect its culture.
Read the story here.
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
07:58 Build-a-bot workshop: deepset.ai raises $30m for personalised AI models
10:58 Who's going to buy Babylon?
19:20 The machines have eyes: How GenAI is giving warehouse robots vision
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 ‘crazy’ £20bn subsea cable to bring Moroccan solar power to the UK
22:38 Can French startups overcome their elitist image?
Why did VCs' favourite e-bike go bankrupt?
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 company Fertifa. She came into the studio to reflect on the differences between Silicon Valley and London, her time at Monzo and how she wants to fix reproductive healthcare in Europe.
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 jobs for humans: Prolific raises £25m
10:39 Causaly raises $60m Series B to give scientists instant access to 'all of biology'
13:15 Aphea.Bio raises €70m Series C
24:00 Paris is burning (VC investor cash on AI startups) — Link coming soon
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-question survey if you have a minute to spare: https://ftx.typeform.com/to/L2ai27Fu
This week we discuss:
02:14 Spotify founder Daniel Ek’s Neko Health raises €60m Series A amid European expansion plans
06:38 'An inkjet printer for the periodic table' — VSParticle raises €14.5m
09:14 Arrival loses key finance lifelines as troubles mount
13:47 Britishvolt cofounder pins new hope on Italian gigafactory
20:11 I am a successful founder — and it’s the worst job I’ve ever had
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-question survey if you have a minute to spare: https://ftx.typeform.com/to/L2ai27Fu
This week we discuss:
01:51 Data roaming outside the EU still sucks — but the AUTO1 founder’s new startup wants to fix it
06:31 The German spacetech planning to fire stem cell 'organoids' into orbit
10:31 Babylon shareholders wiped out as healthtech agrees to delist
12:55 Startup boards are still a boys' club — 45% have no female representation
17:58 'The G-spot of Europe': how Vilnius is trying to attract international tech talent
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-question survey if you have a minute to spare: https://ftx.typeform.com/to/L2ai27Fu
This week we discuss:
See the pitch memo that raised €105m for four-week-old startup Mistral
A Human Genome Project for the nervous system? BIOS Health raises fresh funding
Nato launches tech accelerator to bring Silicon Valley ethos to Europe’s armies
Where to find Europe’s best AI engineers
Tony Blair thinks AI will save Britain, he’s just not quite sure how it should work
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 startup sector.
She told us about what the UK is doing to attract talent to its shores, and about how the country plans to unlock pension funds to invest in high-growth tech companies.
Why has Checkout.com slashed its own valuation again?
Why is Typeform losing market share?
This week we discuss:
01:06 Monzo narrows losses slightly as lending book triples
04:06 Inside GetYourGuide: Germany’s $2bn travel experiences platform
07:41 US giant NEA backs Stockholm AI company Sana Labs
09:45 Did US hustle mentality ruin Typeform?
14:36 SaaS won’t save the planet, but a hardware-software duo just might
20:16 An OpenAI alum is building a robot butler for your home
Interview: Blossom capital’s Ophelia Brown on why crypto isn’t dying, but the UK tech sector might be
This week it’s another longer form interview. We’re joined by Ophelia Brown, managing partner of Blossom Capital, a VC fund that’s backed the likes of payments company Checkout.com, crypto exchange Moonpay and HR platform Localize. She sat down with Sifted’s Amy Lewin to make her case for a crypto comeback, as well as giving some harsh words on the political mismanagement of the UK tech sector.
What’s behind the senior employee exodus at Revolut?
This week we discuss:
02:55 Mobility giant Bolt likely to acquire rival Tier in weeks
05:00 Northvolt to build German and US factories
10:13 ETH spinout ANYbotics raises $50m for AI-led robo workforce
13:54 Startup valuations continue to plummet in 2023
17:52 It’s not just the CFO who’s quit: Meet the people left with power at Revolut
23:26 A taster of the foods of the future
Listen to Sifted's new podcast series sponsored by EQT Ventures: "Downturn Survival Guide."
Amazon Alexa's creator drops hints about new AI startup
This week we discuss:
01:30 German startup Blinkist acquired by Australian content company Go1
05:39 Proposed EU net neutrality 'paywall' for internet access spooks founders
09:55 Micro-ticket investment platform Odin raises $3m following public launch
13:45 Outperforming doctors and dealing with hallucinations — how GenAI will transform healthtech
18:37 What the 'Father of Alexa' did next
Listen to Sifted's new podcast series sponsored by EQT Ventures: "Downturn Survival Guide"
New rules for the London Stock Exchange to combat "Brexit idiocy"
This week we discuss:
01:20 Investors say new UK listing rules might not be enough to entice tech companies
05:24 German startup Prematch raises €2.4m to build 'Fifa for amateur football'
09:22 Mental health therapeutics startup HelloBetter raises €7m for further US expansion
14:17 Can France save the metaverse?
Stability AI leaked pitch deck raises questions over Series A
This week we discuss:
01:27 Northvolt to confirm US expansion plans within weeks, cofounder says
04:07 Leaked deck raises questions over Stability AI's Series A pitch to investors
08:16 The call for a CERN-like AI supercomputer
11:16 This startup has raised $31m to turn wood into glass
14:10 IV infusions and blood purification: Inside one of Europe’s first longevity clinics
20:30 Meet the startup sending scientists around the world to build a database of all life
Listen to Sifted's new podcast series sponsored by EQT Ventures: "Downturn Survival Guide"
End of the road for Cazoo? Details on the company's $630m debt burden
This week we discuss:
Shareholder upheaval and a $630m debt burden: end of the road for Cazoo?
How a corruption scandal has left dozens of Polish startups facing bankruptcy
The Family Files: Inside France’s ugliest startup fight
Toxic bosses and unhealthy cultures: Why Europe’s VCs are tired and burnt out
Checkout.com sees exec exodus while laying off staff “by stealth"
This week we discuss:
01:18 Checkout.com faces exec team exodus and makes layoffs ‘by stealth’
05:30 ‘Mini-revolt’ as TravelPerk U-turns on remote work
08:26 Founders had to wait ‘far too long’ for EIC Fund cash, admits chair
11:09 YC alum SolarMente raises for subscription solar panel service
17:57 Coworking retreats and hiking holidays: Inside the biggest startup community you’ve never heard of
Interview: Layoffs and large language models in healthcare with Kry’s Johannes Schildt
This week it’s another long form interview and we’re joined in the studio with Johannes Schildt from Stockholm-based digital healthcare provider Kry.
After a tough 2022, the founder reflects on dealing with layoffs at the company, pausing operations in Germany and the challenges of working with disjointed healthcare systems. He also looks ahead to how exciting technologies like large language models (which power the likes of GPT-4) could supercharge healthcare in the future, and tells us what he’s like as a boss.
The man trying to stop the AI apocalypse
This week we discuss:
03:54: Starting to take off: German rocket maker Isar Aerospace raises $165m
06:43: Europe’s spacetech report
06:59: Climate tech Agreena raises €46m Series B to fight climate change with carbon sinks
09:52 Channel 4-backed fintech shuts down, searches for buyer
12:39: ‘We are super, super fucked’: Meet the man trying to stop an AI apocalypse
19:11: Gloria Bäuerlein closes one of Europe’s first female solo GP funds
Interview: Seven-figure salaries and AI sovereignty, with Entrepreneur First's Matt Clifford
This week it's a longer form interview with Matt Clifford, founder of early stage investor and startup builder Entrepreneur First. He's also recently been appointed as an AI advisor to the UK government, so we brought him into the Sifted studio to ask him how the UK and Europe can have an AI strategy that moves the needle, as companies like Microsoft and Google increasingly dominate the space.
How the government saved SVB UK
This week we're doing a special episode looking at the Silicon Valley Bank crash, why it happened, why the tech sector was so exposed and how the government stepped in to help save the UK subsidiary of the business.
We’re joined by special guests Dom Hallas, from UK tech lobby group Coadec, and Benedikt von Thüngen, cofounder of diagnostics startup Sanome which had 85% of its cash in SVB.
We also analyse what the UK budget means for startups, including big spending on quantum research and more support for AI innovation, plus cut to R&D tax credits.
The articles we discuss this week:
- UK Spring budget: R&D cuts but huge quantum spend
- SVB UK: the latest on the startup bank’s collapse — and sale to HSBC
- SVB UK still funding loans after HSBC buyout, say sources
- SVB: Why did so many UK startups only have one bank account?
- ‘It was terrifying’: 48 nightmare hours for European tech founders as SVB collapsed
- VCs are ‘absolutely to blame’ for SVB chaos, says Seedcamp’s Reshma Sohoni
- Opinion: UK government should not bailout SVB UK
In conversation with Klarna’s Sebastian Siemiatkowski
This week we’ve got a special episode focusing on Swedish tech. Sifted has been visiting the Nordic Nation for our Stockholm Sessions event, where we caught up with founders working in everything from electric-powered boats to a plan to build a metaverse-powered aquarium at the bottom of a real-life fjord.
We were also joined by Klarna’s Sebastian Siemiatkowski, who gave an interview on what the media gets wrong about his company, and why it’s sometimes ok to lose $100m a month.
Inside Klarna’s $1bn annual loss — its biggest ever
This week we discuss:
02:18 Revolut reports its first-ever year of profit
05:29 Klarna posts $1bn annual loss, its largest ever
09:55 Want to drive using mind control?
13:14 GitLab and Remote backer Inkef loses its sole LP
17:16 Wise and Monzo founders back legal generative AI startup’s $10.5m Series A
23:16 I’m not a billionaire — will I ever go to space?
Interview: Transferwise founder Taavet Hinrikus on going over to the VC dark side
This week it's a long form interview with founder-turned-investor Taavet Hinrikus. He's half a year into his journey as a VC and says that his new fund Plural is going to do things differently. He came into the Sifted studio to tell us about why investor committees are useless, how you can't build a business on a four-day week and the biggest lessons he learnt from building Wise.
Can this Bill Gates-backed electric plane really stay in the air?
This week we discuss:
01:13 Lumai lands £1.1m grant to achieve ‘world’s fastest computation’ and power the AI revolution
04:16 German edtech Knowunity, a TikTok for kk, raises €9m Series A extension
07:15 New €3.75bn European Investment Fund pot to back late-stage VCs
08:40 Which investor has backed the most European unicorns?
10:25 Inside Daniel Ek's new boday scanning startup
15:10 Heart Aerospace hopes to build a plane even Greta Thunberg would fly on
18:52 Counteract closes £15m fund for carbon removal solutions
Ukraine special: Founders on the frontline
In this special episode of Startup Europe, Sifted’s central and eastern Europe correspondent Zosia Wanat looks under the surface of some of the continent’s most resilient startups.
Based on extensive interviews with Ukrainian founders, the episode reveals how people working in the tech sector — which is so vital to the country’s economy — have battled to keep their businesses alive.
The podcast tells the stories of Ukrainian entrepreneurs in their own words, from colleagues trapped in basements with Russian troops on the streets, to investors pulling funding and big business pivots to stay afloat.
Meet Europe’s biggest competitor to OpenAI
This week we discuss:
01:59: Germany launches €1bn fund for climate and deeptech scaleups
05:33: ‘Good news for startups’ — UK government launches new Science, Innovation and Technology department
07:41: The French spacetech working with Elon Musk’s SpaceX
09:22: Sifted's in-depth spacetech report
10:17: Farming platform Wikifarmer raises €5m
14:12: Three quarters of LGBTQ+ founders hide their identity from investors
18:34: Aleph Alpha believes Europe can compete with OpenAI if it ‘picks its battles’
27:22: Does size really matter? $80bn sextech market still too taboo for VCs
Entrepreneurs are outraged as Tech Nation shuts down after losing government support, leaving talent visa scheme in limbo
This week we discuss:
02:33: PASQAL lands €100m after ‘world-first’ real-life quantum computer use
05:17: Renaissance Fusion raises €15m to develop clean nuclear energy technology
07:27: Monzo revenues surge more than twofold, putting it on track for 2023 profitability
10:42: Tech Nation shutting down as UK government controversially pulls key funding
14:55: France plans to use the startup downturn to come out on top in Europe
22:02: How to raise a $33m Series A during an economic downturn
Interview: Will speedy grocery ever be profitable? Delivery Hero’s Milena Lazarevska, VP of quick commerce
This week we're back with a longer form interview, digging into one of the most hyped tech sectors in recent times: speedy grocery delivery.
After startups in the space raised millions in 2021 — shooting to massive valuations in a matter of months — the bubble has now somewhat burst, as the former superstar Gorillas was sold at a big loss to rival Getir at the end of 2022. Today we're asking whether these services can ever turn a profit, in spite of the big costs associated with getting groceries delivered to people within a 10-minute window.
Our guest to discuss this juicy topic is Delivery Hero’s VP of quick commerce, Milena Lazarevska. Delivery Hero was founded in 2011 and in 2017 the food delivery company floated on the German stock exchange. Today it offers delivery services in more than 70 countries across four continents, and owns brands including Glovo, Foodpanda and Pedidos Ya in Latin America.
Britishvolt has gone bust: what went so wrong?
This week we discuss:
Britishvolt goes into administration
Cazoo's CEO steps down
New technology to store vaccines at room temperature
The startup cleaning up Elon Musk's space junk
Dragon's Den star Steven Bartlett has a new startup
StabilityAI's Emad Mostaque on OpenAI and lawsuits
Digging into FTX's European investments
The former spy who's helping VCs interrogate founders
This week we discuss:
01:08: OXcan raises $3.7m to scale its cancer detection tech
04:35 Autonomous vehicles everywhere: Oxbotica raises $140m
07:54 Checkout.com's latest financial results
10:47 Employee healthcare benefits platform Peppy raises $45m for US expansion
17:28 ‘We can predict behaviour’: The former spook vetting founders on behalf of VCs
This podcast is brought to you by Zendesk for Startups. Zendesk helps startups build lasting customer experiences from day one. With the Zendesk for Startups Program, startups get Zendesk customer support software and CRM for six months FREE of charge. You’ll get access to expert advice and a community of likeminded founders and CX leaders to help you build the foundation for long-term growth. Learn more and claim your 6 months free at zendesk.com/sifted
Generative AI: Why are investors getting so excited?
This week we discuss:
01:45 What are the new EU policies startups should watch out for in 2023?
08:26 Nuclear fusion: The bet that Europe should have won
18:21 Why are VCs getting so excited about generative AI?
This podcast is brought to you by Zendesk for Startups. Zendesk helps startups build lasting customer experiences from day one. With the Zendesk for Startups Program, startups get Zendesk customer support software and CRM for six months FREE of charge. You’ll get access to expert advice and a community of likeminded founders and CX leaders to help you build the foundation for long-term growth. Learn more and claim your 6 months free at zendesk.com/sifted
Interview: Pleo CTO Meri Williams on Elon Musk, unsustainable hiring and diversity in tech
This week we're bringing you a longer form interview with Meri Williams, CTO at Pleo and formerly CTO at Monzo and Healx. Meri's got a reputation for being one of the best in the business at growing and sustaining technical teams at startups and scaleups, and in this episode she gave her opinion on Elon Musk firing half his tech team, how to get engineers to learn soft skills and how to hire developers from around the world.
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This podcast is brought to you by Zendesk for Startups. Zendesk helps startups build lasting customer experiences from day one. With the Zendesk for Startups Program, startups get Zendesk customer support software and CRM for six months FREE of charge. You’ll get access to expert advice and a community of likeminded founders and CX leaders to help you build the foundation for long-term growth. Learn more and claim your 6 months free at zendesk.com/sifted.
Checkout.com is no longer Europe’s most valuable startup
This week we discuss:
01:13 How are startup valuations worked out?
05:54 Basecamp raises $20m to scale its biodiversity tech
09:15 Getir finally acquires Gorillas
12:04 Are all-in-one airport scanners the future of diagnosing illness?
21:46 What challenges are disabled founders facing?
This podcast is brought to you by Zendesk for Startups. Zendesk helps startups build lasting customer experiences from day one. With the Zendesk for Startups Program, startups get Zendesk customer support software and CRM for six months FREE of charge. You’ll get access to expert advice and a community of likeminded founders and CX leaders to help you build the foundation for long-term growth. Learn more and claim your 6 months free at zendesk.com/sifted.
Gorillas investors are having to stump up $100m to have their company bought
This week we discuss:
01:17 Gorillas investors to pay $100m to secure Getir all-stock buyout, sources say
04:40 Online grocer Oda raises €150m but loses its unicorn valuation
08:10 As the speedy grocery giants falter, this startup is backing a sustainable alternative
11:09 The state of European tech 2022: 19 things you need to know
17:06 Autonomous freight startup Einride raises $500m in debt and equity Series C
21:52 ‘It’s like networking on steroids’: Sifted readers share their experiences of startup accelerators
This podcast is brought to you by Zendesk for Startups. Zendesk helps startups build lasting customer experiences from day one. With the Zendesk for Startups Program, startups get Zendesk customer support software and CRM for six months FREE of charge. You’ll get access to expert advice and a community of likeminded founders and CX leaders to help you build the foundation for long-term growth. Learn more and claim your 6 months free at zendesk.com/sifted.
Scammers are increasingly targeting Monzo, Revolut and Starling customers. Why?
This week we discuss:
01:45 Klarna posts big losses in latest financial results
06:19 Scammers increasingly targeting UK neobank customers
10:14 Idris and Sabrina Elba invest in Huel
13:50 The startups fighting the loss of global biodiversity
19:33 The strange world of "alternative business coaches"
This podcast is brought to you by Zendesk for Startups. Zendesk helps startups build lasting customer experiences from day one. With the Zendesk for Startups Program, startups get Zendesk customer support software and CRM for six months FREE of charge. You’ll get access to expert advice and a community of likeminded founders and CX leaders to help you build the foundation for long-term growth. Learn more and claim your 6 months free at zendesk.com/sifted.
Interview: Danny Rimer from Index Ventures on crypto, pay rises and investing in Figma
This week we've got a bonus episode for you, recorded while Amy was off at the Slush startup conference in Helsinki. It's a conversation with veteran tech investor and Index Ventures partner Danny Rimer, who's sat on the boards of household name companies like Dropbox, Etsy, Farfetch and Discord. He also led Index's early investment into design software product Figma, which got acquired by Adobe this year for a cool $20bn.
In this episode Danny and Amy discuss layoffs, pay rises, crypto and that Figma deal, plus much more.
This podcast is brought to you by Zendesk for Startups. Zendesk helps startups build lasting customer experiences from day one. With the Zendesk for Startups Program, startups get Zendesk customer support software and CRM for six months FREE of charge. You’ll get access to expert advice and a community of likeminded founders and CX leaders to help you build the foundation for long-term growth. Learn more and claim your 6 months free at zendesk.com/sifted.
FTX fallout hits Europe: Starling clamps down on crypto
This week we discuss:
(04:24) Starling Bank blocks crypto payments in wake of FTX collapse
(06:01) Are we about to see another dot com crash?
(12:27) Tech event Slush revokes award for Russian founder after backlash
(20:47) How has Theranos affected biotech startups?
This podcast is brought to you by Zendesk for Startups. Zendesk helps startups build lasting customer experiences from day one. With the Zendesk for Startups Program, startups get Zendesk customer support software and CRM for six months FREE of charge. You’ll get access to expert advice and a community of likeminded founders and CX leaders to help you build the foundation for long-term growth. Learn more and claim your 6 months free at zendesk.com/sifted.
Interview: Ready Player Me's Timmu Tõke on the metaverse, identity and advice for Mark Zuckerberg
This week we're bringing you the second in our new series of extended interviews with the big names and rising stars of Europe's tech and startup scene.
This episode features a conversation with Timmu Tõke, founder of Ready Player Me — an Estonian company that recently won investment from legendary VC firm Andreessen Horowitz to develop its metaverse-ready avatar technology.
Recorded in the midst of a turbulent time for the metaverse and all things Web3, in this interview Timmu shares his thoughts on what the metaverse might look like, who should govern it and why he thinks Mark Zuckerberg might be barking up the wrong tree.
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This podcast is brought to you by Zendesk for Startups. Zendesk helps startups build lasting customer experiences from day one. With the Zendesk for Startups Program, startups get Zendesk customer support software and CRM for six months FREE of charge. You’ll get access to expert advice and a community of likeminded founders and CX leaders to help you build the foundation for long-term growth. Learn more and claim your 6 months free at zendesk.com/sifted.
Uncovering the Spotify founder's secretive new startup
Why has Kry laid off 300 more employees?
This week we discuss:
00:53 Kry lays off 300 employees
03:52 Monzo staff unionise
07:33 Flying taxi startup raises $300
09:53 Robots in demand as energy prices soar
12:57 What's been going down at Web Summit?
Will Rishi Sunak be good for UK tech?
This week we discuss:
01:58 Will Rishi Sunak, the UK’s new prime minister, be good for startups?
05:56 Damning stats reveal gender pay gap at European startups
09:18 Daye raises £10 for vaginal microbiome testing
12:20 H2 Green Steel secures €3.5bn in debt to build hydrogen steel plant
14:47 Alt meat startup Heura raises €20m
16:52 Paebbl raises €8m to turn captured carbon into cement
18:42 Can private jets really be good for the environment?
19:50 A lack of lab space is threatening UK biotech
Interview: EQT Growth partner Carolina Brochado on the advice she's giving portfolio companies now and the craziest thing she did to win a deal (which she didn’t ultimately win)
This week, we're treating you to something a little bit different. Eleanor's joined by EQT Growth partner Carolina Brochado, who recently launched a new €2.4bn fund to back later-stage European startups. That's not her only heavyweight credential: before joining EQT, Carolina was a partner at both the SoftBank Vision Fund and Atomico.
They talk about how she’s works with her portfolio companies, how far European tech has come and how she tried (and failed), somewhat creatively, to win a spot on Deliveroo’s cap table back in the day.
Gorillas is getting sold at a slashed valuation — who's losing the most money?
This week we discuss:
02:01 Who would lose most in a Gorillas sale?
04:41 N26 reports widening losses
06:57 Amazon aggregators get sued
09:55 AI investment is down
13:02 Tech to make us age slower
19:30 Spain gets its 10th unicorn
Zuckerberg's metaverse plans get slammed by Herman Narula of Improbable (Live at the Sifted Summit)
This week we discuss:
03:19 Metaverse platform Improbable has raised $100m
10:15 Faux foie gras startup Gourmey raises €48m
13:15 New Paris-based VC fund Sista Fund launches
26:55 How can all startups help the green transition?
The carbon-light website agency mentioned by Tessa Clarke: Wholegrain
A breakthrough for self-driving cars, but will regulators spoil the party?
Klarna job losses climb to 800 in 2022 as the company cuts more roles
This week we discuss:
03:04 More layoffs at Klarna
03:54 Insect cultivation startup Innovafarm raises $260m
05:35 Equity management platform Ledgy raises $22m
07:00 B2B payments startup Sequence gets backing from Andreessen Horowitz
09:16 Glovo founder launches new VC fund as his company is fined €79m
11:58 Founder of collapsed energy company Bulb joins investment firm
14:10 Nato launches €1bn VC fund as "defence tech" heats up
21:03 Do we really need pets in the metaverse?
Mass layoffs at Cazoo as the company shuts down its EU operations
This week we discuss:
01:00 Secondhand car marketplace Cazoo to lay off 1,500 people in 2022
03:15 Presentation software startup Pitch laying off 30% of team
05:55 Vertical farming startup Infarm cuts 50 jobs
07:35 Northzone raises €1bn fund
10:00 EQT raises €2.4bn growth fund
12:24 SunRoof raised €15m to build solar roofs
20:17 Inside Europe’s largest cannabis manufacturing facility
Why did Snap shut down the French social app Zenly?
This week we discuss:
1:49 Sorare lands huge NBA deal
6:00 Code First Girls raises £4.5m to make coding more diverse
9:40 Lightyear raises €81m to get its solar-powered car on the road
11:57 Former Revolut big cheese Alan Chang’s Tesseract raises $78m for climate startup
16:00 Have we finally cracked lithium ion battery recycling"?
18:07 Why did Snap shut down French social app Zenly?
Want to talk to Freya Pratty about climate tech? Email her at freya@sifted.eu
The mystery of the vanishing investor
This week we discuss:
02:00 Klarna losses triple in first half of 2022
04:14 Topi raises $45m to rent hardware and cut down on e-waste
07:30 Neurofenix raises $7m to help stroke patients recover
09:57 The mystery VC fund that never delivered
Please take our listener survey! You get a month's Sifted membership for free, and we'd love to learn more about our listeners:
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Is Babylon going to be booted off the New York Stock Exhange?
This week we discuss:
2:26: Poland’s Inovo raising €100m third fund for CEE startups
5:49 Dragon’s Den star Steven Bartlett’s Web3 startup bags $24m
8:35 The startup that could slash the cost of EV batteries
10:23 Is Babylon Health going to get kicked off the NYSE?
15:30 The world’s most advanced consumer-ready AI assistant?
Please take our listener survey! You get a month's Sifted membership for free, and we'd love to learn more about our listeners:
bit.ly/siftedpodcast
Why Robinhood tanked a crypto app’s valuation to re-enter the UK
This week we discuss:
(03:09) Crypto app Ziglu’s valuation slashed in Robinhood buyout
(06:06) Microverse doubles valuation as demand for remote coding course soars
(09:30) Ukraine tech companies in urgent need of financial support
(12:31) Why startups need to lobby more
(19:45) Mental health for startup employees — what's going wrong?
Please take our listener survey! You get a month's Sifted membership for free, and we'd love to learn more about our listeners:
bit.ly/siftedpodcast
Klarna in crisis? Why normal folks are still investing
This week we discuss:
(01:34) After months of missed payroll and unpaid refunds, events company Pollen enters administration
(03:41) German digital bank Nuri files for insolvency
(05:10) Klarna’s valuation has plummeted — but people are still investing <link coming soon!>
(07:44) Elon Musk has $80m to fund a carbon removal startup
(12:35) What happens when you let 100 scientists run wild in a Belgian castle? Bootleg vodka and time travel
Please take our listener survey! You get a month's Sifted membership for free, and we'd love to learn more about our listeners:
bit.ly/siftedpodcast
\Gorillas: €60m burn rate, big cash bailouts and a looming downround
Please take our listener survey! You get a month's Sifted membership for free, and we'd love to learn more about our listeners:
bit.ly/siftedpodcast
This week we discuss:
(03:20) Gorillas is set to raise $250m in funding from existing investors at a reduced valuation
(06:13) Cornerstone VC has just raised a £20m fund to back diverse early-stage UK founders
(09:37) Cera raises £260m, Europe’s biggest round ever in the elderly care sector
(12:12) A new wave of European fintechs are taking on the fractional ownership real estate model
(17:13) What’s it like working as a food delivery rider in extreme heat?
\The next Tesla: could this startup birth the next era of Musk rivals?
Please take our listener survey! You get a month's Sifted membership for free, and we'd love to learn more about our listeners:
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This week we discuss:
(01:53) Germany pledges €30bn to startups in new policy roadmap
(06:26) IQM Computing raises Europe's largest quantum round ever
(08:24) Could this photonics startup birth the next generation of Tesla rivals
(11:20) A new app promises more pay transparency for gig workers
(18:24) What's it like going to an exclusive, members only crypto club?
\Should your boss pay your energy bills?
Please take our listener survey! You get a month's Sifted membership for free, and we'd love to learn more about our listeners:
bit.ly/siftedpodcast
This week we discuss:
(02:06) Starling Bank hits profitability
(05:55) Maria Raga steps down as Depop CEO
(07:43) Amazon aggregators lay off staff en masse
(09:55) Can augmented reality save the global manufacturing industry?
(13:47) Should your boss pay your energy bills?
\Raids and possible “cartels”: Inside the latest Glovo drama
This week we discuss:
(2:59) Take our listener survey for a month of free membership!
(03:05) Klarna’s valuation was slashed to $6.7bn
(6:15) The latest in big layoffs: Hopin has let go 29% of its workforce this month and Babylon is planning on cutting 100 jobs
(9:15) Glovo is raided by the European Commission amid concerns the company may have operated in a “cartel”
(16:48) Pollen is being accused of missing payroll and not refunding customers
\Gorillas’ latest scandal — will their riders ever get paid?
This week we discuss:
(02:38) Two new climate tech funds, Climentum and AENU, launch
(06:29) Quantum-as-a-service startup Oxford Quantum Circuits raises £38m
(07:46) More than 100 Gorillas riders lose their jobs, with many saying they haven't been paid
(11:50) What's it like to launch a business with your sibling?
(17:29) Glastonbury and a festival in the metaverse, compared
\The EU's big new plan for tech innovation
\From near death to an $80m Series E: How Omio survived
On this week's show:
02:20 — Idoven raises $19.8m to scale it's AI heart disease detection tech
05:00 — Kranus Health raises $6.5m to build the “viagra of digital therapy”
09:45 — Europe's top "digital nomad villages"
17:26 — How did travel booking site Omio rise from the ashes, after nearly being snuffed out by the pandemic
\Can N26 be trusted? A rare interview with the founder
On this week's show:
03:22 — SoftBank backs Proximie in $80m round for AR surgery
06:00 — Epoch Biodesign has raised $11m to grow its plastic-eating enzymes tech
09:38 — What's going on in European tech hiring?
11:32 — Fintech reporter Amy O'Brien discusses a rare interview with N26 CEO Valentin Stalf
15:46 — Nathan Benaich talks about his research into why European universities aren't producing top tech companies at the same rate as the US
Links:
https://sifted.eu/articles/proximie-softbank-80m-surgery/
https://sifted.eu/articles/epoch-biodesign-enzyme-plastic-waste/
https://sifted.eu/articles/uk-tech-job-listings-down/
https://sifted.eu/articles/n26-culture-fraud-valentin-stalf/
https://sifted.eu/articles/university-spinout-startups/
\Will Gorillas survive this week’s C-suite exodus?
Amy is joined this week by our producer, Tim! First up, we’re chatting about big raises in crypto and the EU’s Ukrainian relief fund. Berlin correspondent Miriam Partington joins us to tell all about speedy grocery company Gorillas’ very rough week. Next, we discuss the founders trying to improve treatments for women’s health issues, from sustainable menstrual cups to 3D-printed breast implants for breast cancer survivors.
The articles we discuss:
https://sifted.eu/articles/crypto-payments-startup-fung-regulation/
https://sifted.eu/articles/web2-web3-fintech/
https://sifted.eu/articles/felix-capital-600m-fund/
https://sifted.eu/articles/eu-fund-ukrainian-startups/
S2 E14 \Customer scandal surrounds elite event company Pollen
This week on the show we’re talking to Freya Pratty about her joint investigation with Éanna Kelly into Pollen, an elite events company with heavy investor backing. We’ll hear about its angry customers who claim they’re owed thousands, and what Pollen has to say about it. We’re also finding out what European startup employees really think of their “ill equipped” bosses, and hearing about some of the continent’s top companies raking in investment this week.
The stories we discuss:
Florence: https://sifted.eu/articles/florence-care-startup-raise/
Hoxhunt: https://sifted.eu/articles/cybersecurity-hoxhunt-raises-series-b/
Foodack: https://sifted.eu/articles/foodhack-raises-1m-angellist/
Britishvolt: https://sifted.eu/articles/britishvolt-scale-up-gigafactory-batteries/
Pollen: https://sifted.eu/articles/pollen-refunds-events/
Startup managers: https://sifted.eu/articles/startup-managers-good-bad/
S2 E13 \Mass layoffs are here — who's been hit?
Some of Europe's best known tech companies have cut thousands of staff this week, as the economic slowdown arrives on the continent.
On the pod we discuss who's been hit hardest so far, how startups can best survive the storm, and what's in store for buy now, pay later startups, with credit becoming more expensive as interest rates rise.
The stories we discuss:
Tech company layoffs in Europe 2022: listed https://bit.ly/3sYnsSq
The European startups still hiring despite the tech downturn https://bit.ly/3MVpWJA
Grocery delivery startup Zapp in talks to lay off 10% of its staff https://bit.ly/3yXAG5W
Burn rate & layoffs: Is grocery delivery startup Gorillas struggling? https://bit.ly/3lK6Nyf
Klarna lays off 10% of its team amid valuation crunch https://bit.ly/3wRxwOn
Can Klarna and its rivals survive an economic downturn? https://bit.ly/38PiXmo
How to prepare for a downturn https://bit.ly/3PGBClf
Startup Life newsletter https://bit.ly/3a0Zcsx
S2 E12 \The billionaire betting big on psychedelics
It’s our first real, live billionaire guest… Christian Angermayer, founder of ATAI Life Sciences, a startup that seeks to treat mental health disorders with psychedelics. But first, hear all about the four Polish grandpas who founded a quantum science startup because "retirement is boring”. We also called Miriam Partington, our Berlin correspondent, on a new movement coming out of Germany, called steward ownership, that promises startups an alternative to giving over equity and control of their company.
S2 E11 \Tech stocks are crashing — what does it mean for startups?
Public markets are down and tech company stocks are no exception. How will the slump affect VC behaviour, and how should startups prepare for what's coming? We also ask whether NFT sports card platform Sorare is really worth $4.3bn and Amy, recording from the basement of Switzerland's FoodHack conference, gets her hands on some man made honey and fungal bratwurst.
S2 E10 \Wise, Bolt and Skype: How Estonia churns out unicorns
We're live from Estonia! The Sifted Podcast recorded an extra special episode in front of an audience at our Sifted Sessions \Tallinn. This week we're talking about how a tiny country in the Baltics created global companies like Skype and Wise. Joining Amy on stage were Sifted reporter Anisah Osman Britton, Kaidi Ruusalepp, president of the Estonian Founders Society, and Triin Hertmann, founder of sustainable investment platform Grünfin.
S2 E9 \The fintech targeting… seafarers?
This week, Amy calls in from Riga, and tells us about the Latvian startups she’s met at TechChill — turns out wind-turbine-fixing robots are big business! We discuss the latest in startup news, including the ‘world’s largest’ facility opening for cow-free milk and on-demand tailoring app Sojo raising £. After that, we talk to fintech reporter Amy O’Brien about the latest wave of fintechs targeting underserved communities, including migrants, international workers and… seafarers! Finally, Amy (Lewin — not O'Brien) interviews Nord Security cofounder and co-CEO Tom Okman about their recent mammoth $100m raise.
S2 E8 \VC horror stories
Amy’s away this week, so Eleanor is joined by guest host and Sifted writer, Éanna Kelly! We’re discussing the juicy investment news of the week, including new funds for university spinouts and Spanish deeptech. Next, we’re talking to our boss, John Thornhill, about what it’s like to be an older entrepreneur. Not that he’s old, of course… and finally, we chat with journalist Kai Nicol-Schwarz about VC horror stories and secondhand fashion marketplaces.
S2 E7 \The NFT bros losing thousands on ape scams
“I’d say probably 70% of NFT people are out to scam”… but how do the heists work? This week, we’re talking to writer Eanna Kelly on the wacky world of NFT scams. We’re also speaking to Germany correspondent Miriam Partington about diversifying the investment landscape, and the hot new German tech startups everyone wants to work for.
S2 EP6 \The metaverse sector actually making money
This week, we’re back and talking to reporter Freya Pratty about all things Co2, from carbon capture to accounting. We ask: is it really possible to clean up our air with machines? We’re also talking to Maija Palmer about a dark horse metaverse application that’s got VCs flinging open their wallets. Finally, we’re discussing the most important meal of the day: lab-grown breakfasts of the future.
S2 EP5 \Claims of toxicity at Glovo: How ‘good vibes’ turned into a ‘nightmare’
This week, in Eleanor's absence, we were joined by a special guest host… journalist-turned-Zapp VP of Strategy, Steve O’Hear! We discuss The Family, France’s most famous incubator whose cofounder has been accused of embezzlement. We also chat to journalist Tim Smith about his reporting on the toxic workplace allegations made against delivery startup Glovo. Finally, we’re discussing journalists’ relationships with tech companies — and one very explosive tweet that started the conversation.
S2 EP4 \Is speedy delivery startup Getir really worth $11.8bn?
This week, we’re talking about Getir, the speedy delivery company which has raised a massive $768m Series E round at a $11.8bn valuation. We ask, is the company really worth all that cash? We’re also speaking to reporter Mimi Billing about social shopping — or shopping-turned-social game — and the Finnish startup trying to bring the Chinese craze to Europe. Finally, we’re discussing our latest coverage on the war in Ukraine, including how Russian founders are reacting.
S2 EP3 \Trouble in bug town: How Brexit squished a startup industry
An episode with no audio issues? It’s true! This week, we’re discussing startups hiring ethical advisory boards — will it help them avoid Big Tech’s big mistakes? We’ll also be speaking to reporter Freya Pratty about how Brexit is squashing the UK’s edible bug industry, and discussing Sifted's most controversial story of the week.
S2 EP2 \International Women's Week and human stories from Ukraine
We're back with episode 2 of the new season of The Sifted Podcast. Cursed by the audio gods, this was a second, DIY attempt at recording the podcast after a studio malfunction, so we apologise for the slightly suboptimal quality this episode (next time will be better, we promise). We didn't want to stop that from sharing some of what's been going on at Sifted this week, including discussion of how our women-led newsroom thinks about diversity, the European startups trying to end Europe's reliance on Russian fossil fuels, and human stories from the tech community in Ukraine.
S2 EP1 \In Ukraine, business isn’t as usual
We’re back with season two — but we now look a bit different. Each week, Sifted editor Amy Lewin and deputy editor Eleanor Warnock will bring you the latest news coming from Europe’s tech and startup sector. In this first episode, we’ll be discussing the events unfolding in Ukraine and how they’re affecting local businesses and the people that work for them. We’ll hear from Ivan Babichuk, VP engineering of tech company EduNav, based in the western Ukrainian town of Lviv, and our journalists who've been looking into how Europe's tech community are responding to the crisis.
S1 EP4 \Audio erotica and the orgasm gap
For years, squeamish — and typically male — VCs have avoided the topic of women’s sexual health. But a new wave of women-led audio erotica startups are here leading a quiet revolution in the world of pleasure and sexual wellbeing. In episode 4, we’ll hear from Sifted’s Germany correspondent Miriam Partington, Julie Lepique, cofounder and CEO of sensual audio platform Femtasy, and Andrea Oliver Garcia, founder of audio intimate wellbeing startup Emjoy. We’ll also hear from an audio advertising startup founder who will try to convince 5-year-old Eliza to invest in his business in the latest edition of Baby Shark Tank.
S1 EP3 \Neobanks and millennial millionaires
Europe’s millennials are starting to get rich — with many cashing in on the continent’s fast-growing tech sector — and entrepreneurs are seeing dollar signs. In episode 3, we take you on a journey into the minds of the next generation of high-net-worth individual, and hear what they want from a digital bank. Think Coutts, oak-panelled walls, cigar smoking financiers, Switzerland — but all in one handy app on your phone. We’ll also hear from a less-than-impressed Eliza in Baby Shark Tank, who grills a Swiss digital private bank founder on how he’s really going to make all her dreams come true.
S1 EP2 \Psychedelics and startup spiritualism
Psychedelics aren’t only about getting high, and a new wave of startups is here that’s all about using natural and synthetic drugs to tackle the globe’s growing mental health crisis. In episode two, we’ll speak to Sifted Iberian correspondent Tim Smith about how psychedelics got from Ancient Greece to the VC boardroom. We'll also hear from a founder who took his employees off on a team-building psychedelic retreat that almost went very, very wrong. Finally, 5-year-old Eliza will grill a magic mushroom startup CEO in our second episode of Baby Shark Tank.
S1 EP1 \Drones and nappy cream
Oranmore is just like any other sleepy Irish town — except for the fact that everything is delivered by futuristic drones. During lockdown, Oranmore became the testing bed for Manna Aero, a drone delivery startup that promises candy, curry and hot coffee to your door in a matter of minutes. In this first episode, we’ll hear from Sifted innovation editor Maija Palmer, Manna Aero founder Bobby Healy and the Oranmore locals who are the guinea pigs for this frontier technology. You’ll also hear from 5-year-old Eliza, who will grill Healy on his business model in our first episode of Baby Shark Tank.
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