The week's news · new episode 22 Oct 2026
Startup Europe
Hosted by Sifted
European startups and venture, from Sifted's reporters.
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Investors named as guests in the most episode titles on Startup Europe.
Every episode 186 · page 1 of 7
- 186Meet Aaron Rosenberg: The man DeepMind researchers call before they quit22 Oct 2026 · 48 minDemis HassabisGoogle▶
About this episode
With former DeepMind researchers raising record sums for their own startups, few investors are better placed than Aaron Rosenberg. Once Demis Hassabis’s deputy and later head of strategy and operations at Google DeepMind, he now leads Canadian firm Radical Ventures’ UK presence and runs a 70+-member London alumni…
- 185Harry Stebbings on 996 regrets, political ambitions and building a personal brand16 Oct 2026 · 38 minHarry StebbingsHSBC▶
About this episode
Harry Stebbings needs little introduction. The founder of 20VC has built a venture and media empire, and a reputation for punchy takes. Among the most memorable: London is overrun by phone snatchers, the best founders have experienced some form of childhood trauma and people should be working 9am to 9pm, six days a…
- 184Nick Clegg on Europe, AI and big tech14 Oct 2026 · 35 min▶
About this episode
Few people have seen tech policy from as many angles as Nick Clegg. He spent five years as the UK’s deputy prime minister, then seven inside Meta as president of global affairs, defending Silicon Valley to the regulators he used to sit alongside. At Sifted Summit, Clegg sat down with Sifted founder and FT innovation…
- 183Who are Europe’s fastest-growing companies?2 Oct 2026 · 32 minAccel▶
About this episode
This week at Sifted we launched the Sifted 250, a ranking of the 250 fastest-growing startups by revenue-growth across the continent, as well as a new research report. London-based wellness marketplace Healf was crowned winner, followed by body scanning startup Neko Health and Ghent-based security management…
- 182Is New York warming to European tech?23 Sept 2026 · 18 minBain CapitalBain Capital VenturesFirstMark▶
About this episode
Senior reporter Anne Sraders has just spent two weeks in New York, and one thing was impossible to miss: AI was everywhere. From subway ads to investor breakfasts, it was the only conversation in town. "Everyone wants to find the next Anthropic for every other domain," Abby Meyers of Bain Capital Ventures told Anne.…
- 181Does Europe have a voice in AI safety?15 Sept 2026 · 19 min▶
About this episode
Last week, the resignation of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon catapulted the discussion over AI safety into the mainstream. A thread he posted on X quickly garnered millions of views. “The consensus is that the next year or two is crunch time for humanity,” Coxon later told tech publication Wired. “From [my former…
- 180Is Mistral's monster fundraise a win for European sovereignty?11 Sept 2026 · 21 minHSBCScaleup Europe Fund▶
About this episode
There's been talk all summer about who would fund Mistral's next round. This week it was confirmed: €3bn at a €21bn valuation, co-led by Samsung, the EU's Scaleup Europe Fund and US growth firm PSG Equity. A year ago Mistral was worth €11.7bn. Mistral has always pitched itself as Europe's sovereign alternative to US…
- 179Why Legora isn't building its own model3 Sept 2026 · 18 minAccelGoogle▶
About this episode
Legora has had a busy year. The Swedish legal AI firm raised $550m in March, led by Accel, and has made five acquisitions since January. The company is often pitted against its US rival Harvey. But while the two are comparable in many ways, they diverge on some key things, including whether to build their own AI…
- 178Are the Nordics really on fire?28 Aug 2026 · 18 min▶
About this episode
There’s a lot of talk at the moment about the momentum in the Nordic tech scene. Companies like legal AI firm Legora and vibe coding startup Lovable continue to bring in megarounds. But is the momentum spread across the region, or just confined to Stockholm? The Swedish capital has brought in the majority of…
- 177Domyn CEO Uljan Sharka: ‘We're a few quarters away from $1bn ARR’19 Aug 2026 · 41 minUljan Sharka▶
About this episode
This week on the podcast, host John Thornhill is joined by Uljan Sharka, the founder and CEO of Italian AI unicorn Domyn. Uljan migrated from his home country Albania to Italy back in 2008, without knowing a word of Italian. He soon developed a fascination with tech, later working for Apple in Silicon Valley. In…
- 176European fintech has a culture problem14 Aug 2026 · 19 minJeppe Rindom▶
About this episode
Sifted's fintech reporter Damisola Sulaiman makes her first Sifted podcast appearance to discuss her recent reporting on the culture at Danish fintech Pleo. Interviews with seven former employees revealed a company transformed by the leadership overhaul. They described a tougher management culture, internal friction…
- 175VCs are taking on operator roles. Why?30 Jul 2026 · 12 minHSBCJudith Dada▶
About this episode
VCs taking on interim roles at their portfolio companies is something that’s happened for a long time, as is VCs making the permanent switch to the operator side. But a new trend seems to be gaining steam in Europe: VCs adding a CEO or operator title alongside their investor role, and doing both at the same time.…
- 174Inside Mistral’s monster fundraise and Palantir-like repositioning21 Jul 2026 · 22 min▶
About this episode
Mistral’s latest fundraise has got the ecosystem chattering. The French AI darling is reportedly raising a €3bn Series D round at a valuation of around €20bn. Last week, Sifted broke the news that the EU’s €5bn Scaleup Fund, managed by EQT, is in talks to lead or co-lead the round. This week on the podcast, senior…
- 173Yann LeCun launched a new VC fund, then quit. What happened?15 Jul 2026 · 11 minYann LeCunHiro Capital▶
About this episode
Last Friday, Europe’s tech ecosystem was abuzz with the news AI godfather Yann LeCun was launching an AI VC firm. Then, hours later, he quit. This week on the podcast, reporter Maya Dharampal-Hornby joins host Freya Pratty to discuss the curious tale of Yann LeCun’s shortly-lived firm, Extelligence Invest. The pair…
- 172Liz Kendall: ‘I’d love to stay as UK tech secretary’7 Jul 2026 · 34 min▶
About this episode
Liz Kendall was appointed as the UK's Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology just under a year ago. But will she keep her role under the country's new prime minister? There is one area her views diverge from those of Andy Burnham, widely tipped to be the country's new leader: autonomous vehicles.…
- 171Should the EU block the UK from its €5bn superfund?2 Jul 2026 · 12 min▶
About this episode
The UK is home to the third-highest number of unicorn startups in the world. Does it make sense to lock it out of the EU's new Scaleup Fund? The €5bn fund, which is yet to deploy a cent of capital, has already been through a hotly contested race to find a manager (Swedish firm EQT came out on top), and now it's…
- 170Brent Hoberman on UK tech post-Starmer: 'Are we going to tax everyone to high hell?'25 Jun 2026 · 44 minBrent HobermanFirstminute Capital▶
About this episode
While the UK's tech scene booms, political uncertainty looms. In this week's episode of the Sifted podcast, John Thornhill is joined by serial entrepreneur and investor Brent Hoberman. Brent, who cofounded Lastminute.com in 1998, is one of the UK’s most experienced and best-connected operators. Today, he runs the…
- 169What the Anthropic shutdown means for Europe16 Jun 2026 · 16 min▶
About this episode
Late last week, the European tech ecosystem got a glimpse of a future many had worried about. US AI giant Anthropic announced it had been ordered by the US government to suspend access to its most advanced AI models for foreign nationals. In response, Anthropic cut access to all customers, including those in the US,…
- 168Newton Venture Program CEO Anu Adebajo on Europe’s ‘zombie funds’11 Jun 2026 · 45 minAnu AdebajoAtomicoBritish Business BankHSBC▶
About this episode
This week on the Sifted Podcast, host John Thornhill is joined by Anu Adebajo, former Atomico partner and, as of February this year, CEO of the Newton Venture Program. Launched in 2020 by VC firm Phoenix Court and London Business School, the educational programme aims to train new generations of VC talent, whether…
- 167‘Built in Europe’: Can Balderton’s new campaign spark Europe’s vibe shift?4 Jun 2026 · 16 min▶
About this episode
It’s been a curious fortnight in European tech. There was a fresh bout of anxiety after US AI giant Anthropic announced its latest funding round, which, at $65bn, is nearing the amount raised by the entire European ecosystem last year. But there’s also growing pushback against the doom and gloom. This week, VC firm…
- 166Carissa Véliz on the dangers of predictive AI28 May 2026 · 33 min▶
About this episode
In this episode of the Sifted podcast, host John Thornhill sits down with Carissa Véliz, AI ethicist, philosopher and associate professor at Oxford University to explore how algorithms and data are reshaping our lives and workplaces. Carissa's latest book, Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future ,…
- 165EQT has won the EU's €5bn superfund. Now what?19 May 2026 · 9 minAtomicoEurazeoScaleup Europe Fund▶
About this episode
The competition that captivated European VC has concluded. Earlier this week, the EU chose Swedish investment firm EQT to manage its new €5bn Scaleup Europe Fund after a closely-watched race among the region’s top firms like the UK’s Atomico and France’s Eurazeo. On this week’s, somewhat emergency, episode of the…
- 164James Wise on why the Sovereign AI Unit criticism is wrong – and the one company he wishes he’d backed15 May 2026 · 39 minJames WiseSovereign AIBalderton Capital▶
About this episode
This week on the Sifted Podcast, host John Thornhill is joined by James Wise, partner at Balderton Capital. Since joining the firm in 2012, James has led investments in second-hand shopping platform Depop, AI agent maker Convergence and bank payment fintech GoCardless, as well as AI frontier lab Prior Labs, which was…
- 163Anthropic vs European AI7 May 2026 · 16 min▶
About this episode
On this episode of the Sifted podcast, associate editor Freya Pratty sits down with news editor Martin Coulter, to unpack how Silicon Valley giant Anthropic is making big waves in European tech. The LLM builder and OpenAI rival has released new products that go head-to-head with some of Europe's buzziest AI companies…
- 162Hertility CEO Helen O’Neill on building a foundational model for women’s health30 Apr 2026 · 33 min▶
About this episode
With over 700k women in the UK waiting for gynecological care, why is half the population still so underserved by its health system? Yes, women have historically been left out of clinical trials, but there are logistical reasons as to why, Hertility CEO Helen O’Neill tells host Amy Lewin. “ Collecting data from women…
- 161Wolt CEO and Slush chair Marianne Vikkula on building a superapp, leadership lessons and Slush’s secret sauce23 Apr 2026 · 23 min▶
About this episode
On this episode of the Sifted podcast, host Amy Lewin is joined by Marianne Vikkula, CEO of delivery giant Wolt, one of Europe’s only ‘superapps’, and chair of Slush, the iconic European startup conference. Wolt began life delivering restaurant food to customers in Helsinki, before steadily expanding into…
- 160Could Europe become a world leader in robotics?16 Apr 2026 · 24 min▶
About this episode
What do hazardous inspections, fighting and cooking crêpes have in common? All three are tasks that robots are now capable (ish) of performing. In 2025, equity investment into European robotics startups more than doubled, reaching €1.45bn, and in the first quarter of this year, European robotics startups raised…
- 159Project Europe CEO Kitty Mayo: ‘Harry Stebbings is like our head of state and I’m prime minister’8 Apr 2026 · 40 minHarry StebbingsHSBC▶
About this episode
Last year, Kitty Mayo was catapulted into the public eye when she took the helm of Project Europe. The accelerator, launched to much fanfare by Harry Stebbings and about 200 entrepreneurs, has a bold mission: to support and invest in founders under the age of 25 to build Europe’s next €100bn companies. But, one year…
- 158Tiny VC partner Philipp Moehring on when to take money off the table2 Apr 2026 · 45 minPhilipp MoehringTiny VCAndy Chung▶
About this episode
European seed rounds are ballooning. Last month Yann LeCun’s AMI Labs picked up $1bn at a $3bn valuation while David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence was reported to be raising $1bn at a $4bn valuation. “Thankfully, the billion dollar seed round is not the standard across Europe, yet,” Philipp Moehring tells host…
- 157OpenAI's Laura Modiano on hackathons, Lovable and how startups can partner with the tech giant26 Mar 2026 · 44 minHSBC▶
About this episode
Within a relatively short space of time, Laura Modiano has come to play a fairly unique and valuable role in Europe’s startup scene. Laura, who leads OpenAI’s startup team in Europe, hops from city to city, attending hackathons, events and dinners with Europe’s leading AI companies and investors. This week she sits…
Who the show talks about
Firms named in its episodes, and people named in descriptions: talked about, rather than on the show.
