Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast

Get to know the brightest and boldest names in European tech with Sifted’s weekly podcast, hosted by John Thornhill and Freya Pratty. John interviews the founders, operators and investors building Europe’s most exciting startups and Freya, in conversation with Sifted’s expert journalists, pulls back the curtain on the most intriguing companies they’ve been reporting on.

Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Sifted, with 182 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Sifted hosts Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast, a business show with 182 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast

  Who are Europe’s fastest-growing companies?

  Oct 2, 202632 min

  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 platform Aikido. Notion Capital, Accel, YC, BpiFrance and Balderton topped the investor rankings, backing the most companies on the list. On the podcast this week, host Freya Pratty discusses the findings of the leaderboard — including the rise of digital health startups and the emergence of hubs like Oslo and Prague — with her colleague from Sifted’s Intelligence team, Jonathan Sinclair. Read the report here: https://sifted.eu/intelligence/reports/sifted-250-2026 This podcast was brought to you by Stripe.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast

  Is New York warming to European tech?

  Sep 23, 202618 min

  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. And some US investors are looking to Europe's neolabs, from Yann LeCun's AMI Labs to David Silver's Ineffable, to find it. So how do New York VCs really feel about European tech? And what are a16z's plans for Europe after closing its London office? Joining host Freya Pratty on this episode of the Sifted podcast is senior reporter Anne Sraders. The pair also dig into why FirstMark's Matt Turck thinks Europe is underrated, a16z partner Anish Acharya's case for startups that are "unapologetically European", and why some US investors are bullish on the European consumer. Sign up to Anne's newsletter Upround here: https://sifted.eu/newsletters This podcast was brought to you by Stripe.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast

  Does Europe have a voice in AI safety?

  Sep 15, 202619 min

  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 colleagues’] perspective, this is when Anthropic and its competitors decide the fate of humanity.” How is this debate materialising in Europe, where no AI company is pushing the frontier? What are startups’ take on safety and security? And what do investors make of it? Joining host Freya Pratty on this episode of the Sifted podcast is senior reporter Daphné Leprince-Ringuet. The pair also dig into Europe’s rising wave of defensive startups, as well as everyone’s favourite topic: the EU AI Act. Sign up to Daphné’s AI newsletter here: https://sifted.eu/newsletters Are agents moving faster than Europe can regulate them? Read here: https://sifted.eu/articles/ai-agents-anthropic-openai-eu-uk-laws This podcast was brought to you by Stripe.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast

  Is Mistral's monster fundraise a win for European sovereignty?

  Sep 11, 202621 min

  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 AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic. With few European investors capable of meeting its huge capital needs,many were watching closely who the French scaleup would seek money from — and whether the round would preserve the company’s independence. With this trio of co-leads, has Mistral succeeded? What is the significance of bringing on a sizable strategic investor like Samsung, which makes the memory components Mistral's AI runs on? In this episode of the Sifted podcast, host Freya Pratty is joined by senior reporter Daphné Leprince-Ringuet. They discuss who joined Mistral’s round and why Samsung led it and how long Mistral can keep up this fundraising rhythm. They also look at Daphné's scoop on the company's robotics chief raising €200m for his own startup. This podcast was brought to you by HSBC Innovation Banking. Sign up to Sifted's newsletters here: https://sifted.eu/newsletters Check out Sifted Summit here: https://summit.sifted.eu/

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast

  Are the Nordics really on fire?

  Aug 28, 202618 min

  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 funding in the region, thanks to Legora and Lovable, among others. This episode of the Sifted podcast comes live from TechBBQ in Copenhagen, Denmark. Host Freya Pratty is joined by Europe editor Mimi Billing to discuss the wider funding landscape across the Nordics, how Denmark compares to Sweden and what Stockholm is doing that other cities aren’t. Sign to Sifted's newsletters here: https://sifted.eu/newsletters Check out Sifted Summit here: https://summit.sifted.eu/

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.