This week, Daphné Leprince-Ringuet is joined by head of research Jonathan Sinclair and senior reporter Kai Nicol-Schwarz to unpack the state of AI in Europe.

Funding for European AI-native companies has nearly doubled to €8.9bn this year, and acquisitions hit a record high of 18 last month — all while valuations continue to climb. But do the numbers tell the full story?

The trio digs into insights from Sifted’s inaugural AI ranking, alongside recent reporting, to explore questions like: Should France still be considered Europe’s AI hub? Why do 95% of GenAI pilots fail at big corporations? And when is the AI bubble going to burst?

Read the report here: https://sifted.eu/rankings/ai-100-2025

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This week host Amy Lewin sits down with Erin Platts, CEO of Octopus Ventures. Erin joined Octopus at the beginning of this year after a two decade stint at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), where she oversaw UK operations throughout its dramatic collapse in 2023.

Erin walks Amy through the climactic weekend that SVB went under, revealing what really happened behind the scenes as industry partners scrambled to keep startups’ cash safe.

The pair also dig into the state of venture in the UK, including the ups and downs faced by Octopus Titan, the £1.4bn listed fund that’s shed almost £600m in value since 2021 — and how Erin plans to steady the ship.

They also discuss her views on the Mansion House Accord, her role on the UK government’s industry taskforce and why Octopus Ventures has experienced such high churn in recent years.

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This week it’s another special episode recorded live at the Sifted Summit, with host Amy sitting down with Sequoia Capital’s Luciana Lixandru.

Luciana, who established the legendary Silicon Valley firm's presence in Europe in 2020, discusses the continent’s “Act Two”, and ambitions to build $100bn companies. She talks about what Sequoia looks for in founders, how to build a defensible AI business and why she believes London is becoming the centre of Europe’s AI renaissance.

Luciana and Amy also discuss the resurgence of robotics, why fintech still matters and how founders can balance building in Europe with winning in the US.

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This week it's the first in a series of special episodes recorded in front of a live audience at the Sifted Summit, and we're kicking off with a bang: a fireside discussion between former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Sifted's founder and editorial director John Thornhill.

They discuss the ongoing AI revolution, with Eric arguing that the technology is actually undervalued today, and why "industrial" bubbles can actually be a good thing after they burst. He also talks about what the rest of the world can learn from Ukraine when it comes to automation in the defence sector, and about how Europe can compete on the global stage in the new AI economy.

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This week the Sifted Podcast comes to you live from Italian Tech Week, where Amy sat down with Milda Jasaitė, the head of second-hand marketplace Vinted's new investment arm: Vinted Ventures.

It's fairly unusual in Europe for a startup like Vinted, that's only been profitable for a couple of years, to launch a venture arm but, as Milda explains, it's a trend that's far more common in the US.

They discuss why a relatively young startup needs an investment arm and the kinds of companies that Milda is looking to back.

They also get into how being representing her nation as an ice hockey player makes her a better professional, what can be done to get more women into senior leadership positions and onto company boards — and how Lithuania's startup scene is shaping up.

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On this week’s Newsroom episode, where we ask our journalists what they’re hearing as they report on Europe’s tech industry, Amy's joined by senior reporter Anne Sraders.

Anne reports on one of the continent’s most hyped sectors: defence tech, a market that is booming as governments put large sums of cash behind plans to rearm in the face of increasing Russian aggression. Meanwhile, Amy has been at Resilience, a conference full of startups, soldiers and spies who are all figuring out which new technologies will be assisting Europe’s militaries in the coming years.

They discuss why the VC herd is flocking around drone startups — and where they could be looking instead; the companies trying to future proof European supply chains; and just how likely it is that significant public money will flow into innovative startups, rather than the big primes.

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This week Amy is joined by Zoe Hewitt, VP of talent at legendary Silicon Valley VC firm Sequoia, where she helps its portfolio companies find and hire talent based in Europe.

That makes her one of the continent's best informed people as to what is going on with tech talent today, in a world where startups and scaleups are ripping up the hiring rulebook, as AI changes the art of company building.

Zoe knows where top talent wants to work, how to spot a future founder, what 'the office of the CEO' really means and which roles are most in-demand (and highly remunerated!)

In this episode she unpacks why management layers are thinning, how the role of CEO is changing and gives her tips for founders and tech employees wondering how to future-proof themselves in a fast-changing world of work.

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Ever fancied hearing Brad Pitt speak flawless Mandarin? That’s the kind of trick Synthesia’s hyper-realistic video avatars can pull off.

The London-based unicorn, which uses generative AI to make videos for corporate training and internal comms, has been a big hit among enterprise users — its customer list includes more than 80% of the Fortune 100, and it hit $100m ARR in April this year.

It seems to be a pretty solid business model — and investors certainly like it. But where will the company take its technology next, how safe are its avatars from deepfake misuse and when might it brave an IPO?

CEO Victor Riparbelli isn’t shy about sharing his views on that front, recently declaring the London Stock Exchange a “complete disaster.”

On this week’s episode, host Amy and senior reporter Kai Nicol-Schwarz put Synthesia’s avatars to the test, dig into its move into agentic AI and ask what, if anything, could go wrong for the AI unicorn.

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Mike Turner, partner at law firm Latham and Watkins, has a bird’s eye view of Europe’s startup ecosystem: which sectors are on the up and which are on the down; which VCs play nice and which don’t; and why more and more founders are getting edged out of their companies.

On this week’s episode of the podcast, Mike sits down with host Amy to discuss why climate tech's monetisation model remains unknown, the growth in strategic buyers’ M&A activity and how European governments will react to sovereign wealth funds turning up on startups’ cap tables.

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

It’s no surprise everyone wants a piece of Lovable founder and CEO Anton. Last month, just eight months after its launch, Lovable was crowned Europe’s newest unicorn when it raised $200m at a $1.8bn valuation, and hit $100m ARR. 

On this week’s episode of the podcast, Anton sits down with host Amy to discuss the company's push into enterprise, hiring mistakes he’s made and the challenges of building Europe’s startup du jour in public.

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