News · Europe
Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast
with John Thornhill & Freya Pratty
Sifted's own show on the European startup ecosystem — founders, investors and reporting on companies from a newsroom that covers the continent rather than a single city.
Why an angel should listen
European technology is badly served by American podcasts, which cover it occasionally and usually through a London lens. This is made by a newsroom whose entire beat is the continent, which means the Nordics, the Netherlands, Iberia, France and Germany get treated as places where companies are built rather than as footnotes.
For an angel investing in Europe the practical value is knowing what is being funded and by whom outside your own city. Ecosystems that look similar from the outside behave very differently — the schemes, the exit routes and the investor base in Stockholm, Paris and Madrid have very little in common.
The format combines founder and investor interviews with reported segments on specific companies, so it works as both news and background.
Where to begin
Start with these
- Any episode on an ecosystem you do not invest in, for how different the constraints are.
- The reported company segments rather than the interviews, if you want scepticism.
- Anything on European exit routes, which are the weakest part of the continent's ecosystem and the least discussed.