Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast

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 early-stage VC firm Firstminute Capital and Founders Forum, a global community of entrepreneurs that co-hosts London Tech Week.
John and Brent discuss Keir Starmer's resignation as UK prime minister — less than two years after Labour's landslide 2024 election victory — and whether Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester who looks set to collect the keys to 10 Downing Street in the coming weeks, is likely to bring a new era of socialist politics to the country. Brent also shares how he's changed his mind on "LLM wrapper" companies, the rising scale of ambition on show at London Tech Week and what it is actually like taking a business public.
Disclaimer: Brent is a personal shareholder in Sifted. 
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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, to ensure compliance. 
The move is the first example of the US activating a so-called digital “kill switch” with the potential to disrupt or turn off access to technologies that European organisations heavily depend on to run critical services. 
The restrictions may prove temporary but they’ve caused a big reaction in Europe.
On this week’s episode of the Sifted podcast, host Freya Pratty chats to senior reporter Daphné Leprince-Ringuet about what happened, why it matters and what Europe should do next.
Read our reporting on the ban here: https://sifted.eu/articles/anthropic-kill-switch-european-sovereignty
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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 they are experienced investors or simply exploring new career paths.
Anu began her career in Sheffield in 2012, where she joined a fund and later went into the British Business Bank. After nearly five years, she moved to the LP side, where she personally deployed over £365m into funds, before moving to Atomico where she led its fund of funds strategy.
The pair discuss what LPs want from Europe’s VCs now, how far away a Newton Venture’s fund might be and the dangers of Europe’s re-emerging “boys’ club mentality”.
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Read John’s article about the needs for reinventing VC: https://sifted.eu/articles/vc-needs-to-reinvent-itself
Find out more about Newton Venture Program here: https://newtonprogram.vc/

This podcast was brought to you by HSBC Innovation Banking.

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 Balderton launched its “Built in Europe” campaign, aimed at celebrating the continent’s successes and reshaping the way the ecosystem portrays itself. 
On this week’s episode of the Sifted podcast, host Freya Pratty chats to senior reporter Daphné Leprince-Ringuet and news editor Martin Coulter about whether European tech is finally shaking off its inferiority complex and if a new, more confident narrative can help the ecosystem better compete on the global stage.

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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, describes how ancient oracles, medieval soothsayers and modern-day AIs all tend to tell the powerful what they want to hear. What does that mean, for example, when we apply AIs to hiring and firing decisions at our companies or VCs?
John and Carissa also explore whether tech giants are capable of meaningful self-regulation and what it would look like to build AIs that work for people rather than surveil them.
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