Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast

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 €522m.
But what’s triggered this uptick?
On this week’s episode of the Sifted podcast, host Amy Lewin is joined by editors Éanna Kelly and Tom Nugent to discuss the booming sector. The trio dig into whether Europe’s robot makers are moving fast enough, and whether everyday consumers will have robots unloading their dishwashers anytime soon.
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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 on, what’s it achieved? What’s been the most unexpected challenge? What will Kitty do differently with the  second fund? And who’s really in charge?

On this episode of the Sifted Podcast, Kitty sits down with host Amy Lewin to discuss all the above, plus: 
The most telling questions on Project Europe’s application form
Who makes the best mentors to founders
Why 996 is “outdated”
Why she’s stopped trying to be likeable 
Why more women shouldn't wait to play before a "perfect system" comes along
This podcast was brought to you by HSBC Innovation Banking.

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 Amy Lewin on this episode of the Sifted podcast. “That would be concerning.”
Philipp started microfund Tiny VC with Andy Chung almost a decade ago to invest in the hottest companies in Europe before anyone else. Its portfolio of 450+ startups includes self-driving car company Wayve, AI-powered video creator Synthesia, legal tech Lawhive and workflow automation platform N8n. 
But unlike many VCs, Tiny doesn’t join boards, or lead rounds and doesn’t really ‘do’ media. It last raised a third £53m fund in 2023, and was crowned 20VC’s ‘top European microfund’ earlier this year.
This week on the podcast, Philipp and Amy discuss:
How VC will change over the next 10 years
When Tiny takes money off the table 
Why young people make awesome founders
Anxiety-inducing LinkedIn posts
And, for better or worse, the return of the tech bro

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 down with host Amy Lewin to discuss what the best startups have in common, how she’s automated her work and what she looks for as an angel investor.
This podcast was brought to you by HSBC Innovation Banking.

This week at Sifted we launched our third UK and Ireland Leaderboard — a ranking of the 100 fastest-growing startups by revenue-growth across these two countries, as well as a new research report, in partnership with law firm Marriott Harrison. 

The timing was fortuitous, given all the ‘Londonmaxxing’ going on at the moment. The capital looks set to have a very strong first quarter of 2026, at least in comparison to its usual competitors Paris and Berlin, with a lot more deals done and equity raised.

On the podcast this week, Amy discusses the findings of the leaderboard — along with why London is ‘in’ again with the tech crowd and why Fuse Energy’s Alan Chang is an amusing person to interview — with her colleagues from Sifted’s Intelligence team, Éanna Kelly and Jonathan Sinclair. 

Read Sifted's interview with Sovereign AI Unit's Joséphine Kant here: https://sifted.eu/articles/josephine-kant-sovereign-ai-unit