Amy Lewin
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amyrlewin.bsky.social
Amy Lewin
@amyrlewin.bsky.social
Editor of Sifted, covering startups and tech, backed by the FT | amy@sifted.eu | For our latest, greatest stories, sign up to our newsletters: https://sifted.eu/newsletters
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👋 I'm Amy, editor of Sifted, the *best* publication covering startups and tech in Europe.

I host our podcast and write a weekly newsletter on the trends shaping (and the gossip circulating in) Europe's venture capital industry. Sign up here: sifted.eu/newsletters
Reposted by Amy Lewin
Punchy interview with LocalGlobe's Saul Klein on the meh-ness of unicorns, the importance of ARR and the need for UK institutional investors to get serious about tech (see below)

sifted.eu/articles/sau...
@amyrlewin.bsky.social @sifted.eu
September 3, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Scoop: Long-running tech event TNW is shutting down, along with the media arm of its business

sifted.eu/articles/the...
The Next Web conference shuts down
The Amsterdam tech conference won’t be back in 2026 — and the TNW media business will also be winding down this month
sifted.eu
September 5, 2025 at 2:33 PM
New: Baillie Gifford writes up investment in Bending Spoons by 89%, as the Italian app developer and acquirer raises further funding for acquisitions

sifted.eu/articles/bai...
Baillie Gifford writes up investment in Bending Spoons by 89%, as company raises further funding for acquisitions
Baillie Gifford has written up its stake in Italian app developer Bending Spoons, as the startup raises further funding for acquisitions
sifted.eu
March 27, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Reposted by Amy Lewin
Meet the UK and Ireland’s fastest-growing startups in 2025! 🇬🇧

We're back with our second annual Sifted 100: UK & Ireland Leaderboard, in partnership with Marriott Harrison — a ranking of the 100 fastest-growing startups by revenue growth.

See the rising stars: sifted.eu/intelligence...
March 26, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Founders: why you've got to be more selfish

sifted.eu/articles/fou...
Founders: be more selfish
Running yourself into the ground by doing everything will hurt you — and your startup — in the long-term, so founders: be more selfish
sifted.eu
February 5, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Amy Lewin
New: Octopus Energy has recorded its second year of profitability, despite a dip in revenues. Its tech arm, Kraken (which files separate accounts) saw profits increase 480%.

sifted.eu/articles/oct...
Octopus Energy turns profit for second year running as its tech arm surges
London-based energy supplier Octopus Energy recorded its second year of profit. company’s tech arm, Kraken, saw significant growth in 2024.
sifted.eu
February 4, 2025 at 11:06 AM
A16z has ramped up its scout presence in Europe, despite closing its London crypto office last week.

I tracked down at least a dozen scouts in Europe — and found out what their 'deal' is: sifted.eu/articles/a16...
A16z ramps up scout presence in Europe, despite closing London crypto office
US VC giant Andreessen Horowitz has been ramping up its scout network in Europe over recent months, despite closing its London office
sifted.eu
January 30, 2025 at 7:54 AM
PEOPLE MOVE: Starling Bank has appointed former OVO Energy Joe Gordon chief operating officer as its new COO

sifted.eu/articles/sta...
Starling shake-up: CEO poaches former OVO Energy teammate to oversee neobank's operations
It’s the second c-suite hire new CEO Raman Bhatia has made this month.
sifted.eu
January 29, 2025 at 11:26 AM
"In every business I’ve worked or consulted for, the customer support team has always been located in a literal — or metaphysical — basement. Undervalued and overlooked."

In the AI era, is that about to change?

Olio founder Tessa Clarke thinks so:

sifted.eu/articles/cus...
Customer support’s hot: How AI is changing who’s most valuable in tech
Will customer support leapfrog from tech's most undervalued department to most valued department this year? Tessa Clarke thinks so
sifted.eu
January 29, 2025 at 9:33 AM
“Knowing what I know now, I would have never taken Mubadala as an investor,” speedy grocery upstart Getir's founder Nazim Salur tells Sifted. 🍿

sifted.eu/articles/get...
Inside the bitter courtroom drama between Getir founders and lead investor Mubadala: ‘It’s a coup’
A Dutch court found on Friday that Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala had acted in the interests of speedy grocery giant Getir.
sifted.eu
January 29, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Reposted by Amy Lewin
New: European tech VCs and founders are wrestling with what the surprise success of China's AI startup DeepSeek means for startups on the continent... More on @sifted.eu sifted.eu/articles/dee...
DeepSeek gives Europe's AI startups a reality check
The company spooked the markets with the release of a high-performing, low-cost chatbot.
sifted.eu
January 28, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Nearly 80% of tech companies are considering a secondary share sale in the next year.

The findings follow a spate of fintech secondaries last year — with Revolut, Monzo and Tide all letting employees sell shares.

sifted.eu/articles/tec...
Nearly 80% of tech companies are considering a secondary share sale in the next year
Equity management platform Ledgy surveyed 2,550 respondents in Europe, the UK and the US — and found that tech companies are keen on secondaries
sifted.eu
January 28, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Exclusive: Internal documents reveal how the UK government spent *five* years luring Andreessen Horowitz to London.

Now, just over a year after opening their office, they're gone.

sifted.eu/articles/and...
Internal documents reveal how the UK spent years luring Andreessen Horowitz to London: 'Most crypto firms have left'
Internal documents reveal the UK government spent years luring VC giant Andreessen Horowitz to London before it ditched the city for Trump.
sifted.eu
January 28, 2025 at 9:26 AM
In news that may surprise nobody, Andreessen Horowitz is closing its UK office and pivoting back to the US crypto market

sifted.eu/articles/and...
Andreessen Horowitz closes UK office, pivots back to US crypto market
The US VC firm previously told Sifted that it was ‘all-in on the UK’.
sifted.eu
January 24, 2025 at 5:34 PM
A true Friday story from @freyapratty.bsky.social

Founder dresses as burglar to troll corporate rival: ‘I’m ready to embarrass myself’

sifted.eu/articles/gus...
Founder dresses as burglar to troll corporate rival: ‘I’m ready to embarrass myself’
Inspired by viral YouTuber MrBeast, founder Giuseppe Baidoo took the streets to stand up for his snack startup Gusto.
sifted.eu
January 24, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Ledger founder David Balland was kidnapped this week in France — and has now been released

sifted.eu/articles/dav...
January 24, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Startups are increasingly acting like PE buyout firms – here’s why

sifted.eu/articles/sta...
Startups are acting like PE buyout firms – here’s why
European startups are increasingly buying up care homes, vet practices and dentists, then using their software to run them
sifted.eu
January 22, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Reposted by Amy Lewin
Elon Musk’s rise to the role of “chief buddy” under Donald Trump’s second White House administration has stirred division among European tech leaders, with some calling for the EU to adopt his deregulatory agenda.

sifted.eu/articles/elo...
‘We need a DOGE for Europe!’ Elon Musk’s White House takeover inspires – and divides – Europe’s tech leaders
The Tesla mogul's White House takeover has stirred division among Europe’s tech elites, prompting some to pick a side.
sifted.eu
January 20, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Founder salaries jumped up across Europe last year, with the median salary doubling for bootstrapped founders, according to a new report from VC firm Creandum.

sifted.eu/articles/sta...
January 13, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by Amy Lewin
Does Europe need to be more like the US to build global champions? The debate has intensified at a time where Europe's economic progress has stagnated and countries are battling to dominate the next wave of critical technology. More in the Sifted Daily: sifted.eu/articles/eur...
Does Europe need to be more like the US?
In 2024, the squabbling on LinkedIn about which place was better to start a business seemed to be taken up a notch.
sifted.eu
January 9, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by Amy Lewin
Northvolt's bankruptcy leaves its sister project Stegra (formerly H2 Green Steel) as Europe's flagship green infra project.

I chatted to Stegra about whether Northvolt's fate has scared off the banks, Stegra's expansion plans and its hopes to mop up Northvolt talent:

sifted.eu/articles/ste...
'We're fully financed' says Northvolt's sister company Stegra
Northvolt’s collapse leaves Stegra as Europe’s largest and best funded climate tech company, with €6.5bn raised to date.
sifted.eu
January 9, 2025 at 11:29 AM
The tech events we'll be heading to in 2025 😎

sifted.eu/articles/tec...
The tech events Sifted will be attending in 2025
Europe has plenty of tech and startup events — here are the 20+ events that the Sifted editorial team is (currently) planning to attend in 2025.
sifted.eu
January 8, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Reposted by Amy Lewin
New: Checkout.com saw losses balloon 73% to $306m at its UK entities in 2023, filings show.

Revenues from processing payments dropped after severing ties with “a large merchant”, thought to be crypto exchange Binance.

sifted.eu/articles/che...
Checkout.com saw losses balloon 73% to $306m in 2023
Checkout.com, one of Europe’s most valuable startups, saw losses at its UK entities balloon 73% to $306m in 2023, its financial filings show.
sifted.eu
January 2, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Sifted's most-read stories of 2024 👇

Feat. a whole lot of AI, and sprinkling of drama

sifted.eu/articles/sif...
Sifted’s most-read stories of 2024
AI, acquisitions and founder fallouts all made the cut among the stories that caught Sifted readers' attention in 2024.
sifted.eu
December 23, 2024 at 11:28 AM
How much does it cost to actually run a VC fund?

Carmen Alfonso Rico from Cocoa breaks it down for @sifted.eu 👇

This is *such* a useful piece:

sifted.eu/articles/ops...
The things nobody told me about launching a fund: The ops and costs of running a first fund
Cocoa's Carmen Alfonso Rico shares everything she's learnt about the operational costs of running a first-time VC fund.
sifted.eu
December 18, 2024 at 11:44 AM