Sifted is bringing a distinctive European voice to the global tech debate.

We are in beta, so go easy on us. But if you want to help us improve faster, we’d welcome your feedback.

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We’re starting a new conversation.

Beginning with a newsletter (or two), and later a website, we’re going to dive deep into the issues that matter to European startups. Where in-depth, long-form trend reporting is missing, we’ll write it. Where brilliant lists, Medium articles or guides on funding, or hiring, or regulation exist, we’ll share them. Where discerning, insightful case studies on how companies tackled problems and learned from mistakes are lacking, we’ll create them.

We want to be an essential, trusted and independent resource for those in Europe’s startup and tech world; a source of news, information and analysis, but also a channel for discovery – sifting and sharing the best events, content and networks that already exist. We want to explore all that it takes to build good companies; organisations that work for their employees, their customers and the places they operate in, as well as their shareholders. And, perhaps most importantly of all, we want to put our readers at the heart of that – we want to meet you, we want to write about you, we want to share your points of view even though we may sometimes disagree with you. We want to help grow a new economy in Europe that will support us all.

The Team

  • John Thornhill

    Founder / Editorial Director

    John is also the Innovation editor of the Financial Times, where he writes a regular, award-winning column on the impact of technology, hosts the weekly Tech Tonic podcast, and is the founder and editorial lead for the FT125 forum for senior business executives. In a 30-year career at the FT, John has been deputy editor, news editor, European edition editor, and bureau chief in both Paris and Moscow.

  • Caspar Woolley

    Founder / CEO

    Caspar is a seasoned digital entrepreneur and intrapreneur who’s had fun starting businesses ranging from Johnlewis.com to Hailo the taxi app. He loves working at the intersection of the editorial, operational and digital worlds, and bringing great ideas to life in both the public and private sectors. He is also a Non-Exec Director at London’s UCLH hospital.

  • Michael Stothard

    Editor

    Michael previously worked at the Financial Times, where his roles included Madrid bureau chief, Nordic and Baltic bureau chief and senior correspondent in Paris. He is a Europhile, technophile, and a science fiction geek who hopes to live on Mars one day (don’t laugh). Before journalism, he briefly worked at a VC in London, where he realized picking winners is hard and a good idea is not the same as a good business.

  • Amy Lewin

    Senior Reporter

    Amy is intrigued by the ‘human side’ of companies – because, as all founders know, people are the trickiest bit of any startup. She's particularly excited about the recent burst of initiatives to make the tech sector more enticing and accessible to everyone, and intrigued by the future of healthcare and cities. Previously, Amy spent three years covering startups as features editor at Courier magazine, where she also hosted and programmed talks and workshops.

  • Maija Palmer

    Senior Reporter

    Maija previously worked at the Financial Times, including roles as European Technology correspondent, founding member of the FT social media team, and deputy editor of special reports. She developed and hosted the World Tech Founders podcast series, and launched the 50 Ideas to Change the World special report. She is interested in the geeky side of tech — basically if it involves visiting a farm or a factory, bring it on.

  • Mimi Billing

    Senior Reporter

    With a rapidly changing world, Mimi is intrigued to find out how technological advancements and new ideas can help create a sustainable future for all earthlings. Based in Stockholm she will cover the Nordics for Sifted. Previously she worked at the Swedish tech and business site Di Digital, where she covered startups and hosted a number live events and podcasts. Before journalism, she did a short spell as a management consultant in London, where she found that change is easily decided but hard to implement.

  • Carly Minsky

    Senior Reporter

    Carly loves delving into the mysterious world of 'deep tech' and tracking the tech-driven revolutions invisible to the naked eye. She was previously the editor of fintech magazine HFMTechnology, where she spent a disproportionate amount of time writing about data privacy and soliciting cybersecurity insights from extremely young reformed criminal hackers. She is a champion for women in STEM and algorithmic accountability, and regularly contributes to events and online conversations on both topics.

  • Kitty Knowles

    Freelance Reporter

    Kitty is a journalist who loves writing about cutting-edge technology and startups—especially when that means meeting fantastic female founders. She was formerly a senior reporter at Forbes, a founding member of new media publication The Memo (acquired in 2018) and her work has been featured in publications ranging from Wired and GQ to national newspapers. Newly freelance, Kitty is currently supporting the Sifted team and working with the BBC.

  • Duncan Brown

    Contracting Tech Lead

    Duncan is a software developer and technical team lead with over 10 years’ experience across early-and mid-stage publishing startups and big public sector projects. In a past life he trained as a journalist, but got distracted and co-founded a walking tour company instead. Since then he’s been helping companies and teams make good technology decisions and build their technical culture.

  • Max Traeger

    Part Time Reporter

    Max has previously worked for Europe Elects, The Wake Up Foundation, InFacts and Mayvin. He is interested in the collision of tech and politics, disruptive European companies, and innovation for social good. He spends his spare time studying History and Politics at UCL.

Modern Journalism

Experience meets experimentation. The Financial Times’ innovation editor John Thornhill leads a team of journalists who believe that European tech matters.

Bringing experience from the FT, Courier, Di Digital, Al Jazeera and Forbes, our mission is to tell your untold stories in engaging new ways, and to share with you must-read content wherever we find it.

Our HQ in London connects a network of correspondents across Europe.

European Entrepreneurialism

At Sifted we will make the case for the importance of European tech startups, and the value of a differentiated European approach that charts a course between the techno-libertarianism of California and the digital authoritarianism of China.

The energy, ideas, and ambition on display all across Europe deserve to be heard around the world. Our aim is to be the voice of this community of European startup entrepreneurs.

Supportive Community

Community isn’t a one-way conversation. We want you to hear from you.

Collaboration is the key to Europe’s edge. Tell us what you want to read, who you want to meet, and how your experience and insight can benefit others. We’ll help you make meaningful connections across the European tech community.

This is your story. Help us tell it.

Exciting Innovation

At Sifted, we’re for leaders, for pioneers and technologists. We’re also for anyone interested in cutting-edge innovation across Europe.

That’s why we’re deep-diving into Europe’s pools of research and expertise to explore and surface companies in emerging areas of technology which don’t always get the profile they deserve. From blockchain to biotech, fintech to factories of the future, we are inspecting these topics from new angles and uncovering innovation wherever there’s a spark.