Startup Europe. Grown up reporting.
Startup Europe. Grown up reporting
Startup Europe. Because the future isn’t where you expected
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Startups have always embraced the unknown, the uncertain.
Well, they’d better be on their game now.
New problems, new opportunities, new chances to contribute.
It’s time to step up. And tech reporting has to adapt too.
Backed by the Financial Times, Sifted is about in-depth reporting on startup Europe for startup Europe.
From Bristol to Bucharest, our journalists go beyond the press release to find out what you didn’t know you needed to know.
We put the questions that don’t get asked to the people who should be asked.
We’re for anyone who wants the fuller picture. Because if you don’t know what’s happening right across Europe, you’re only half-informed.
Sifted. Because the future’s already here. Just not where you expected.
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
Deputy Editor
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
Innovation Editor
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 new innovation can help create a sustainable future. Based in Stockholm she covers the Nordics as well as healthtech in Europe for Sifted. Previously she worked at the Swedish tech and business site Di Digital, where she hosted a number of events and podcasts.
Isabel Woodford
Reporter
Isabel covers the elusive world of fintech and is tracking the tech-driven revolutions happening inside developer caves. She has been featured in The Guardian, Reuters, The New York Times, and most recently was a reporter at US fintech news outlet, The Block.
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.
Helen Seidenberg
Partnerships Director
Helen’s role at Sifted is to build the business through sponsorship and partnerships. Prior to Sifted, Helen worked for several different publishers, including a FTSE 250-listed powerhouse and a startup business intelligence firm. She’s also sat on the other side of the fence, at a marketing agency. Outside of work, Helen likes conjuring up her own (arguably questionable) business ideas and seeking out Europe’s best waterfalls.
Chris Sisserian
Sifted Intelligence Unit
A committed generalist Chris has had a diverse career spanning journalism, ski instructing, foreign policy analysis, primary research for private equity funds and business development at software startups. He now leads Sifted intelligence with a mission to understand the consequences of the fourth industrial revolution on both our economy and society. When not investigating tech trends he is most likely to be found in the alps either skiing or climbing.
Stuart Turner
Consultant Software Engineer
Stuart has been a Software Engineer and Architect working in the media industry for over 13 years, previously working for the Financial Times. He's excited to be working with Sifted to build technology supporting their cutting edge journalistic mission.
Javier Romario
Software Engineer
A self taught South London Web Developer and devoted skateboarder working with Sifted to deliver high performance Web Applications.
Marie Mawad
Paris Correspondent
Marie is based in Paris, where she’s covered tech and innovation for over 10 years, enjoyed a front-row seat to a flourishing startup ecosystem, and eaten her fair share of croissants. Previously at Bloomberg and Reuters, she’s obsessed with spotting the early signs of disruption. The rest of Marie’s brain is split between Verdi’s arias and disco tunes.
Connor Bilboe
Editorial Assistant
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.
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.
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.
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.
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