Last week, Magazine London played host to the fourth annual Sifted Summit, featuring some of the tech industry’s top voices across an abundance of panels, firesides and workshops.
Some of the biggest names rounding out this year’s guestlist included ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Arm founder Hermann Hauser and Sequoia Capital investor Luciana Lixandru.
On top of that, we also announced this year’s Sifted 250 — ranking the top-performing startups across Europe based on revenue growth — as well as the inaugural 100 Women in Tech list.
We pulled together some photos showing off the very best of Sifted Summit 2025. Check them out below.
In a fireside with Sifted cofounder and editorial director John Thornhill, ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt railed against European tech regulation — and urged UK founders not to exit their startups too early.
“I love Europe and I love the UK. I’ve given up trying to tell people the truth because it doesn’t seem to change anything,” Schmidt said.
“I’ve spent a fair amount of time with UK entrepreneurs. They tend to make $100m and then sell. In Silicon Valley, people say ‘I started there’,” he told the audience. “Please don’t sell for $100m. Aim for $100bn.”
Meanwhile, Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson responded to Reform UK’s threats to cancel subsidies for renewables if they win power.
In July, the party warned renewable energy companies — including Octopus — it would “strike down” subsidies should it win the next election, set for 2029, citing “intolerable costs” to the economy.
Speaking on the opening day of Sifted Summit, Octopus CEO Greg Jackson told the audience Reform was right to highlight people’s frustration with rising energy bills, but warned against any reversion to fossil fuels.
“Reform has got a point. We have a brutally inefficient electricity system,” he said.
In another on-stage scoop, Sequoia Capital investor Luciana Lixandru told Sifted editor Amy Lewin the Silicon Valley stalwart was hiring in Europe.
Speaking at the Sifted Summit in London on Thursday, Lixandru told attendees the firm was bullish on Europe and that “generational businesses” would continue to be built on the continent, name-dropping the likes of Revolut, ElevenLabs and Trade Republic.
Finn, a car subscription platform based in Munich, topped this year’s Sifted 250 — a ranking of the 250 fastest-growing startups in Europe in order of highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue over a three year period.
Finn recorded a 1,078% CAGR, moving up three places from last year’s ranking position and growing its revenue from €3.2m to €444.3m between 2022 and 2024.
Some may have wondered why Swedish AI vibe-coding platform Lovable didn’t feature on this year’s list — a question our head of intelligence Jonathan Sinclair dug into here.
Senior reporter Kai Nicol-Schwarz quizzed UK entrepreneurship advisor Alexandra Depledge, who warned the UK startup sector was acting as a research and development (R&D) department for the US because so many founders cross the Atlantic to access capital.
Depledge took up the role of entrepreneurship advisor to the UK Treasury in June and has had a hectic few months as the government prepares for its anxiously awaited Autumn Budget in November.
Her job will be to convince the UK government to rollout measures to stem the outflow of talented entrepreneurs searching for greener pastures overseas.
Founders, operators and investors came together at the Startup Life LIVE stage, where panellists talked through some of the issues that have been cropping up in our weekly newsletter. (If you want to stay ahead of the curve, you can subscribe to Startup Life here.)
Speaking on the second day of Summit, Qonto CEO Alexandre Prot confirmed plans for a secondary share sale in the near future.
Last year the Financial Times reported the French fintech was speaking to investors to sell at least €200mn of existing shares valuing the company at €5bn, although no agreement had been reached yet at that point.
Day two of this year’s Summit also saw the inaugural unveiling of the 100 Women in Tech in Europe list.
Sifted received more than 2,500 nominations from all corners of the continent, working in a huge range of roles and companies. Nominees included community builders, industry pioneers, top scientists and hugely impactful angel investors.
