Éanna Kelly

Éanna Kelly is a contributing editor at Sifted, and writes Startup Life , a weekly newsletter on what it takes to build a startup. Follow him on X and LinkedIn

Europe’s ‘real’ founder factories: Klarna and Improbable
Analysis
July 15, 2026
Europe’s ‘real’ founder factories: Klarna and Improbable
Working at a growth-stage startup — rather than a unicorn or Big Tech firm — is the strongest predictor of a founder's future success, according to a new study of over 50k startups
Éanna Kelly
Exclusive: Peec rival Promptwatch raises €6m seed round
News
July 14, 2026
Exclusive: Peec rival Promptwatch raises €6m seed round
The Amsterdam startup, which helps companies get noticed by AI chatbots, is expanding to the US
Éanna Kelly
‘Physical AI is Europe’s last chance to be useful to the world’
Pro
Analysis
July 10, 2026
‘Physical AI is Europe’s last chance to be useful to the world’
At Paris's Machina conference, European robot makers jostle for attention — and for an answer to the question: can the continent keep up?
Éanna Kelly
‘I want to be the MrBeast of tech’: Why Max Tkacz left n8n to become a Youtube gameshow host
Interview
July 8, 2026
‘I want to be the MrBeast of tech’: Why Max Tkacz left n8n to become a Youtube gameshow host
Frustrated that even the biggest startups struggle to break through online, this former product designer thinks the answer is "token-maxxing ice bath challenge"
Éanna Kelly
Anthropic release puts science startups on the defensive
Pro
Analysis
July 2, 2026
Anthropic release puts science startups on the defensive
The US AI giant has unveiled a new set of tools designed to automate scientific research
Freya Pratty, Éanna Kelly, Martin Coulter and Tom Nugent
An AI agent was named after this 57-year-old Belgian credit analyst. Is he philosophical about it?
Interview
July 1, 2026
An AI agent was named after this 57-year-old Belgian credit analyst. Is he philosophical about it?
One analyst reflects on what it means to share his identity with a machine built to do his job
Éanna Kelly
Alan Chang is hiring a ‘performance manager’. Should other CEOs follow his lead?
Opinion
July 1, 2026
Alan Chang is hiring a ‘performance manager’. Should other CEOs follow his lead?
The Fuse Energy boss wants someone to keep staff performing at their best — I can already imagine the quandaries
Éanna Kelly
Why this AI founder ditched bootstrapping for a $17m deal with 20VC
Pro
Interview
July 1, 2026
Why this AI founder ditched bootstrapping for a $17m deal with 20VC
Fonio founder Daniel Keinrath spent years avoiding VCs. But a shift in pricing — and a meeting with Harry Stebbings — changed his mind
Éanna Kelly
The seed rounds you may have missed in H1
Pro
Analysis
June 26, 2026
The seed rounds you may have missed in H1
Forget the headline-grabbers like AMI Labs and Ineffable Intelligence — here are the overlooked deals of the first half of 2026
Éanna Kelly
17 techies share their advice for thriving in the hybrid AI-human office
Opinion
June 24, 2026
17 techies share their advice for thriving in the hybrid AI-human office
Sifted polls CEOs, investors, researchers, consultants, HR pros and operators for ways to stay ahead of tech that’s always improving
Éanna Kelly
Car subscription company Finn becomes Germany’s newest unicorn
News
June 24, 2026
Car subscription company Finn becomes Germany’s newest unicorn
The Munich-based platform — which Sifted crowned as Europe’s fastest-growing startup in 2025 — zooms to milestone with a €140m Series D
Éanna Kelly
‘We’re in a very fast race’: Life at Nabla means big numbers and jet lag
Pro
Interview
June 19, 2026
‘We’re in a very fast race’: Life at Nabla means big numbers and jet lag
Cofounder Delphine Groll talks about the departure of her CEO — and whether she’d sell the company if the right bid came in
Éanna Kelly
Is this Europe’s most audacious founder?
Pro
Brunch with Sifted
June 17, 2026
Is this Europe’s most audacious founder?
Bertrand Duplat is building tiny robots for the brain, an idea that sounds not only difficult but crazy. Over a long Paris lunch, he talks comic books, punk music and falling in love
Éanna Kelly
Startup founders we’d send to win the World Cup
Analysis
June 10, 2026
Startup founders we’d send to win the World Cup
With some big calls and controversial omissions, we pulled together a fantasy football team for European tech
Éanna Kelly, Tom Nugent, Maya Dharampal-Hornby and Martin Coulter
I was fired by a big European tech company. Here’s my advice if it happens to you
Interview
June 10, 2026
I was fired by a big European tech company. Here’s my advice if it happens to you
Rizwan Mahmood used ChatGPT to help build a case after Bolt dismissed him. He was awarded €14,500 by Estonia’s Labour Dispute Committee
Éanna Kelly
Fake perfume, loo rolls and riffing on The Matrix: The stunts that helped push Aikido Security to the top
Pro
Interview
June 10, 2026
Fake perfume, loo rolls and riffing on The Matrix: The stunts that helped push Aikido Security to the top
This ‘yin and yang’ founder team have turned a Belgian cyber firm into a global player
Éanna Kelly
Belgian cybersecurity unicorn Aikido Security tops latest Sifted ranking
News
June 10, 2026
Belgian cybersecurity unicorn Aikido Security tops latest Sifted ranking
Launching today, the third Sifted 100: France and Benelux ranks the region’s fastest-growing startups
Éanna Kelly
A ‘996’ week would be a quiet one for this spacetech founder
Pro
Interview
June 5, 2026
A ‘996’ week would be a quiet one for this spacetech founder
Julie Böhning has raised the largest seed round of any European spacetech: here’s how she sees the future of space unfolding
Éanna Kelly
Celonis boss: 'If we're honest, AI adoption hasn’t gone as quickly as expected’
Pro
Interview
June 4, 2026
Celonis boss: 'If we're honest, AI adoption hasn’t gone as quickly as expected’
Europe chief for the $13bn software giant talks the future of AI, taking on Palantir and buying ‘50 of the cleverest brains on the planet’
Éanna Kelly
This ex-Spotify boss is using AI to help VCs tell which startups are '90% bollocks'
Pro
Interview
May 29, 2026
This ex-Spotify boss is using AI to help VCs tell which startups are '90% bollocks'
Henrik Landgren says his AI agents can spot winners and red flags
Éanna Kelly
Can AI make us better parents?
Analysis
May 27, 2026
Can AI make us better parents?
The tech is helping me look more on-the-ball at home — but can we trust it?
Éanna Kelly
Lexroom CEO: Anthropic won’t kill vertical AI companies
Pro
Interview
May 21, 2026
Lexroom CEO: Anthropic won’t kill vertical AI companies
Paolo Fois, who raised $50m this week, isn’t worried about competition from big LLM players
Éanna Kelly
European tech's most radical idea? Taking Sunday off
Opinion
May 20, 2026
European tech's most radical idea? Taking Sunday off
A founder's horror at a shuttered coworking space in Spain sparked a rare reflection on grind culture madness
Éanna Kelly
The unusual business idea that tops Sifted’s latest ranking
Pro
Interview
May 20, 2026
The unusual business idea that tops Sifted’s latest ranking
Milan-based holiday booker Hotiday has added a dash of Airbnb to its offering — and grown its revenues over 1000% in three years
Éanna Kelly

Éanna Kelly

Europe’s ‘real’ founder factories: Klarna and Improbable

Exclusive: Peec rival Promptwatch raises €6m seed round

‘Physical AI is Europe’s last chance to be useful to the world’

‘I want to be the MrBeast of tech’: Why Max Tkacz left n8n to become a Youtube gameshow host

Anthropic release puts science startups on the defensive

An AI agent was named after this 57-year-old Belgian credit analyst. Is he philosophical about it?

Alan Chang is hiring a ‘performance manager’. Should other CEOs follow his lead?

Why this AI founder ditched bootstrapping for a $17m deal with 20VC

The seed rounds you may have missed in H1

17 techies share their advice for thriving in the hybrid AI-human office

Car subscription company Finn becomes Germany’s newest unicorn

‘We’re in a very fast race’: Life at Nabla means big numbers and jet lag

Is this Europe’s most audacious founder?

Startup founders we’d send to win the World Cup

I was fired by a big European tech company. Here’s my advice if it happens to you

Fake perfume, loo rolls and riffing on The Matrix: The stunts that helped push Aikido Security to the top

Belgian cybersecurity unicorn Aikido Security tops latest Sifted ranking

A ‘996’ week would be a quiet one for this spacetech founder

Celonis boss: 'If we're honest, AI adoption hasn’t gone as quickly as expected’

This ex-Spotify boss is using AI to help VCs tell which startups are '90% bollocks'

Can AI make us better parents?

Lexroom CEO: Anthropic won’t kill vertical AI companies

European tech's most radical idea? Taking Sunday off

The unusual business idea that tops Sifted’s latest ranking