Sifted raises £4m to scale the definitive media for European tech

Sifted is excited to announce we’ve raised £4m to continue scaling the definitive resource for insights on the European startup ecosystem.

The round was led by ScaleUp Capital, a specialist fund helping promising startups develop into sustainable and valuable businesses. The FT remains a core shareholder and Sifted continues to license the FT brand.

When we started three years ago, our founders John Thornhill, innovation editor at FT, and Caspar Woolley, a serial entrepreneur and cofounder of Hailo, were convinced that the European tech story needed telling. And in many ways, our growth and success has mirrored that of this ecosystem.

At the beginning, we had one journalist, 50 newsletter readers and six desks in a forgotten corner of the FT’s old office. And Europe only had 80 or so unicorn companies, valued at more than $1bn. Some of the region’s most valuable companies now, such as Hopin and Gorillas, hadn’t even been founded.

Since then, we’ve grown to a team of more than 40 people across London, Stockholm, Paris, Berlin and Barcelona, with 15 staff journalists with experience at outlets like the FT, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Dagens Industri and Courier Magazine.

And the European startup sector has made incredible strides, with fundraising growth surpassing that of China this year. The eyes of the world’s most successful investors are on Europe, and Sifted has been there every step of the way to tell that story.

We’ve attracted 10m unique visitors and have a newsletter readership of more than 100,000 of the region’s founders, operators and venture capitalists. With scoops and hard-hitting deep dives on companies from Revolut to Gorillas, Sifted has established itself as the first word for a new generation of European entrepreneurs.

We’ll use our new funding to double headcount in the next 12 months, hiring across all teams from editorial to commercial, product to engineering. If you’re interested in a role at Sifted, check out our open roles here.