Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast

This week on Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast, Amy speaks with Rob Lacher, founding partner at early-growth VC Visionaries Club. Rob unpacks the challenges of defence procurement, why Europe has less than a year to get serious about its military capabilities and how VCs can do more than just write cheques in this space. He also shares why Visionaries  doesn’t have an AI investment thesis, why new general partner Judith Dada is the 'single best person' he could have hoped to team up with — and the deals he still kicks himself for missing. Key moments: 01.48: Lovable 06.30: Visionaries Club's relationships with other funds 12.24: Investing in defence companies 29.59: Challenges and opportunities for SaaS companies 39.39: Building a brand in VC 42.45: Quickfire questions

If you work in tech, you’ve probably heard about Lovable — the AI agent startup that's helping users make websites without writing a line of code. The company hit $50m in annual recurring revenue earlier this year — just 12 months after launching — and recently poached a team member from 20VC. Not bad for a startup most people hadn’t heard of this time last year. But how’s Lovable actually growing so fast? What’s its CEO Anton Osika really like? And is the hype justified? On this experimental 13-minute episode of the Sifted podcast, editor Amy Lewin grills Europe editor Mimi Billing on what she’s found out.

If you’re in venture, it’s quite likely you’re already a Granola user, and if not, you’ve probably heard VCs bang on about how much they like it.  The London-based note-taking startup is growing fast, with users increasing 10% week on week, and last week announced a $43m Series B at a $250m valuation — just a year after launching.  But the 20-person team faces stiff competition — there are plenty of other ‘knowledge work’ tools out there — and there’s a lot to discover about how we all really want to use AI in our day-to-day lives.  On the latest episode of the Sifted podcast, editor Amy asks Granola cofounder and CEO Chris Pedregal: What could the road ahead look like for a company like Granola? Why’s it being built in London? And what’s life like as a founder of a ‘hot’ AI startup? This podcast was brought to you by HSBC Innovation Banking, connecting you with what's next.

Today on Startup Europe — the Sifted Podcast, Amy is joined by Dinika Mahtani, London-based partner at European early-stage VC Cherry Ventures. Dinika explains why she thinks deeptech is 'back', why Europe is having a moment — and what impact tariff turmoil is having on her portfolio companies. She also shares how she made the jump from general manager at Uber to angel investing and then VC — and talks us through how she ensured she made partner within just three years of joining Cherry Ventures. All of that, plus who Dinika would swap places with for a day and the most valuable piece of advice she's been given in her career to date. This podcast is brought to you by Vanta. Vanta is the fast, frictionless way for growing companies to get compliant, stay secure, and earn and maintain the trust of vendors and customers.  Head to Vanta.com/sifted to learn more.

On this episode of Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast, Amy sits down with Tom Leathes, CEO and cofounder of used car marketplace Motorway. The company, founded in 2017, has helped more than half a million people sell their cars, and has raised $273m from investors like Index, Iconiq, LocalGlobe and BMW i Ventures. Tom and his two cofounders have launched four startups before Motorway, with three resulting in successful exits, and one having to shut its doors. Tom and Amy discuss what he's learnt from that one failure, and what's now going right at Motorway, as the company takes on the formidable challenge of disrupting a huge and slow-changing automotive industry. This podcast is brought to you by Vanta.  Vanta is the fast, frictionless way for growing companies to get compliant, stay secure, and earn and maintain the trust of vendors and customers.  Head to Vanta.com/sifted to learn more.