Articles

  • 3 weeks ago | sifted.eu | Kirstie Pickering

    Last month, the three winners of the 11th edition of the European Prize for Women Innovators were announced at the European Innovation Council (EIC) Summit in Brussels. The prizes recognise the important role of women who drive change and foster innovation-driven growth in the EU, and it is jointly organised by the European Innovation Council, SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

  • 1 month ago | sifted.eu | Kirstie Pickering

    Business services — where business functions like accounting, procurement and people operations are performed by one business for another — can be a lifeline and time saver for many companies. However, not all such services are created equally.

  • 2 months ago | sifted.eu | Kirstie Pickering

    Around 500m micro and small businesses are operating around the world, each playing a vital role in supporting their country’s economy — from leveraging AI and open banking to providing software as services to other enterprisesBut to run, these businesses require the support of credit and financial services that understand their unique challenges — while traditional financial institutions increasingly require the startups’ agility and disruptive approach.

  • 2 months ago | sifted.eu | Kirstie Pickering

    The investor-founder relationship can be a tricky balance to strike. The founder wants funding with fair terms, the investor wants returns within a fair amount of time. At times, this balance has been off, with VCs wanting to capture quick wins at any cost. But being more "founder-friendly" is a growing trend.

  • 2 months ago | sifted.eu | Kirstie Pickering

    The volume of fraud that businesses face is on the rise and is advancing in sophistication. According to a 2024 report by digital identity platform Signicat, payment fraud alone costs merchants $38bn globally and could rise to as much as $91bn by 2028 — that’s 100 times as much as ransomware. AI plays a huge role in this uptick and is making the mechanisms of fraud more accessible for criminals and more difficult to identify for victims.