Five Questions with Cate Lawrence

Hi Cate. We've seen that you run a weekly newsletter. Tell us more about it and what inspired you to start it?

My newsletter is rather irreverent — if you’re looking for serious tech journalism alone, this isn’t it. While I do share some tech articles and podcasts that capture my interest, my newsletter Crafted is more of an opportunity to share interesting (and funny!) bits of the internet, popular culture, and society.

I love visiting galleries, I’m a voracious reader, documentary watcher, and podcast listener – especially true crime, as I have a degree in criminology – so it’s as much about curating things that interest me, as anything else. I think there’s often an idea that people in tech have to be amazing high achievers running marathons and skydiving, and I like to show that many of us are a lot more down to earth.

The journalism industry is in a constant state of change, and seems to be significantly impacted by the advent of AI. What's your take on AI-written pitches, and what's your general approach to working with AI in your role as a journalist?

I think anyone who says they don’t use AI is lying. AI is a critical tool for anyone who is time-poor, like all journalists (or perhaps someone who is more of a dev than a writer but needs to pitch).

But there’s a difference between using it to write whole articles and press pitches vs doing some light editing or better phrasing a headline or sentence. Sadly, most of the press pitches I get are mostly the former – crammed with buzz words so that they fail to capture the most interesting aspects of a company’s founders or problem-solving tech. Read your pitch out loud, if it sounds off to you, it's even worse for me!.

Further, like all journalists, my work is used to train AI. I do not get any financial compensation for this, and it’s not like tech journalism is a lucrative career. This does not sit well with me.

In your coverage of funding news, what trends are you seeing in terms of the types of companies that are attracting investment? 

AI is inherently embedded in most product offerings these days. There are particularly exciting trends happening in robotics, industrial tech and biotech, which is where I think Europe can really be a leader.

You've written on a fascinating variety of topics, from quantum computing to health tech and space tech. What stories most excite you, and what are the specific trends you are most interested in following over the coming months?

I’m always interested in materials innovation and circularity, biotech, and industrial tech. But honestly a great story can come out of anyway – a founder with a great backstory, or a compelling regional trend. While fundraising announcements are a critical part of our work at Tech.eu, you don’t need to raise money to get coverage. Honestly,  I spend more time writing features and interviews, and I always welcome startups to reach out to me.

Lastly, we’ve seen you attended a number of industry events this year, including TechBBQ. What was your main takeaway from them?

I think some of the biggest topics right now are Europe’s competitiveness against China and the US — shout out the fantastic work of EU Inc –, digital sovereignty, and dual defence. In general, I see a lot of opportunities in tech and general optimism.