Happy Friday! This week, tech.eu tracked 21 technology M&A transactions, 1 IPO and 56 funding deals (totalling €208.9 million) in Europe, Turkey and Israel.
Like every week, we listed every single one of them in our free weekly newsletter, along with interesting news regarding fledgling European startups, tech investors old and new, a number of good reads published elsewhere, government and policy news, as well as an overview of interesting lists, facts and figures from a wide variety of sources.
You can subscribe to our newsletter below to receive all this information in your inbox every Friday afternoon for free, but here’s an overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for this week:
1) By far the biggest news this week: The EU hit Apple with a record-breaking tax bill of €13 billion ($14.5 billion) plus interest, claims Ireland granted the company illegal state aid over many years.
We could share a ton of links to additional sources of information and news around this deal, but honestly you're much better off just taking a look at the special section in today's newsletter for that!
2) Germany's Rocket Internet has plunged to a first-half loss of €617 million ($691 million) after heavy write-downs on companies in its portfolio.
3) Europe's telecommunications regulator has published final guidelines on how the EU will implement net neutrality rules that were adopted last year, in what digital rights groups are hailing as a victory for the free and open internet.
4) Nets, a Nordic payments firm owned by equity funds Advent and Bain Capital Private Equity, is preparing for an IPO.
5) The European Union has put its foot down and said that ISPs and mobile networks that block advertisements and pornography are in breach of rules published by BEREC – the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications.
6) According to Danish media reports, local price comparison site Samlino.dk has raised a ton of cash from Peter Thiel, Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus, Ace & Company and the investment firm run by Li Ka-Shing's son.
7) Uber is rolling out fully electric vehicles in London.
8) Beijing Xinwei Technology Group has agreed to buy Israeli satellite operator Space Communication for $285 million.
9) Nokia's patent chief departs in wake of Samsung pacts.
10) Paris-based email management software startup Evercontact has been acquired by US firm One More Company, which has also received an investment from AXA Strategic Ventures and Aurinvest.
Bonus link: Europe needs to invest close to $800 billion in its digital infrastructure to catch up with the US and China, EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger proclaimed this week.
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