These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week

Happy Friday!

This week, we tracked 61 tech funding deals worth more than €314 million, as well as 12 M&A transactions, 1 IPO, and 1 ICO across Europe, Israel, and Turkey.

We listed every single deal in our weekly newsletter (note: the full newsletter is now available to paying subscribers only), and here’s an extra overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for this week:

1) Europe’s top markets regulator has warned investors about the pitfalls of buying newly issued crypto coins. The European Securities and Markets Watchdog (ESMA) said on Monday such Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) were unregulated, volatile, not transparent and technologically untested.

2) Spotify has acquired Stockholm-based company Soundtrap, which empowers artists to create music online with a Web-based collaborative music recording and production studio.

3) In an effort to diversify its platform beyond music streaming, Spotify is also going to start selling beauty products.

4) Bristol, UK-based machine intelligence firm Graphcore has raised $50 million from Sequoia Capital.

5) A new measure passed by EU Parliament would let consumer protection authorities order any third party to block access to websites without judicial authorization.

6) Paris-based VC firm Aster has raised €240 million to invest in energy transition and mobility companies. The firm plans to back companies in Europe and the US (with “potential for action in Asia”), investing anywhere between €250,000 and €15 million at the seed and growth stages.

7) Israel is planning to send tax bills within a year to Google and Facebook, financial newspaper TheMarker reported on Wednesday, joining efforts by the EU and other to get the Internet giants to pay more tax.

8) The UK intends to double the number of visas issued to “the brightest and best” talent (which includes, but is not exclusive to, tech) to 2,000. On top of this, the UK government plans to commit £61 million ($80 million) to develop three areas: £21 million to expand Tech City into a new nationwide network called Tech Nation; £20 million to fund infusing new tech innovations like AI into public services; and £20 million to help train young people aged 14 to 18 to identify and ward off cyber threats.

9) UK-based Deliveroo has raised an additional $98 million as part of a Series F round first announced in September.

10) TransferWise, the London-based international payments firm and one of Europe’s largest financial technology startups, said revenue in the fiscal year through March 2017 has more than doubled, allowing the company to post its first annual profit.

Bonus link: Volkswagen to spend over $40 billion on electric and self-driving cars (Reuters)