These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week

Happy Friday!

This week, we tracked 61 tech funding deals worth more than €281 million, as well as 15 M&A transactions, 2 IPOs, 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). Here’s an extra overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for this week:

1) France will take legal action against Google and Apple for “abusive commercial practices,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Wednesday, accusing them of taking advantage of French developers.

2) Experian announced that it is acquiring ClearScore, which has built a platform that offers you a credit score, which it then uses it to suggest financial products like credit cards that fit the bill. Experian is acquiring ClearScore for £275 million, plus an unspecified earn-out based on future performance.

3) Microsoft is reportedly opening two cloud data centers in Germany at a cost running to more than 100 million euros.

4) The UK government has delayed plans to introduce age checks on pornography websites amid fears they could be watered down.

5) Finland’s state investment arm has spent about 844 million euros on building a 3.3% stake in Nokia, strengthening national influence over the telecom network gear maker.

6) The UK's Gousto, a meal recipe kit service, has raised an additional £28.5 million from new and existing backers. Investors in the round included Hargreave Hale, Angel CoFund, MMC Ventures, and BGF Ventures. Gousto will use the cash to continue building its proprietary technology and work on its use of AI.

7) German photography company Cewe has acquired French social photo printing startup Cheerz for €45 million. Cheerz, based in France and founded in 2012, develops mobile-to-print devices where users can print off photo albums, calendar, and magnets direct from their phone.

8) Flint Innovations, the UK-based software startup that develops Flint OS, has been acquired by US competitor Neverware. No terms for the deal, which is expected to close in late March, have been disclosed.

9) Five Seasons Ventures has announced that it has closed its first VC fund at €60 million to invest in early stage European food and agritech startups. The new Paris-based firm will target startups working on new food products, processes, and supply chain challenges.

10) A freshly updated Yandex browser now automatically detects and blocks scripts that are embedded in websites to maliciously use a website visitor’s computing power to mine cryptocurrency.

Bonus link: Startup Europe Partnership, a pro-startup initiative established by the European Commission, has penned an open letter to the EU’s biggest decision makers on tech, business, and the economy, calling for a refocus of efforts and funds to improve the environment for tech company scaling in Europe.