These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week

Happy Friday!

This week, our research team tracked more than 50 tech funding deals worth more than €500 million, as well as 15 M&A transactions across Europe, including Russia, Israel, and Turkey.

We listed every single deal in our weekly newsletter. Here’s an extra overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for this week:

1) French online DIY marketplace ManoMano has raised a €110 million funding round from Eurazeo, Aglaé Venture, and Bpifrance, as well as existing investors CM-CIC, Partech, Piton, and General Atlantic.

2) byFounders, an early-stage VC firm based in Copenhagen and San Francisco and backed by over 50 startup founders, has closed its first fund at €100 million. The firm plans to make about 30 investments — primarily in seed-stage and Series A startups — in the Baltics and Nordics over the next three years.

3) Elvie, a London-based tech company that develops health devices for new and expectant mothers, announced it has raised $42 million in Series B funding. IPGL, the investment holdings firm run by British philanthropist Michael Spencer, as well as Octopus Ventures and Impact Ventures, led the round.

4) German business social network XING has acquired the Berlin-based IT job platform Honeypot for €22 million, with another €35 million in earn-outs to be paid within the next three years if the company hits the unspecified “ambitious operating targets.”

5) British technology start-up Onfido has raised $50 million in new funding from investors including Japan's Softbank Investment as it targets growth in the US and South-East Asia. The company, founded by three Oxford University graduates in 2012, has now raised more than $100 million for its software, which uses artificial intelligence to check documents and prevent fraud.

6) Tel Aviv-founded startup Aqua Security has landed a $62 million funding round led by Insight Partners, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Microsoft’s M12, TLV Partners, and Shlomo Kramer. This fresh capital injection brings the total amount of money raised by the company to over $100 million.

7) Red Points, a startup from Barcelona that focuses on brand and IP protection online, has secured $38 million in fresh funding. The round is led by Summit Partners, with additional participation from existing investors Northzone, Mangrove, Eight Roads Ventures, and Banco Sabadell. This round brings the total amount raised by the startup to $64 million.

8) The US-based demand orchestration company Integrate has acquired Akkroo, a London-founded B2B event lead capture startup, for $34 million.

9) Israel-founded “electronics health” startup proteanTecs has landed a $35 million funding round from a group of VCs including Avigdor Willenz, Intel Capital, ITI Venture Capital Partners, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Redline Capital Management S.A., Viola Ventures, WRVI Capital, Zeev Ventures, and others. This round brings the total amount raised by the company to some $50 million.

10) Berlin-based Penta, a challenger bank for SMEs, has been acquired by finleap, a fintech company builder which is also based in Berlin. Over the course of 2019, Penta will also collaborate with Beesy, a finleap portfolio company that focuses on digital banking for freelancers.

Podcast: tech.eu Podcast #112: The Copyright Directive mess; is Spotify the next Netflix; scooter wars of the past; interview with BlaBlaCar’s Nicolas Brusson; and more

Bonus link: Ustream founder Gyula Fehér has left IBM to launch Oktogon Ventures with €10 million already raised. The firm plans to invest in early-stage startups across Central and Eastern Europe, namely in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia.