These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week

Happy Friday!

This week, our research team tracked more than 40 tech funding deals worth more than €1.2 billion, as well as some 10 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) Wirecard and SoftBank have signed a term sheet under which an affiliate of the latter company will invest approximately 900 million euros in Wirecard via a convertible bond mechanism, and to develop a strategic partnership for digital payment solutions.

2) The US-based car-sharing company Getaround has acquired Drivy, one of Europe’s largest car-sharing platforms, for $300 million. Getaround claims that the acquisition makes it “the world’s leading car-sharing marketplace” with a total of 5 million users and a presence in 300 cities in Europe and the US.

3) Selina has raised $100 million in fresh financing, the Tel Aviv and London-based blended hospitality startup said Wednesday. Access Industries led the Series C round. Grupo Wiese and existing investors Colony Latam Partners also participated.

4) Tel Aviv, Israel-based IoT security startup Vdoo has raised $32 million in series B financing led by WRV and GGV Capital, with participation from NTT DoCoMo, bringing its total venture capital raised to $45 million.

5) The European Commission’s push for a WiFi-based standard for cars backed by Volkswagen took a big step forward after EU lawmakers endorsed WiFi over 5G technology promoted by BMW and Qualcomm.

6) British digital bank Revolut is at risk of losing its European banking licences amid fresh questions over its alleged links to the Kremlin.

7) Swedish-founded podcast hosting, monetisation and distribution platform Acast has just made its first acquisition by purchasing the US-based Pippa. The exact terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

8) Israeli remote driving company Phantom Auto has raised a $13.5 million Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners and with the participation of Maniv Mobility. With the latest financing round the company has raised $19 million to date.

9) Labster, the Denmark headquartered startup building virtual laboratory simulations for STEM students, has raised $21 million in Series B funding. Leading the round is Owl Ventures, with participation from Balderton Capital, Northzone and Swisscom Ventures.

10) The UK-founded fresh dog food startup Butternut Box has landed £15 million in a funding round led by Five Seasons Ventures and White Star Capital, with participation from existing investors Passion Capital, Literacy Capital, and Kreos Capital.

Podcast: tech.eu Podcast #115: The UK’s push for age-appropriate design; new batch of SME Instrument projects; the fate of WikiTribune; and more

Bonus link: How one country (Ireland) blocks the world on data privacy - Politico