These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week

Happy Friday!

Last week, we launched our latest report put together in collaboration with Stripe: “Life is Growth” - a deep dive into the state of play for growth-stage technology companies in Europe.

Also last week, our research team tracked more than 60 tech funding deals worth more than €700 million, as well as eight M&A transactions across Europe, including Russia, Israel, and Turkey.

Note: In May, tech.eu will be shining a light on digital health in Europe, with a little help from a friend (Bayer G4A) - get in touch with tips!

Here's an overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for this week:

1) Money transfer company TransferWise is now valued at $3.5 billion after a new investment round, making it Europe’s most valuable fintech startups. European private equity group Vitruvian Partners and US investment firms Lone Pine Capital and Lead Edge Capital bought shares from existing investors in a deal worth $292 million.

2) Canadian payments technology company Nuvei is set to buy Israeli payment solutions company SafeCharge, controlled by Teddy Sagi, at a company value of $889 million.

3) Ireland’s data privacy watchdog on Wednesday announced the launch of an inquiry into Google over the tech giant’s collection of data when it comes to online advertising. The Data Protection Commission, which acts as the lead supervisory authority for Google in the European Union, said its probe would examine whether Google’s processing of data in advertising transactions breaches the bloc’s privacy rules.

4) Prowler.io, an artificial intelligence company based in Cambridge, England, has been valued at $100 million following a funding round involving a group of investors that includes Chinese technology giant Tencent and Pearson. The company uses AI to help businesses make decisions about everything from rebalancing financial portfolios to managing supply chains and logistics.

5) Salesforce Ventures, the CRM software juggernaut’s corporate investment group, has unveiled a $125 million fund to continue backing enterprise cloud startups across Europe. The firm says it has already backed more than 50 startups active in a variety of industries, across 13 European countries, including the likes of GoCardless, Unbabel, Sigfox, Wefox and Onfido.

6) Tel Aviv-founded Guardicore, an internal data centre and cloud security startup, has landed $60 million in a funding round led by Qumra Capital, with participation from DTCP, Partech, ClalTech, Battery Ventures, 83North, TPG Growth, and Greenfield Partners.

7) The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia, said Thursday that it's asked the European Court of Human Rights to lift Turkey's ban of its site.

8) London fintech startup Wagestream has closed a £15 million series A funding round, co-led by venture capital investors Balderton Capital and Northzone. The round was raised in addition to a credit facility of up to £25 million from Shawbrook Bank.

9) French VC firm Elaia has announced the intermediary closing of its PSL Innovation Fund at €65 million. The firm said that it attracted support from a range of investors including the EIF, Bpifrance, Vilmorin & Cie, and more.

10) Siemplify, a Tel Aviv-based security orchestration platform provider, has secured $30 million in series C funding led by Georgian Partners, with participation from existing investors 83North, G20 Ventures, and Jump Capital.

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Bonus link: Israeli court rules Bitcoin not a currency (Globes)