These were the 10 biggest European tech stories last week

Happy Monday!

Last week, our research team tracked about 60 tech funding deals worth nearly €750 million, as well as some 10 M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe, including Russia, Israel, and Turkey. Meanwhile, here's an overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for this week:

1) Vayyar Imaging, the Israeli-born global leader in 4D radar imaging sensor technology, has raised $109 million in Series D financing, yet another example of late-stage funding for European scale-ups. The round was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies.

2) Northzone has announced a new fund, Northzone IX, which has not yet reached a final close but is estimated at around $500 million. This is the UK firm’s ninth fund since its founding in 1996.

3) Celonis, a Munich and New York-based provider of AI-enhanced 'Process Mining and Process Excellence software', has raised approximately $290 million in Series C funding.

4) Audio company Sonos announced the acquisition of Snips, a privacy-conscious conversational AI company based in Paris. The $37.5 million acquisition will bring machine learning engineers and others from Snips, a company with about 50 employees, into Sonos.

5) Spain's Jobandtalent has closed an investment round to the tune of €70 million in a round led by Seek.

6) MMC Ventures, the London-based VC that typically invests at seed and Series A via the various funds it manages, has launched a new £100 million “Scale Up” fund to provide expansion capital to its later-stage portfolio companies.

7) Microsoft has hired former US Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate whether the use of facial recognition technology developed by an Israeli startup it funded complies with its ethics principles.

8) Wayve, a UK startup applying artificial intelligence to mobile robotics, has closed a $20 million Series A round led by Eclipse Ventures, with participation from Balderton Capital, existing investors and several leaders in machine learning and robotics.

9) Dutch investment firm Borski Fund has raised 21 million euros to invest in female-led startups, which it claims is the first such initiative to stimulate women entrepreneurship in The Netherlands. The three leading Dutch banks – ABN Amro, ING and Rabobank – have all committed to the fund.

10) BASF has acquired Sculpteo, a France-based online 3D printing service provider, for an undisclosed sum.

Podcast:

tech.eu Podcast #143: Gigafactory in Germany, new VC funds in Europe, privacy on health-related websites, interview with Jan Bormans of European Startup Network

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tech.eu Podcast — Slush Interview Special: Sophia Bendz (Atomico) and Markus Villig (Bolt)

Bonus link: As European Commissioner, will tech veteran Thierry Breton pass the ‘startup test’?