These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week

Happy Friday!

This week, our research team tracked more than 70 tech funding deals worth almost €1 billion, as well as more than 25 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) French challenger banking startup Qonto has raised a $115 million Series C funding round led by Tencent and DST Global.

2) Snyk, the London-based software helping developers build security into their products, has raised a whopping $150 million Series C round, funded by Stripes, Coatue, Tiger Global, BoldStart, Trend Forward, Amity and Salesforce Ventures.

3) European leaders appear to be standing firm on plans to impose digital services taxes on US tech giants in the coming months, despite President Trump threatening to retaliate against the move.

4) Tink, the European open banking platform, is disclosing €90 million in new funding, less than a year after the Swedish company announced a €56 million round of funding. Co-leading the new round is Dawn Capital, HMI Capital and Insight Partners.

5) Munich-based Personio, an HR software for small and medium-sized businesses, has secured a $75 million Series C round led by Accel. The round was also supported by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lars Dalgaard, and previous investors such as Index Ventures, Northzone, Global Founders Capital, and Picus Capital.

6) French President Emmanuel Macron this week announced that France is changing its rules on stock options. Ahead of the upcoming World Economic Forum, the new changes will help attract employees to startups, and hopefully, allow France to rival the UK and Silicon Valley in attracting talent.

7) Tencent, one of the world’s biggest video and online gaming companies by revenue, has made an offer to acquire Funcom, the games developer behind Conan Exiles, Dune and some 28 other titles. The deal, when approved, would value the Oslo-based company at $148 million.

8) LumApps, the French company developing an intranet SaaS for enterprise, has secured a $70 million Series C round, bringing the company’s total fundraising to $100 million. The round was led by Goldman Sachs

9) More than 20 European VC firms - including Earlybird, Project A, Holtzbrinck Ventures and Cherry Ventures - have joined forces to develop a sustainability clause, which commits all newly funded startups to take part in additional climate protection initiatives going forward.

10) The EU Commission is partnering with the European Investment Bank Group, announcing €200 million of investments into the EU space sector.

Podcast: tech.eu Podcast #152: Pointy and Google, what’s on at Davos, interview with byFounders’ Tommy Andersen, and more

Bonus link: European regulators have imposed 114 million euros ($126 million) in fines for data breaches since tougher privacy rules came into force in mid-2018. (Reuters)