These were the 10 biggest European tech stories last week

Happy Monday!

Last week, our research team tracked more than 70 tech funding deals worth more than €800 million, as well as over 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 last week:

1) Worldline has agreed to buy rival Ingenico in a €7.8 billion deal the French technology companies say will form one of the largest payment-services providers.

2) Kinéis, a spin-off business from France’s national space agency, has raised €100 million in funding in order to launch a constellation of 25 ‘nano-satellites’ to serve the growing Internet of Things market.

3) European VC A/O PropTech has announced a €250 million fund to invest permanent capital in proptech startups transforming the real estate market.

4) Graphcore, a Bristol,UK-based startup backed by BMW and Microsoft that is building artificial intelligence microchips, has tapped investors for $75 million to accelerate its growth.

5) After receiving a $40 million capital injection last year, Russian online video company ivi.ru has plans to go public on NASDAQ this year.

6) Aiven, a Helsinki-based cloud technology startup, has raised a $40 million Series B round led by the Silicon Valley-based Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), with participation from Earlybird and other investors.

7) UK fintech startup Rimilia has raised $15 million in funding, with participation from Eight Roads Ventures, Kennet Partners and Silicon Valley Bank, to fuel expansion across Europe and North America.

8) Spotify made yet another big-budget purchase aimed at getting a lead in the growing podcast industry: the streaming music company has agreed to a deal to purchase The Ringer.

9) Dixa, a Danish customer service platform, has raised $36 million in Series B funding, led by Notion Capital, with support from existing investors Project A and SEED Capital. Founded in Copenhagen in 2015, Dixa wants to help brands connect with customers and agents in a conversational way.

10) French gaming giant Ubisoft has acquired 75 percent of Berlin-based Kolibri Games, a top developer of mobile free-to-play games and one of the leaders of the “idle” games genre.

Podcast: tech.eu Podcast #154: Airline innovation

Bonus link: How can Europe win the global startup war? (Ross Sheil)