These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week

Happy Friday!

This week, our research team tracked about 50 tech funding deals worth just under €2 billion, along with a dozen 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 (subscribe to our free newsletter to get this roundup in your inbox every Monday morning):

1) Zynga has acquired an 80% share in hyper-casual mobile studio Rollic for $168 million. In addition, Zynga will acquire the remaining 20% of Rollic over the next three years at valuations based on certain profitability goals. The deal for the Istanbul-based studio is expected to close on October 1.

2) Swedish lithium-ion battery maker Northvolt, which is led by CEO and former Tesla executive Peter Carlsson, has secured $1.6 billion in debt financing as part of its plan to have 25% market share of European mobile battery production.

3) Uber said on Thursday it was buying the British tech company Autocab, which sells booking and dispatch software to private hire firms, in a move that will allow the taxi app to reach customers where it does not currently operate.

4) Alternative lender iwoca has raised £100 million from an undisclosed investor, the company revealed. The UK fintech company, which became an accredited lender under the scheme last month, says that the cash will be used to help support businesses through the scheme and open applications to new customers for the first time.

5) TikTok has said it plans to build a $500 million data centre in Ireland. It will store videos, messages and other data generated by European users from the short-form video-sharing app there instead of in the US (with a back-up copy held in Singapore). The announcement comes at a time when President Trump has threatened to ban the app in the US on the grounds its Chinese ownership makes it a national security risk.

6) Google’s bid to take on Apple and Samsung in the wearable technology market by buying Fitbit hit a hurdle on Tuesday as EU antitrust regulators launched an investigation into the $2.1 billion deal. The move by the European Commission on Tuesday came despite Google’s pledge last month not to use the fitness tracker’s data for advertising purposes in a bid to address competition concerns.

7) Amazon has been given approval to buy a 16% minority stake in UK food delivery start-up Deliveroo, ending a lengthy battle by the firms to convince regulators the deal would not harm competition.

8) French biotech startup DNA Script has announced an approximate €42.4 million extension to its Series B financing, bringing the total investment of this round to around €75.5 million. This oversubscribed round was led by Casdin Capital.

9) University College London’s Technology Fund (UCLTF) has announced a first close of its second fund, with a £100 million final target. UCLTF is managed by AlbionVC and UCL Business.

10) Israeli startup Silverfort announced on Tuesday its completion of a $30 million second financing round led by US venture capital firm Aspect Ventures and participated by Citi Ventures and Maor Investments. Existing backers Stage One Ventures, TLV Partners, and Singtel Innov8 also took part in the round.

Podcast(s):

tech.eu Podcast #180: Facebook sues EU, AUTO1 nabs €225M + an interview with Atomico & Moonfire founder Mattias Ljungman

Bonus link(s):

Europe Is Building the Next Tesla. Who Knew? (Bloomberg)