Hello!
Here is what happened today in European tech:
Deals
- Taiwan’s GlobalWafers agreed to acquire German silicon wafer manufacturer Siltronic for about €3.75 billion, yet another deal in a record year for the global semiconductor industry.
- Hibob, the Tel Aviv-born HR tech startup behind the people management platform bob, has landed $70 million in Series B funding led by investors SEEK and Israel Growth Partners (IGP). The company has raised a total of $124 million since its launch in late 2015.
- Solactive, a German technology-enabled provider of indices and index solutions to the global financial services industry, today announced a €50 million minority investment from global growth equity firm Summit Partners.
- Cleo, the London-founded “financial assistant” that takes the form of an app and chatbot, has raised $44 million in Series B funding in a round led by EQT Ventures.
- VMRay, a Germany-based provider of automated threat analysis and detection solutions, today announced that it has closed the second round of its Series B round of funding with $15 million led by Digital+ Partners. The new round of funding brings the total amount raised in the Series B to $25 million.
- Proportunity, a London-based startup that wants to give first-time buyers a leg up on home ownership, has taken a debt capital injection of up to £7.5 million to manage record demand following Britain’s post-lockdown housing boom.
- Game developer Rollic, an Istanbul-based subsidiary of Zynga, has bought the popular matching game Onnect from fellow Turkish company CHEF Game Studio for $6 million.
- Upvest, a Berlin-based startup offering a plug-and-play pan-European securities API, has secured an additional €5 million funding, closing its Series A round. The latest financing wave was led by Earlybird.
- London-based StreetBees, one of the world’s first human intelligence platforms, has secured an additional €5.5 million of investment.
- Curb, the Swedish dark kitchen company, today announced a €3.2 million funding round led by EQT Ventures, with participation from existing investors.
- We also tracked a large number of (other) European tech funding rounds and M&A transactions, all of which we are putting in a handy list for you on Friday afternoon in our weekly roundup newsletter (note: the full list is for paying customers only). Also check out our European tech news section for ongoing coverage.
Worth Knowing
- Google and Amazon have both been hit with substantial fines from the French data-protection regulator, CNIL, for invading users' privacy. The watchdog fined Google €100 million and Amazon €35 million. Crucially, it has also ordered them to start clearly telling users why they track them.
- Facebook’s bad week just got worse: It’s being investigated in Germany for linking usage of its VR product, Oculus, to having a Facebook account.
- Klarna has become one of the world’s biggest fintech companies on the promise of fast, fearless online shopping, but its bubblegum-pink exterior is beginning to crack.
- Machine learning and big data are unlocking Europe’s archives.
- Bucharest was selected by EU governments to host the EU’s new cyber-centre, beating six other candidate cities. It will be the first EU institution based in Romania.
- Russia’s Yandex has started using its self-driving robot to deliver fast food orders.
- iZettle has become the first payment service provider to be added to Starling’s business marketplace, joining the likes of digital receipt generator Flux and accounting software Xero.
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