This Week in European Tech: a $9 billion merger, a €3.75 billion acquisition, major funding rounds closed across Europe, and more

This Week in European Tech: a $9 billion merger, a €3.75 billion acquisition, major funding rounds closed across Europe,  and more

Happy Friday!

This week, our research team tracked north of 100 tech funding deals worth more than €2.4 billion in total, and nearly 30 M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe, including Russia, Israel, and Turkey.

As always, we are putting all of them together for you in a handy list sent in our Friday afternoon roundup newsletter (note: the full list is for paying customers only).

Recently, we also started publishing 'Today in European Tech', a daily roundup of deals and news stories that caught our attention. Keeping you updated on all things EU tech is our priority!

Today, instead of a daily roundup we give you an overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for the past week (subscribe to our free newsletter to get this roundup in your inbox every Monday morning):

1) A blank-check acquisition firm (SPAC) backed by veteran investor Bill Foley has agreed to merge with Paysafe, valuing the London, UK-based payments platform company at around $9 billion, including debt. Once the deal has closed, the new company will be renamed Paysafe and list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "PSFE."

2) 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.

3) The Netherlands-based online auction platform Catawiki has scored €150 million in growth funding in a round led by private equity firm Permira through its ‘Growth Opportunities Fund’. Prior backer Accel also participated in the round – its partner Martin Gibson serves as chairman of Catawiki’s board – and it is said the financing comes with liquidity for a number of the Dutch scale-up’s early investors and employees.

4) Swedish holding company MTG has announced the acquisition of Hutch Games, a British developer and publisher of mobile racing games, for about $375 million total, further diversifying its portfolio of specialist gaming and esports companies.

5) 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.

6) PayPal-backed, Sweden-based fintech startup Tink has seen its valuation rise to €680 million after raising €85 million in fresh funding in a round co-led by French private equity firm Eurazeo and UK-based VC firm Dawn Capital.

7) Tech companies with millions of European users or active in at least two sectors will be classified as online gatekeepers and thus subject to tough new EU rules aimed at curbing their power. The yardsticks will be set out in the Digital Markets Act (DMA) which European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager will present on 15 December.

8) Stillfront, the Sweden-based company behind 16 game studios located around the globe, has secured a revolving credit facility of approx. €365 million to finance its growth.

9) Highland Europe, a VC firm with dual headquarters in London and Geneva, has closed its fourth fundraising €700 million to invest in startups across the continent.

10) Isar Aerospace, a Munich-based satellite launching startuphas secured €75 million in Series B financing. The round was led by Lakestar, with support from previous backers Earlybird Venture Capital and Vsquared Ventures.

Podcast:

tech.eu Podcast #199: £100 million for email signatures, TransferWise is hiring big time, a dive into the 'State of European Tech' report, and much more

Bonus link:

- European startups are on track to raise a record $41 billion in 2020, according to an exhaustive report from venture capital firm Atomico on the State of European Tech.

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