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This Week in European Tech: Funding rounds mint 2 new European unicorns, Mytheresa nails its IPO, Trustly up next? + more

Robin Wauters 22 January 2021
This Week in European Tech: Funding rounds mint 2 new European unicorns, Mytheresa nails its IPO, Trustly up next? + more
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Happy Friday!

This week, our research team tracked over 90 tech funding deals worth nearly €1.4 billion, and more than 30 M&A transactions Europe, including Russia, Israel, and Turkey.

As always, we are putting all of them together for you in a handy list sent in our 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).

But before you check out the list: are you, or do you know someone, who can help us keep track of these things? We're hiring a tech journalist/news editor to expand our team.

Also (and finally), we just released our latest report on the State of European Fintech - download it free of charge now. You're welcome!

1) Swedish fintech scale-up Trustly aims for €9 billion IPO

Swedish payments firm Trustly reportedly plans to take advantage of a surge in digital transactions in the COVID-19 pandemic with an IPO in Q2 2021 that could value it at up to €9 billion.

2) Munich's Mytheresa off to a strong start with its US IPO

Mytheresa, the Munich-based online luxury retailer, began its first day of trading with a $2.2 billion valuation Thursday, following an initial public offering that exceeded its target. The company sold shares for $26 dollar each, well above the original $16 to $18 range, in a sign of strong investor demand.

3) EU Commission fines Valve and five publishers for geo-blocking Steam games

The European Commission has fined Valve, owner of the online PC gaming platform “Steam”, and the five publishers Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax €7.8 million for breaching EU antitrust rules.

4) Moonpig confirms imminent IPO plans

Online card retailer Moonpig has confirmed that it plans to go public on the London Stock Exchange in a £1.2 billion float next month after demand for its cards surged during the coronavirus pandemic.

5) UK-based fintech company PPRO minted a unicorn

PPRO, a London-based startup that has built a platform to make it easier for marketplaces, payment providers and other e-commerce players to enable localised payments; has closed a round of $180 million, lifting its valuation to over $1 billion.

6) Google’s advertising practices targeted by EU antitrust probe

Brussels is not done with Google and has added the advertising technology at the heart of the search giant's business model to its long list of concerns. After slapping the U.S. search giant with fines exceeding €8 billion in three antitrust cases, the European Commission is now running two more investigations into Google, according to a questionnaire seen by POLITICO.

7) Turkish on-demand delivery giant Getir raises funding to boost growth

Turkish on-demand delivery kingpin Getir has raised $128 million at a ∼$850 million valuation, as e-commerce activity and demand for snappy deliveries have spiked in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and global competition is heating up fast.

8) Google and French publishers sign agreement over copyright

In a first in Europe, Google and a group of French publishers have agreed a general framework over copyrights under which the US tech giant will pay publishers for content online.

9) Protolabs buys The Netherlands' 3D Hubs for up to $330 million

Protolabs, the US-based provider of a manufacturing service for custom parts, has acquired The Netherlands-based 3D Hubs, an online platform that provides engineers with on-demand access to a network of approximately 240 manufacturing partners. The purchase price is $280 million, which Protolabs is paying with $130 million in cash and $150 million in stock.

10) Munich HR tech firm Personio gains unicorn status in funding round

Personio, an all-in-one HR platform for small- and medium-sized businesses, has announced $125 million of Series D funding in an investment round that values the German business at $1.7 billion.

Podcast:

tech.eu Podcast #203: Luke Lang of Crowdcube, more $100M+ rounds, Brussels investigates Google (again), and more

Bonus link:

In the global fight to control the microchip supply chain, Europe needs a plan to avoid being crushed. (Politico)

This Week in European Tech: Funding rounds mint 2 new European unicorns, Mytheresa nails its IPO, Trustly up next? + more
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